chair moran: senator king. sen. king: in answer to senator tuberville's questions, i think this records problems started with a no-bid contract about five years ago, six years ago it was extended by the last administration. and i still don't understand why we don't go out to the market. i'm sorry you mentioned epic, because epic is a successful medical records system that i observed in my system. well, ok. in any case, it seems to me in order to analyze the issue of the relationship between v.a. direct care and community care we need more data. we know exactly the v.a. wait times and all of those kinds of things. we don't have that kind of data in terms of the private sector. i know in the private sector in maine it is hard to get an appointment. and particularly with a specialist. i think in order to make policy here, mr. chairman, we need some information. we need to have cost comparisons, we need to have time comparisons, wait times, so everybody is nodding, but that will not show up in the record. could somebody

chair moran: senator banks, you are recognized. sen. king:'s -- sen. banks: those four years of president trump's first term, four great years for america's veterans, president trump was a veterans president. we did great things expanding greater accountability for v.a. employees. we loosened standards for the ga bill -- g.i. bill. president trump sent us down a path to modernize electronic health records. the list goes on and on. among the greatest accomplishments in the years i have served in congress. now we have another four years and you are going to be a great secretary working with a great president. i cannot wait to work with you to do even greater things for america's heroes. i have concerns about the condition of our medical facilities and we talked about this in my office. the indianapolis medical center is due for a total replacement. it is in the v.a.'s five-year development plan, meaning it is a project you have on the books but you do not have funding to do. will you commit today to working with me to get that project started next year a

chair smith: mr. moran. rep. moran: let me give you a foundation about my district. 17 counties in rural texas. let me provide the impact of the tcja and what would happen if it expired. expiration in my district alone for our businesses would put 12,000 plus family-owned farms in texas in jeopardy of having their tax exemption slashed and half last -- next year. they would be hit with a 43% tax rate increase if the 199 a small business deduction expires in the failure to renew certain pro manufacturing initiatives puts nearly 14,000 jobs in my district at risk. these statistics underscore a larger theme that across several industries whether it is agriculture, small businesses or large manufacturers, the tcja promotes the growth of business in america. now more than ever it is important to ensure congress continues to put americans first by providing tax incentives for american businesses to grow themselves. restoring the immediate r&d expensing provision is a prime example of putting american businesses first.

chair cotton: thank you senator moran. senator king? sen. king: i want to applaud and express my admiration for your service in the military and congress, very challenging jobs. i want to thank you for that. i noted that edwards noted was in the hawaii of all places for year and a half before he fled to hong kong. did you ever meet him or have any contact with him during that period or subsequently with telephone calls, emails, zooms, contact with lawyers? ms. gabbard: not at any time have i had contact with edwards noted. sen. king: you introduced a bill in 2020 that was essentially a parted, it basically said all charges should be dropped. you had a lot of whereas in that bill. where did the factual basis for those clauses come from? ms. gabbard: if i recall it came from publicly available information. sen. king: were you aware there was a bipartisan committee report from the house intelligence committee in 2016 on snowden's activities? ms. gabbard: i don't recall specifically at that time but i am aware of that committee's report and exec

chair boozman: senator moran. sen. moran: i would defer to the senate majority leader. r boozman: they told me that the majority leader was here, and it is customary that he goes, but he was trying to be a -- show his servant leadership and let you go. [laughter] sen. moran: i was trying to do the same thing and i yield to the senator from south carolina. chair boozman: sen. fetterman:, i think it is a real tribute sen. fetterman: is a busy person trying to get the railroad going and doing a lot of different things. it shows how important agriculture is not only to him but to his estate. -- his estate. >> moran is trying to get one up on me. thank you for the willingness to serve. this issue is incredibly important, as you know, to the folks on this committee. it is the number one industry in our state of south dakota. we know you are going to be great in this job and we look forward to getting you confirmed and off to work. there are several things that need to be worked on. we have a record trade deficit which we have never seen that before. it has been one area of our

chair cruz: senator moran. no, sorry. senator baldwin. sen. baldwin: thank you, mr. lutnick, for your willingness to serve. i'm going to ask a more general question, then i want to dig into some of the details you have heard a little bit about from my colleagues. the department of commerce does significant work to ensure that u.s. companies are able to compete with china. and drive -- it also does a lot of work to drive innovation in america. i want to ask very broadly, how will you utilize the programs within the commerce department? including those authorized by the bipartisan ships and science act, to promote american innovation? mr. lutnick: for the example, we want to bring semi conductors back to america. we want to look at the supply chain and bring that back to america. we want to create those great jobs so we can go back to innovating, which is where we began, right? intel began with chips, right? and then the world sort of leveraged our chips. tsmc leveraged us and took it from us. and who drove them? apple. who is apple? it is america. we want to bring tha

i'm jerry moran, i'm a united states senator from. >> kansas. >> and i chair the subcommittee and commerce committee on aviation. so we have really. >> a serious and sad. >> circumstance that we. >> want. >> to be here to be helpful. and we're. >> praying that. our responders. >> are safe. and the folks who are on that flight are recovered. the circumstance i would describe is that i know that flight. i've flown it many times myself. i lobbied american airlines to begin having a direct nonstop flight service to dca. that flight has been in existence about a year, and it is certainly true that in kansas and in wichita in particular, we're going to know people who are on this flight, know their family members, know somebody. so this is a very personal circumstance as well as an official response. and again, we're we will do everything we can to make certain that we're supportive of the rescue efforts, and we'll do everything we can to make certain that our subcommittee and congress is engaged in what needs to take place following the outcome of this evening and this this month's kind of inve

i'm jerry moran, i'm a united states senator from kansas. and i chair the subcommittee and commerce committee on aviation. so we have really a serious and sad circumstance that we want to be here to be helpful. and we're praying that our responders are safe. and the folks who are on that flight are recovered. the. circumstance i would describe is that, um, i know that flight. i've flown it many times myself. i lobbied american airlines to begin having a direct nonstop flight service to dca. that flight has been in existence about a year, and it is certainly true that, uh, in kansas and in wichita in particular, we're going to know people who are on this flight, know their family members, know somebody. so this is a very personal circumstance as well as an official response. and again, we're we will do everything we can to make certain that we're supportive of the rescue efforts, and we'll do everything we can to make certain that, uh, our subcommittee and congress is engaged in what needs to take place following, uh, the outcome of this evening and this

moran. i'm a united states senator from kansas, and i chair the subcommittee in commerce, committee on aviation. so we have really a serious and sad circumstance that we want to be here to be helpful. and we're praying that our responders are safe. and the folks who are on that flight are recovered. the circumstance i would describe is that i know that flight. i've flown it many times myself. i lobbied american airlines to begin having a direct nonstop flight service to dca. that flight has been in existence about a year. and it is certainly true that in kansas and in wichita in particular, we're going to know people who are on this flight, know their family members, know somebody. so this is a very personal circumstance as well as an official response. and again, we're we will do everything we can to make certain that we're supportive of the rescue efforts, and we'll do everything we can to make certain that our subcommittee and congress is engaged in what needs to take place. following the outcome of this evening and this this month's kind of investigation. i've talked to ntsb, i've talked to

chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker'srooms, washington, d.c. january 22, 2025. i hereby appoint the honorable nathaniel moran to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, mike johnson, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 3, 2025, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with time equally allocated between parties, and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to five minutes. but in event that will debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from massachusetts, mrs. trahan, for five minutes. mrs. trahan: mr. speaker, we're more than three weeks into january. and yet republican leadership in this chamber has failed to call a vote on a single piece of legislation to address the pressing needs of hardworking families. nothing to ease the burden of grocery prices, nothing to lower the cost of prescription drugs, and nothing to

moran, it should be a wake up call to the country and i got the call and we're going to do something about this. thank you. chair: we're going to proceed as follows. i'm going to swear in the witnesses. they each have five minutes to make presentations and then we open it to the senators who have each five minutes to ask questions. so i, my first request is for the five witnesses to please stand and take the oath. do you affirm the testimony you're about to give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? the record reflect that the five witnesses answered in the affirmative. four mr. toure. >> chairman durban, ranking member graham, a member of this committee. good morning and thank you all for inviting me to speak with you today. before i begin, i'd like to express my deep sympathy to patty moran for the horror she and her family have endured. my prayers are with you and those dedicated, fighting for justice. i am a daca recipient, a prosecutor, a husband and a dad and without question, a patriot. my love for this country stems from my elementary school d

chair cassidy: senator kaine. sen. kaine: congratulations on your nomination. thank you for starting off the day acknowledging the pain felt by people in this region by the horrible air tragedy last night. senator marshall, senator moran folks from kansas, , virginia, d.c., maryland. when that passenger list comes out and the three soldiers names are revealed, every officer will have some connection to him. you have your staff that lives here and you dread seeing that list of names. i drove to the airport at 6:30 a.m. and across the potomac saw the recovery operation underway in daylight hours and i thought about the last big aviation disaster in richmond. on 9/11, a plane slammed into the pentagon. virginia got hurt very bad that day. so did the nation. a couple months ago you posted this on your ex account. -- your x account. on 9/11, it's hard to tell what is conspiracy theory and what isn't. i would like to introduce that for the record, mr. chair. we take that kind of stuff very personally. virginians know what happened on 9/11. we don't need folks giving oxygen to conspiracy theories about 9/11. one thing that i noticed about this post is it was in july of 2024. 23 years after 9/11. you had a lot going on in you