mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. as we consider the nomination of mike pompeo -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. van hollen: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. as the senate considers the nomination of mike pompeo to be secretary of state, we have to ask ourselves many questions. among them are will mr. pompeo offer the kind of independent judgment that is necessary to help restrain president trump's worst impulses? or will he be somebody who becomes a yes man to the president of the united states? will mr. pompeo continue in his past attitude which reflect a shoot first, ask questions later approach to foreign policy? and can somebody like mr. pompeo who has made very divisive, polarizing, in fact hateful remarks here in the united states be able to reflect american values abroad? mr. president, i regret to conclude that i do not think that mr. pompeo can pass these tests, and i will opp

mr. van hollen: thank you. i want to start by thanking my colleague from massachusetts for the clarity and passion he brings to this debate. i, too, am here to strongly oppose the nomination of andrew wheeler to be the deputy administrator of the environmental protection agency. before i talk about mr. wheeler, i want to join my colleague in massachusetts in talking a little bit about scott pruitt and the current management over the e.p.a. because the people of our country rely on a strong, effective, and healthy e.p.a. to keep our air clean, to keep our water clean, to make sure that people are not living among toxic substances. and we need strong leadership there. in the state of maryland, the e.p.a. is also important to protect a great national and natural treasure, the chesapeake bay. the bay states include many of those states in this area, and we have made great progress over the years through the e.p.a. chesapeake bay program. because it was recognized many years ago that when you have a bay like the che

van hollen: five times faster, right? dr. hall: right. senator van hollen: 80%, i want to be clear, mr. chairman, 80% of the benefit of increased activity from the tax law is going in the%s of foreigners. every dollar of increased economic activity in 2028, 0 cents of that is not going into the pockets of hardworking americans that the chairman referred to, it's going in the pockets of foreigners, right? dr. hall: your calculation is right i'm just not sure that's how i'd look at the benefits or the impact of the tax contact. senator van hollen: it's -- dr. hall: i'm not trying to argue. senator van hollen: let me ask about two parts of the plan i tried to spend time on the floor warning my colleagues about, the global intangible low tax income, guilty, for short, you're familiar with that? dr. hall: yes. senator van hollen: and another part that's a deduction for profits from foreign sale the ftii. on page 109 of your report you state, quote, i low -- by located more tangible assets abroad, a corporation is able to reduce the amount of foreign income that is characterized as guilty, si

van hollen. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome, mr.secretary. >> thank you. >> i want to go back to the question asked by the ranking member at the beginning regarding the overall budget priorities, because as you agreed, the proposal that was put forward was a 14% cut from what had actually been provided the year before, and it does go to the question of priorities. are you pleased with what you've seen of the current budget proposal working its way through the congress on a bipartisan basis in terms of the numbers for hud? >> it could be improved, there's no question that it could be improved, but we'll work with what we have. and we recognize that, you know, the whole budgetary process is not a simple one. >> right. >> we make proposals. it's actually congress who actually establishes what the budget is. and whatever that budget is, we will work with that. >> i understand that, but in terms of the overall levels for hud, is that -- it's substantially more than you asked for. are you pleased with the increase that was provided by the