mr. secretary. >> thank you. mr. smith, you're recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary ross, thank you were being here, and thank you for your thorough -- your great deal of work on the 232 investigations. as you may remember, i was with you back in spring of last year when the president signed the executive order to look into the 232 investigations for aluminum. and after looking through your report, it followed through with what i had been asking for a couple years. and the obama administration refused to even look at it. in 2000, as your report also noted, we had 22 aluminum smelters, 22. and just here recently we have two fully operated operational ones, and only one of those uses the high purity aluminum that is needed for our defense, for our naval vessels, for our aircraft to protect americans. and that is what your report provided, and i appreciate that. but i also want to tell you that the day after that our president issued these protections i was able to stand in the boot hill of missouri where an aluminum smelter had closed in march of 2016 and wher

secretary carson: we change it. mr. ice: well, how can you -- in the meantime, it's a very, very messy prospect, isn't it? all this deteriorating housing stock, just deteriorating further, no funds to address that? secretary carson: well, you might be interested to know in their reserves, public housing has over $4 billion. mr. price: we are talking $50 billion. we're talking $50 billion in maintenance needs and i just reiterate, this isn't an indication of program failure. this is just how maintenance works with any facility. secretary carson: i agree with you that we need to do things, but we need to be looking toward a different way, a different solution. and, again, you know, you mentioned the opportunity zones. opportunity zones present a splendity opportunity to do the very same thing that the rad program does for these facilities you are talking about and most of them will tend to be in the opportunity zones of the states. mr. price: well, i think this subcommittee in a bipartisan fashion has demonstrated an openn

mr. secretary, you're recognized. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. secretary for being here picked to represent the number one agricultural district in the nation. it certainly stands to reason that i would share the concerns of my constituents on the terrorists and the various impacts that may take place. as you know, secretary perdue has mentioned that agriculture and ag products are the tip of the spear in any type of retaliatory action. but i just suggest that our agriculture economy certainly not in a position to absorb any spears at this point given the sensitivity of nature and kindness the downturn in the ag economy in place for longer than we would prefer certainly. can you reflect debate on assurances you can give us that the administration has considered rural communities, rural economies and our interests in considering what impact the tariff moves might have? >> well, as you know, i work very, very closely with secretary perdue and work very hard on getting the defects going again to china, worked very hard on trying to open up some of th

mr. secretary. if i understand correctly, you presented president trump with three alternatives to implement this policy on aluminum. one of them was global, one of them was targeted, is that correct? >> yes, that is the targeted one encompassed just china, hong kong, russia, venezuela, vietnam. >> right. if that alternative had been adopted, russia, for example, would be paying three times as much tariff as it will under the approach that was accepted. >> yes. the targeted approach, had it been adopted in its original form -- that's would have put very high tariffs on a very small number of countries. >> and that really goes to a broader concern that i have. that would have permitted other countries, our allies, to maintain the quota of aluminum that they had last year. >> yes, sir. >> instead, president trump rejected that alternative that would have imposed higher tariffs on russia and these other four countries. russia, of course, has the second largest aluminum producer in the world. that is he

mr. secretary. thank you again for your service to the country. i look forward to continuing to work with you. we have a very good relationship and i think that's helpful. to make sure that together we can address our nation's housing and economic development needs all while obviously being accountable to the taxpayer. with that, let me yield to my friend, the ranking member, mr. price. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm happy to join you in welcoming the secretary of department of housing and urban development, dr. ben carson. we welcome you to your second appearance now before this subcommittee. hud's mission is to provide affordable housing to foster community development and to protect both renters and homeowners from discrimination. these missions are as important, possibly more important than they've ever been. access to stable and affordable housing has broad positive impacts. it leads to better health, better education outcomes, higher lifetime earnings, especially for children. providing famili

mr. secretary. and again, i will repeat my thanks for your focus on the energy side of the business that you and the president clearly addressed last year. and we have, i think, a great deal to do to fulfill what was begun. but we have made considerable progress and i look forward to even more of that. i am going to keep my questions this morning relatively parochial to alaska. i know members will have questions about the backlog and reorganization. i will go broader in the second round. but let me first begin, mr. secretary, with the eastern interior resource management plan. as you know this came down in the last few days of the obama administration. one of the plans particular, this is the 40 mile district, turned a management machine that worked for decades that literally turned it on its head. in addition we have our gold miners in the 40 mile district that had some real trouble working on standards for revegetation. and this has been really quite problematic. so the question for you this morni

mr. secretary. >> thank you. >> over the past year secretary carson had made significant strides in his efforts to make hud programs more effective and efficient. his embarked upon a multi- link listening to travel this country to develop a deeper understanding of the effect that hud policies have on a portable housing practitioners and families who are the most vulnerable. not long after returning from the to work secretary carson took on a major leadership role in coordinating hurricane relief efforts in texas, florida, perrigo and the us virgin islands. providing both immediate and long-term relief to thousands of families who have been displaced from their homes and art without electricity. network continues. as a nominee just over a year ago factory carson testified before this committee about the importance of revisiting our nation's housing programs to ensure that families were struggling in america have the best opportunity to climb the economic and social ladder. to break intergenerational

mr. secretary. mr. dent: thank you, mr. secretary. anybody with additional questions? secretary, aid like to thank you for your invitation and great to be with you again. thanks for the great work you are doing at the v.a. pleasure to work with you. with that this meeting is adjourned. second hearing to be announced. next hearing will be on april 10. [captions copyright national able satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. isit ncicap.org]

mr. secretary. >> thank you, mr. barrasso. >> secretary perry, when we met, you promised me you would visit aragon and fermi labs in illinois and i want to thank you for following through with your commitment. although i don't agree with all aspects of the budget the administration is proposing, i am happy to see that the word are gone and fermi labs are leaving with the nature facility are priorities for the administration. secretary perry, i want to thank you in your team for working with map is to provide input on bipartisan legislation along with senator graham and better to help veterans secure good jobs in green energy. our nation has experienced an exponential growth in clean renewable energy. today's solar energy is the fastest-growing in the u.s. in wind energy is quickly becoming a dominant form of energy. in addition, rapid innovation and technology are unlocking additional forms of low carbon emission energy options and i believe there is tremendous opportunity for our veterans to find careers in this ener

mr. secretary. senator heller has asked that a letter he has provided to the committee be included as part of the record. so we will include that and you will see a copy of that as well, mr. secretary. senator cantwell has mentioned in some detail here the cyber security issue and the joint alert from department of homeland security and the fbi regarding russian government cyber actors and how they have targeted critical infrastructure here in this country, including our electric and generation sourses. know that i share senator cantwell's concern on this. i want to make sure d.o.e. is cooperating with dhs and the fbi with implementation of actions in response to this. also to make sure that d.o.e. is taking the lead as this sector-specific agency. mr. secretary, you and i had a conversation yesterday just about making sure that d.o.e., which does have this legislatively designated authority as the lead in the energy sector when it comes to cyber, that again that continues. so i'd like you to speak

mr. secretary, take that heck. because if you got to see the north slope and there is no road to get back where you need to be, you got to get there somewhere. secretary zinke: i have been shout at before, i'm very comfortable with it. do right, fear no man. do the best you can can. everything i do is scrutinized. i'm willing to take attacks on my sefment i don't like attacks on my family, kids. which i get raked all the time. but we're pretty tough. we're a military family. we're pretty tough about it. do right, fear no man. wake up and make sure we're accountable. everything i do is looked at through whole league team, office of ethics. senator cassidy: let me congratulate you for being so gracious regarding your predecessor, secretary jewel, who i guess you point out that she took trips totaling a million dollars in cost. that was very gracious of you. i think you recognize your presence would be very important to somebody in las vegas if they are going over an interior issue. one more thing, we in louisiana have

mr. secretary, thank you for your time here today. i want to commend the administration's efforts to hold the chinese accountable. i think it's clear to everyone that they undermine our economy and our workers and holding them accountable is certainly the right thing to do. i would also ask the administration to try to do right by our friends and allies throughout the world, the europeans. here in the americas, the argentinians are concerned. these are countries that are trying to do right by the united states and their own people and strongly encourage you to do everything you can to accommodate them so we can continue building those important alliances and friendships. i agree, i think trade is best conducted -- business is best conducted with people with whom we share values. i think as long as the administration's policy fits that idea, it can be successful. there are very obvious risks that you have heard repeated here numerous times today. i want to bring a separate issue -- but is very important to the farmer community in my di

mr. secretary. mr. dent: thank you, mr. secretary. anybody with additional questions? secretary, aid like to thank you for your invitation and great to be with you again. thanks for the great work you are doing at the v.a. pleasure to work with you. with that this meeting is adjourned. second hearing to be announced. next hearing will be on april 10. [captions copyright national able satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. isit ncicap.org] >> as this hearing comes to a close, if you missed any of what was said during the hearing, see it on our website, c-span.org. "politico" reporting today, president trump may be itching to fire him but veterans' affairs secretary david shulkin has the support of g.o.p. lawmakers and veterans. the lack of a preferred successor may keep him at the agency's helm for now. trump's consternation with the v.a. secretary shulkin bubbled over on monday as he was meeting with energy secretary rick perry and planning rex tillerson's out ofer fro

mr. secretary, you know many, many people are worried about what they call a trade war. what do you say in response? >> i think the president proved by the statements that he made regarding canada and mexico we're not looking for a trade war. those are two important trading partners. he's willing to negotiate with them to solve the problem in another way other than tariffs for those two countries. and potentially with other countries as well. our interests at the end of the day is in the end results. there's too much steel being produced on a subsidized basis. it's not fair competition. we need a level playing field, and this is a good start toward getting it. we need reciprocity in trade. >> trish: where do we go from here? i suppose he can use this as a negotiating tactic with every country that we're doing business with, correct? >> sure. if every country would rally around, stop the trans shipment, stop overproduction, stop all of these unfair and inappropriate tactics, that would be a great solution. the u.s. is going to start to reassert its leadership and solving

mr. secretary, thank you very much for being here. we appreciate it. mr. secretary, we appreciate it. we will see you next week. thank you, everybody. thank you very much. >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: a limited period. pres. trump: it will be 25% for steel, it will be 10% for aluminum. it will be for a long period of time. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. thank you very much. 25% for steel. 10% for aluminum. thank you. c-span, where history unfold daily. in 1970 nine, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. to bring youtinue unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in the state and around the country. c-span is brought you by your cable or satellite provider. life friday on the c-span networks, at noon eastern, that funeral for billy graham at his home in north carolina. on c-span2 at 9:00 and eastern, a form on u.s.-israel relations and foreign policy. at 6:30, the libertarian students for liberty holding their annual conference. on c-span3 at 9:00 a.m., a discussion of trade pol

mr. secretary. i thought i'd start the hearing off just by saying i very much enjoyed working with you when you were in the previous administration and now in this administration, your expertise in the health care systems management is extraordinary and i'm glad you're in the job that you're in. >> thank you. >> but i do feel i have to acknowledge the proverbial elephant in the room. as the public and congress have been inundated recently with press reports regarding palace intrigue at the va and the white house, some reports even mentioned that you stationed an armed guard outside your office. if these reports are true, have the issues been resolved and if not, why not? and the other question, which is more important, is this squabbling affecting your ability to manage the va and jeopardize your mission to support veterans. >> yeah. let me just say that i've publicly acknowledged that the distraction that's happened that you've talked about is something that i deeply regret. i've come here for one

mr. secretary, can i ask you

mr. secretary.t from the leader of the south korean delegation, who has briefed officials in the white house and is about to walk out and make this announcement. would you advise president trump, if there is, in fact, an invitation from coupkim jong-un a meeting, would you advise the president to go ahead and sit down face to face and meet with the north korean leader? >> i would only advise that if i felt that the president had sat down and really considered what the consequences of this kind of meeting could be. i just think this is a serious moment and it's not just something where the president is going to show up and they do a photo op. make no mistake about it, kim jong-un will have some very determined talking points about what he would like to achieve in a negotiation. and i think before the president walks in that room, the president has to be fully prepared in terms of what the position of the united states and south korea and our allies is going to be in that kind of negotiation. if he's

mr. secretary and the staff and thank you for the meeting yesterday morning. the budget is proposed to spend $1 billion more on the community care this year than last year, and either of you can talk about this $14.2 billion fy 19 and 13.02 in fy 2018 is that correct? >> yes. >> overall request for medical care is $76.54 billion and lower than this year's estimate which is 77.4 and almost a billion dollars less. is that correct? >> i'm going to refer this to mark yow. there is a, mark has a way of explaining this that will make sense to you. >> senator, as we talked about last year, when you are looking only at to a appropriation, it is part of the picture, and other moving parts here, and the carryover, and other parts of thele balance, and reduced requirement for hepatitis c this year, and 6 million less this year than last, and difficult to prepare the loan and see the total obligation, and the medical services appropriation is going to decrease slightly from this year to last year and we look at all funding sources. >> the figures that i gave you are from

mr. secretary, thanks for your time this morning. >> thank you.

mr. president, and secretary ross. we're in a situation where competing unfairly meant there has been capital depletion and a lack of investment that is reflected in the loss of jobs in america. and it has all been a matter of unfair competition. and we need a level playing field or we are going to lose our manufacturing infrastructure and the national security issues that surround having a vibrant, capable manufacturing sector. pres. trump: we will take care of the situation, ok? steel and aluminum will see good things happen. we will have new jobs popping up. we're going to have much more vibrant companies. the rest will be up to management to make them truly great. if you could make u.s. steel like it used to be we will be very happy. i actually think it is possible. but you have a long way to go. i remember when i was growing up, u.s. steel was the ultimate company. today, you have so many closed plants. the nafta deal was a disaster for the country. the wto has been a disaster. the rise of china economically, if y

mr. president. thank you, secretary ross and other members here. we're in a situation where competing unfairly has meant there's been dedepletion in our business, a lack of investment and that is reflected in a loss of jobs and that's been matter of unfair competition. we need a level playing field or we'll lose our manufacturing infrastructure and the national security issues that surround having a vibrant, capable manufacturing sector. >> we'll take care of the situation. okay? so, steel and aluminum will see a lot of good things happening. we'll have new jobs popping up. much more vike brant companies and then the rest is up to management to make them truly great. if you can make u.s. steel like it used to be, we'd be very happy and i actually think it's possible. but you have a long way to go. i remember when i was growing up, u.s. steel, the ultimate company, and today you have so many closed plantses, and to deal with the disaster for our country. the wto has been a disaster for this country, for our country. in fact the raise of china econom

mr. secretary? >> congresswoman, as it applies to the navy, i would again, almost getting repetitive, but echo what secretary esper just said as far as what we have for options and the ability to entice women to come in and join the navy. all service sectors are open in both the navy and marine corps, as you know, all specialties are open, but when it comes to retention, if you look at our efforts in sailor 2025, what we are doing specifically in the navy, the ability to have an off-ramp midcareer to go do whatever you would like to do, whether it's to go off and get a degree or go off, start a family, go off and do whatever you would like to do and come in without penalty, that has been an active program we have had, quite successful, and we are quite pleased with the results that it has. going forward, rest assured the navy is really looking at this, it's game on. all three of us fish from the same pool. that pool is getting smaller and smaller both by qualification and by demographic size. we are

mr. secretary. >> thank you mr. speaker tour he he. thank you for all the great work you are doing at the va. it's a pleasure to work with you and with that that's the end of our hearing. the next hearing is to be announced. the next hearing will be on april 10. thank you again. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] -- sp reporters after the hearing. this is about two hours and 15 minutes.

mr. secretary. >> thank you mr. speaker tour he he. thank you for all the great work you are doing at the va. it's a pleasure to work with you and with that that's the end of our hearing. the next hearing is to be announced. the next hearing will be on april 10. thank you again. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations], russa have us, that is it. i do not worry about it because i can see him. host: and more about the future of the v.a. secretary david shulkin, we are joined on the phone by leo shane, a capitol chief of the military times. thank you for joining us today. guest: no problem. host: to our problems exactly why secretary shulkin is under fire. -- a prettys been damning ig report came out 30 there werend some questions about how he had handled an overseas trip, whether his wife should have accompanied him, whether he should have accepted free tickets to the wimbledon tenni

mr. secretary can you say what the future of a rant will be? -- future of iran will be? >> earlier today the senate energy and national resources emitted holly hearing regarding budget request for the interior department. you can watch the entire hearing tonight at 10:00 p.m. here on c-span. ♪ >> c-span's washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up wednesday morning, mike thompson discusses gun legislation in congress. francis rooney on secretary of state tillerson's hiring. andy discussion on russian efforts to interfere on elections. marshall. be sure to watch washington journal live at seven eastern wednesday morning. join the discussion. sunday on c-span's q and a, colorado college professor john cronen discusses his book. >> i think a reading of major is enablingssics and empowering in terms of this country stands for something stowe, harper lee, all of these people are storytellers saying that our tribe once to be something special. not a city on a hill but a city that cares and looks one another. understanding politics

mr. secretary, and right now europeans have said, oh, no, they're retaliating and they're going to do it quickly. >> retaliation isn't going to change the price of a can a beer or the price of a car. it's just not going to. it can't. >> the beer industry says it will. >> the beer industry hasn't put forward any numbers. my number is there's roughly three cents of aluminum in a can of beer. if you put a 10% tariff on that, that's 0.3 of a cent. beers sell for over $1 a can. >> okay. but again, that doesn't account for the retaliation on every other industry. >> retaliation has nothing to do with the price of beer. >> oh, it's going to have to do with the price of everything. >> no. we'll see what it has to do with. what we're talking about in terms of the economy is $9 billion of tariffs. that's all. that's a fraction of 1% of the whole economy. what the european union has talked about is some $3 billion or so of potential retaliation. that's an even smaller fraction of 1% of the economy. >> i've got to ask you about the president personally. you've known him a long time, you're a persona

commerce secretary wilbur ross. secretary.u, mr. fantastic interview. we appreciate it. let's check how stocks are doing. there was movement right be for that interview. here is abigail doolittle. looking at mixed trading action. earlier, we had greater than 1% declines. s&p 500 down .2%. the nasdaq up almost .2 percent. off the lows, a little bit of a reversal. the question is whether or not it will hold. we have had lots of volatility with investors, dealing with two issues. first, look at rates. jay powell testified before congress, indicating that the economy is strong enough to handle rate hikes, and speaking to wilbur ross about potential proposed aluminum and steel tariffs and a possible trade war, what that could mean. investors not liking this. all of this taking a toll on a weekly basis. thee take a look inside bloomberg, a big increase in the s&p 500 over the year. weeke looking at the first in three weeks for the s&p 500. again, a bit of a return to volatility, and of course, the proposed tariffs, 10% on aluminum, 25 percent on steel, taking effect in differe

mr. seely: as foreign secretary, what are you going to do about it? mr. johnson: we are investing in good journalism, and we are supporting the bbc world service. as you know, that is an impartial, independent organisation that is much trusted and loved around the world. mr. tugendhat: on exactly that note, you have spoken about the intent of the russian government in order to talk at home, and most of us would recognise that many of the actions of the russian federation in recent weeks have been for a domestic audience. but surely, however, some of this is not for a domestic audience. it is designed to destroy the ties that bind us and the rules of the international system, and effectively to undermine the alliances and fabric of the world that we have built with such pain and difficulty over the best part of the last 70 years since the war. do you see that as a very threatening situation of course for the united kingdom, but also for our european partners, and particularly the smaller members who have clubbed together-either in nato, the european union,

mr. secretary, thank you for speb spending time with us.e appreciate it stephen mnuchin, treasury secretary. >> another big story we're following this morning, martin shkreli is awaiting sentencing by a federal judge in brooklyn for securities fraud meg is in the courtroom and will bring us that decision as soon as it comes down but back to these comments by the treasury secretary stephen mnuchin. let's bring back in jeremy siegel, professor of finance at the warton business school also with us, two former members of the white house council of economic advisors. beltsy steefrnson and matt slaughter served during the george w. bush administration. welcome to all of you. professor siegel, back to you first. for your reaction to what the secretary had to say >> well, i think it's very fortunate that we still have steve mnuchin given that gary cohn had left. he is a generally pro-free trade force in the administration. he mentioned kevin hasset, our chairman is another pro-free trade force. and it seems like they are going to make and have made

mr. secretary. because your plan calls for 80% of a project to be from state and local sources, we should be allowing state and local governments to have higher preference. when the residents of california vote by 70% for the bill to raise their own taxes in order to spure transportation project, they assume they will be given preference in getting those jobs. do you think they should be allowed to give preference to hiringil their own taxpayers whn they are paying for a vast majority of the project? >> that is probably an issue that i've got to bring back. again, 12 other agencies involved in the senate got to go back and ask some of the other secretaries as well. >> would you please give us a clarification because it is unfair if we are paying for the improvements that we cannot hire local preference. >> i will take a look at that. >> thank you. another issue is the los angeles county as he prepares to host the nation in the world for the 2028 olympic games. would you give us your commitment to ma

mr. secretary. if it does require a legislative fix, we need to figure that out so that rural areas, those low cost of living or low property value areas do have a fighting chance to be considered. >> yes, ma'am. i can't suggest that to you, but i can give you any information you ask for. >> yes. as far as the safety issue as well, a life in iowa is just as valuable as a life in california or new york. thank you very much. i appreciate it. >> thank you, senator. senator gillibrand. >> thank you, mr. chairman. madam secretary, last month, the ntsb issued reports on two rail accidents that happened in queens new york, and hoboken, new jersey. they found that engineer fatigue and sleep apnea resulted in the crashes in both instances. this is not a new issue. the engineer of the train that derailed in the bronx in 2013 also suffered from undiagnosed sleep apnea. this is a problem in other modes of transportation, including trucking. addressing this problem is on the ntsb's most wanted list for transport

mr. secretary, thank you very much for being here. we appreciate it. mr. secretary, thank you very much. and we'll see you next week. thank you, everybody. thank you very much. [ inaudible question ] >> 25, period. it will be 25% for steel, 10% for aluminum. it will be for a long period of time. [ inaudible question ] >> thank you very much. thank you very much. >> you see president trump there at the white house meeting with leaders of the steel and aluminum industry in the united states. a hastily arranged meeting, a very important announcement for the president. the president said he's going to impose a 25% tariff on kborimpo steel and a 10% tariff on imported aluminum. the president used the word protection. he said the american companies need protection. if we go around the table, two big questions. number one, the substantive policy impact. the president is provoking a trade deal here, and that could be a big deal. the process, this came about in a rush. the president said it won't be ready until next, partly we're doing it now even if you might not b

mr. secretary perry. thank you for your guardianship and your modernization of the nation's nuclear arsenal, and especially its modernization and all of that nuclear infrastructure, mr. secretary acosta, thank you for your long service as u.s.a. attorney where you understand the importance of the rule of law. mr. secretary ross, thank you so much for attending to things like the single point failure of the g-4, which flies above the hurricane, which is improving the accuracy by 15% of our projections as well as its intensity. that single point failure since we only have one of them, is -- it's been down for maintenance in both the '16 and the '17 hurricane seasons, and to all of you, please continue to watch the bias in the administration against science. science for hurricane forecasting, science for weather forecasting, science used in nasa in each one of your agencies, where this idea comes of refusing to understand science and to accept it and to use it, please be on the lookout. secretary chao, the a

mr. secretary. first of all, why don't we say -- you need to know a little bit because i think it is so impressive. so harvard not only harvard law, but harvard undergrad, i'm impressed, are you? the president said he was going to surround himself with some of america's best and brightest and, boy, did he ever. >> thank you. >> parents were refugees from communist cuba. >> that's correct. >> you actually were a clerk for justice. >> samuel alito when he was on the third circuit. >> alito. impressive. so the president didn't let us down with the best and brightest. why don't we start with what does the secretary of labor do and then we'll get into the meat of it. >> when i describe the department of labor, i put into three buckets. first, in essence, we enforce the laws. we have workplace laws, we have workplace safety laws, we make sure that the labor laws are followed. and that is incredibly important. that's in essence a law enforcement function. the second part that's really important for the dep