carper: i would be happy to. mr. kennedy: senator, do i understand you correctly that one of senator wyden's problems or issues is the cost? mr. carper: cost to -- cost that might be incurred by the social security administration because they would be asked to share this information more widely among federal agencies than they do today. mr. kennedy: well, would the senator yield for -- mr. carper: sure. mr. kennedy: then i would suggest, mr. president, senator carper through the president that we sit down with senator wyden and try to address these very legitimate concerns. for the moment, i happen to be chairman of the fsgg subcommittee in appropriations, and it may be that we can addresses those concerns later and i will be more than happy to. but i am equally happy to report to the american people that the united states senate finally did something to stop paying dead people hard-earned taxpayer money. and i want to give most of the credit to senator carper, because he's a patient man. he's been working on this fo

>> thank you, senator carper. we have long supported a motor fuels tax increase as the most effective transparent and equitable way to pay for surface transportation infrastructure improvements. as you mention, senator, there is no silver bullet to a complex problem. that's why we've been steadfastly consistent in supporting any and all highway user fee proposals since the highway trust fund revenue crisis begin 12 euros ago. i would tell you it is going to take a unique combination of a a number of things, and we agree wholeheartedly that users of the system should be paid and for anything that's worthwhile will cost us dollars to do that. >> thank you. doug? >> so i think looking forward, and i've written on this and we've had this conversation, that motor fuel taxes are not the appropriate base anymore and it makes sense to move toward something like a vehicle miles tax with adjustments for weight and axles which cause damage to roads and bridges, and that's the invoice. you want to end up there at some point i

i'm going to then defer questions onto senator carper.i think senator hassan had to go to another committee. so senator hassan, if you're still there, let us know. if not, senator carper, you're up. >> good morning, mr. chairman. >> good morning. >> and good morning to each of our nominees and thank you for not only your willingness to serve in these positions to which you've been nominated but thank you for joining us today. i was privileged earlier in my life to serve as a naval flight officer in the vietnam war. are you retired marine or navy? >> i'm a retired -- i'm a retired navy commander, but son of a retired marine master sergeant. >> there you go. love the navy. had uncles who served in world war ii, korea, army-navy, and so, like your family, we know what it means to give. and we're pleased that each of you are willing to serve in the capacities to which you've been nominated. did i understand that you also served? you're muted, sir. >> the army national guard. >> that counts. >> i used to be commander in chief. love doing that.

chairman and ranking member carper and this outstanding panel but i agree with senator carper we have the a-team in front of us and i appreciate this discussion very much. i think it's a timely discussion. i've been a strong advocate for including the transportation infrastructure as part of the recovery since the beginning. because it has a number of advantages and some of you talked about that. it does have the advantage of creating a stimulus. they create jobs for building things that stimulate the economy and people working to stimulate the economy. it has the additional advantage of profitability of the private sector with movement of goods and services and products whether manufactured in st. louis and going to california or tourists going to yellowstone in delaware or north dakota. thirdly it's our responsibility. it's the responsibility of the federal government and the highway transportation bill another of the structure transportation infrastructure. it's a perfect time to do it. to that end that's why wrote an op-ed at the beginning of discussion about the recovery promotin

senator carper? he is ready. sen. carper: thank you to our witnesses. apecially the one who is graduate of the university of delaware. to yourask you pass on colleagues at yale our sincere appreciation for the work you do every day for our country. thank you. two,e i ask a question or i want to make some brief comments. racial disparities in this country of ours are rampant, and the covid-19 has only exasperated some of these issues, as we know. people of color are less likely to work a job that would allow them to work from home. in addition to having increased exposure to the virus, people of color can have lower access to health insurance, to healthy foods, economic opportunities, increasing the likelihood of a pre-existing condition. these issues, paired with many others, show economic inequities with people of color more likely to contract covid-19 and die from it. over 100,000 covid-19 deaths in the u.s. are african-americans, while they only make up about 13% of the american population. hispanics and latinos make up 4% of the u.s. population, but

this legislation we will introduce tomorrow will be led by myself and senator tom carper, my colleague from the other side of the aisle from delaware who was also my partner on this report with regard to the thousand talents program and the hearing. we also have five other democrats who will be joining us tomorrow, all of whom have an interest and understanding of this complicated issue. we'll also have about an equal number of republicans joining us. probably six to eight republicans. so again, this is going to be a bipartisan effort, i would say even a nonpartisan effort to ensure that in a smart, sensible, practical way we can respond to the threat that we're facing. in this case, from china taking our intellectual property, our innovations, our ideas, and taking them to china and using them in china, sometimes against the united states. in addition to the four examples we discussed tonight, the subcommittee will continue its work to shine a light on other examples for china and other -- where china and other countries aren't living by the rules, so we can ensure that with regard to

senator carper. >> mr. ambassador, welcome. always good to see you and to work with you and members of your staff. i want to start off by thanking you and members of your team. we met recently with a nominee by the president to be one of your two deputies and had a good conversation and were encouraged by that. i want to start off by thanking your team on your hard work on the u.k./u.s. trade negotiations. opening up the uk market is a priority for us expect we think it's important to seize the opportunity to open the uk market to our poultry farmers throughout the country. thank you for that. i'll probably go to my grave on an issue we don't see eye to eye on, thinking that we made a big mistake in pulling out of the transpacific partnership and the idea of having the u.s., part of 12 nations, encompass about 40% of the world's trade, and holding china outside of it because of their bad behavior on any number of fronts regarding trade and encroachments in the south china sea for us to walk away from that. i will go to my grave

carper: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no. mr. carper: good afternoon. i rise today to highlight some recent work we've done that could help not hundreds, not thousands, not hundreds of thousands, but millions of americans save some money while filing their federal income tax returns this year and in future years. as the ranking member of the subcommittee called permanent subcommittee on investigations in the senate, my staff and i work closely with a fellow named rob portman from ohio, chairman of the our subcommittee and with his team. if you put us all in a room together, senator portman's team, republicans, our team, democrat, and wonder who's who and who's side they're on, you wouldn't know one side from the other. sort of us working on the recycling issues with your team and mine, mr. president. but we studied a big problem and big challenges facing america and we try to identify commonsense solutions in a truly bipartisan, almost nonpartisan approach that has characterized the work of this subcommittee for decades. for years i've heard the followi

that's when i interviewed trump, he indicated carper is the only former president that he felt he really had an affinity for because he was a fellow outsider. >> host: one photograph captured in one of the former presidents after barack obama was elected, during the transition. though you can see george w. bush, his father george h. w. bush, president elect at the time, barack obama, former presidents clinton and carter. kate anderson power joining from her home in bethesda. bob is up from his hometown of illinois. good morning. >> caller: good morning, steve. love c-span. nice to talk with you. i've been voting straight democrat since 1972. on the southside of chicago, so, small city. i got a photograph of my late wife with mr. obama when he ran against bobby at a fundraiser. i'm a little discouraged by what i'm reading in the news. i hope this doesn't come back to the president. i would agree that there are some factors in the top of the fbi. i'm just hoping it doesn't come back to president obama. but if it does, is there any offer out there that will write a book about obama, and eve

senator carper. >> mr. chairman, thank you for the hearing you and senator wyden and the ranking member into the witnesses. especially the one that i think was an undergraduate at the university of science a few years ago. we are happy to welcome you ints the task to pass on to our colleague a sincere appreciation for the work you do every day for the country. >> thank you. >> i have a question or two of the witnesses. i want to make some brief comments. racial disparities in these countries are rampant and the pandemic is only exasperating some of those issues as we know. people of color are less likely to work a job that will allow them to work from home and in addition to having increased exposure to the virus, people ou color can now have access to insurance, healthy foods, economic opportunity to increase their likelihood of a pre-existing -- these make people disproportionately more likely to contract a covid-19. 23% of the over 100,000 covid-19 deaths in the united states are african-americans while

. >> thank you, senator carper. senator hasson? >> thank you, mr. chairman.hank you again to our nominees for your willingness to serve the american people. my first question is to mr. moke and mr. zellers. as i stated in my opening remarks, we find ourselves in a time of crisis due to the covid-19 pandemic. the postal service has projected revenue losses up to $13 billion this year and $10 billion next year and there are concerns it may run out of funds by september if congress does not intervene. what, in each of your experiences, has prepared for you to take on this massive challenge and, if confirmed, what will you do as a member of the board of governors to address the financial problems addressing the u.s. postal service? >> senator, again, i'm not a postal expert, but i would like to give an example of where i've dealt with the issues like this in the past. if i was to pivot and tell you that it's often hard to get people to act, to get groups to act collaboratively. and if you look at the challenges that are facing the postal service, as you just poin

carper: i ask to vitiate the quorum call. madam president, the bill before us today, the great american outdoor act, is a landmark legislation. it would fulfill a long-standing promise to the american people to fully fund the land and water conservation fund. the measure would make the down payment on deferred maintenance. i'm out of practice. make a down payment on deferred maintenance of our nation's beloved public lands, that includes over 400 national parks. it also includes more than 500 national wildlife refugees that is on the committee which i serve as ranking member. while i am proud to support the great american outdoors act, we would be remiss if we did not put the senate's consideration of this legislation in the context of everything else that's happening in our country today. as we've learned in the 15 days since the death of george floyd, we also have other long-standing promises to fulfill. let me mention four of them. first, is the promise of an end to be racial violence in this country and a new beginning in

have introduced that legislation with my colleagues, senators peters, collins, feinstein, lankford, carperromney, tester, portman, and hassan. i want to thank ranking member peters for working with me on this and his input has been insightful in crafting this bipartisan legislation, and his staff has been diligent in furthering these efforts. whether you have been following the important work of inspector generals for many years or you have just tuned in for the last few, we welcome your support. i hope that support continues well past the current administration. if we don't update the law, we can only expect future administrations to -- to continue to do what has been done lately, not giving congress good reasons. on another matter, in three weeks, america will celebrate independence day. for 244 years, americans have fought, marched, voted, petitioned, legislated, published, protested, and died to defend and build our blessings of freedom. the american experiment has plenty of battle scars and growing pains handed down from one generation to the next. the first half of 2020 shows us ther

as well as senator rubio, who chairs the small business committee and senator carper. it's gained the support of organizations that advocate for small businesses, including the u.s. chamber of commerce, the national association of manufacturers, and the national federation of independent business. it's also been endorsed by groups in the financial services industry including the texas society of certified public accountants, the american institute of c.p.a.'s and the independent bankers of the texas. but most importantly, this bill is an answer to the real concerns that business owners are facing. as we work to strengthen our coronavirus response and recovery, that should be the guiding principle here in the senate -- figure out what's working, what isn't, and act appropriately. this is a big contrast, mr. president, between the approach we're seeing from our house colleagues. a few weeks ago they passed a bill that was chockful of ideological policy proposals. thet know it has absolutely no chance of gaining any traction in the senate, but they didn't seem to care. th

i'm joining, senators hassan, carper and gillibrand and murphy to pass emergency funding so state and local and tribal governments can fight the pandemic and keep their communities safe. unless people think this is a blue or red issue, i ask unanimous consent that the following letter be placed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: this letter is from the big seven national associations, they represent the governors, democrat and republican, the mayors, democrat and republican, the state legislators, democrat and republican, the county leaders, democrat and republican, the city managers they all got together in a bipartisan way, as this chamber should do, and wrote the senate a letter pleading -- pleading for federal support and warning of the dire consequences of the delay. let me read a passage from their letter. to leader mcconnell and myself, copied all republican and democratic senators, continue there are many organizations from red states signing this letter. previous federal bills -- this is what they wrote, responding to covid-19 provided impor

. >> senator carper. >> i would like to say, mr. secretary, welcome. i want to stay on point that the senator just raised. i spoke last week with our own secretary of labor at the department of labor in delaware and the issue of fraud came up. he mentioned foreign involvement and he talked about the folks -- a criminal element in nigeria, i think is what he said, and -- >> that's correct. >> and the amount of money that may have been stolen, literally, by these folks, pretty smart. in the billions of dollars. and i would just ask as a followup question with respect to what mike enzi was just raising, i think you've said this, would you commit to provide jo and the agency inspector general with the information they need to conduct oversight of the responses with respect to ui benefits? >> we will certainly cooperate with -- in investigations being conducted as to that. we're working with the inspector general. i actually sent a joint memo to all labor department employees, joint with the inspector general, about a month or so, maybe six weeks ago, empha