last congress republicans routinely required the committee to meet in person -- did not require the committee to meet in person just to hold over nominations. republicans extended this courtesy at least 17 times last congress, even when very controversial nominees were on the agenda. hen very controversial nominees were on the agenda. but now that republicans are in the majority democrats on this committee are not extending the same practice to us. oiler committee works best when both sides uphold norms, regardless which party holds the majority at any one time. i'm disappointing that my colleagues -- disappointed that my colleagues are not reciprocating a courtesy when we were in the minority. i would be glad to turn to ranking member durbin. we'll take up the administrative matters we have to deal with. mr. durbin: you're right, what you said is true under chairman graham we tried to avoid meeting if it wasn't absolutely necessary. and we did that on a bipartisan basis. i think i speak for the democratic side, we hope to return to that model. this is an extraordinary nomination. kash patel

next we will adopt the committee rules. my staff and ranking member durbin, likewise, have worked on these rules and have shared them with all of you in advance by voice vote. all of those in a favor of adopting committee rules say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the rules are adopted. finally we will approve subcommittee and subcommittee memberships. these have been circulated in advance. all those in favor of approving sub and subcommittee memberships essay aye. opposed to say no. the ayes appear to have it in the committee rules are adopted. senator kennedy. sen. kennedy: i just wanted to respond briefly. thank you, mr. chairman. i wanted to respond briefly to my colleague senator durbin. senator, i listen carefully to what you said. i do not know a single member of this body who condones what happened on january 6. i want to be very clear. but the united states supreme court has been very clear. the united states supreme court has ruled the united states department of justice overcharged many of the

last congress republicans routinely required the committee to meet in person -- did not require the committee to meet in person just to hold over nominations. republicans extended this courtesy at least 17 times last congress, even when very controversial nominees were on the agenda. but now that republicans are in the majority democrats on this committee are not extending the same practice to us. oiler committee works best when both sides uphold norms, regardless which party holds the majority at any one time. i'm disappointing that my colleagues -- disappointed that my colleagues are not reciprocating a courtesy when we were in the minority. i would be glad to turn to ranking member durbin. we'll take up the administrative matters we have to deal with. mr. durbin: you're right, what you said is true under chairman graham we tried to avoid meeting if it wasn't absolutely necessary. and we did that on a bipartisan basis. i think i speak for the democratic side, we hope to return to that model. this is an extraordinary nomination. kash patel nomination that leads us to want to meet today to sp

[gavel bangs] echo the committee to order. i want to welcome everyone to the first hearing of the committee this congress. i am excited to assume the role of chair and serve as a voice for our small businesses. the purpose of today's hearing is to consider president trump's nominee to lead the small business administration, former senator kelly loeffler. i would like to welcome you all here today, and thank you for your willingness to serve. thank you very much, senator. i am also delighted to welcome the committee's new ranking member, senator markey, he has been an esteemed member of the committee for nearly 12 years. we both recognize the importance of our nation's small businesses deadly innovation, and i am excited to continue the bipartisan working relationship of our committee. i would also like to welcome back our returning members, and provide warm welcome to our new members to the committee. senators kurtis, justice, custard and shift. i am looking forward to working with everyone, and i expect a very productive term

to the committee, lieutenant colonel tulsa gabbard.hank you. [applause] >> thank you, senator vitter. now our colleague, senator joni ernst of iowa, has taken a few minutes out of her scheduled to introduce miss gabbard as well. >> thank you chairman cotton and ranking member warner. good morning to my distinguished colleagues. i also want to take a moment this morning to recognize the lives lost in the collision near dcaa last night. it is a truly heartbreaking tragedy. my prayers are with the victims families and their loved ones. thank you. duty, honor, service. these are not just words. they are principles that have guided lt. col. gabbard. as a young enlisted soldier in the hawaii national guard, she answered the call to duty upon her deployments to the middle east. from graduating at the top of her class, to the accelerated officer candidate at the alabama military academy. the first woman to do so, to serving as the youngest member of hawaii's legislature. she upheld honor while breaking barriers both in uniform and in her civil

and the help committee will have an option to call a hearing to further review. these commitments and my expectation that we can have a great working relationship to make america healthy again is the basis of my support. he'll be the secretary, but i believe he will also be a partner in working for this end. if mr. kennedy is confirmed, i will use my chairman to rebuff any removal of lifesaving vaccines without ironclad scientific evidence that can be accepted and defended before the mainstream scientific community and before congress. i will watch carefully for any effort to wrongly sow public fear about vaccines between confusing references of coincidence and anecdote. my support is built on insurances that this will not have to be a concern and that he and i can work together to build an agenda to make america healthy again many we need a -- again. we need a letter at hhs who will guide president trump's agenda to make america healthy again. based on mr. kennedy's assurance on vaccines and his platform to positively influence america's health, it is my conside

on this cdr committee. and taking it over with [inaudible] and you doe in and your energy is amazing. and you stay your mind is sharp the entire meeting. you don't ever pause. you can't, right. and you are on it. you are on it! and it is so impressive. i'm just say i can't thank you enough for what you have done with that committee. >> thank you. [applause] >> and also [inaudible] there is, lot of visibility in this committee it is intersexting with many departments. one of the things that we want to do is to facilitate the design process and not to be burden some on it. so, it is not without great notice that it is so important to meet quorum and be there and have done the work. for all ofow that committee, you know we really greatly appreciate the time that you spends in advance. so that00 autodepartments that we are working with are looking forward to. the interaction. that -- you know is something that takes time to develop that culture. the entire committee you know is a product of leadership. thank yo

a bipartisan committee. my friend richard burr who said we always kinda follow the truth. one of the things i was proud of , people would come in, they did not know whether the staffer was a democrat or republican. we were all looking out for the same thing. ms. gabbard, support and commend you for your service. but we have heard this morning taking from individuals advice on chemical attacks, not taking american intelligence community as we subsequently discovered had iffy ties, not enough due diligence. we heard on your trip to lebanon you are fully aware the folks were paid for the trip. had these relations and ties to the syrian party. i know i have asked you and i understand on the trip that you said you met with shia religious figures and you did not know who they were. i can understand that. although i can't understand shia religious figures that did not have ties to hezbollah. we can have a difference of opinion on tiktok. the chairman and i feel very strongly that it is a national security threat. o

he gets out of committee. they could have reported this out of committee with an unfavorable recommendation, say he would have gone the other direction. maybe that was something that bill cassidy just did not want to deal with. it is not unprecedented, i will say this. i'm not saying this is how senator cassidy would vote on the floor. it is not precedented to someone to vote for somebody in committee to get them out there and vote no on the floor. it will be about the math on the floor. the numbers right now are 53-47 in favor of the republicans and even with vice president vance they could probably get this through. a confirmation vote is a week or two away. >> dana: chad pergram, thank you for all of that. the final vote in committee 14/13 specialty rfk junior advances to floor consideration for health and human services secretary in the new trump cabinet. we'll turn it over to you, john to get us to break. >> john: we await the confirmation hearing in the intelligence committee for tulsi gabbard happening

any other committee members? oh i respond oh oh yeah. >> to respond because i know you have that question a member freedom or anyone else so friend okay i just like to say shout out to greatly for for always plugging those message oh she's the best and my last question is more to my fellow well fellow member so i understand that we're an advisory committee and there are limits to or there are i want to have realistic expectations about our advice and how it's received and incorporated into you know, the final approved budget. >> so we'd love to just hear if if we feel in the past our recommendations have been adopted for the most part etc. yeah we can go down the line. >> i'll respond to that. i feel like that we've done work in terms of having several meetings where we try to get to alignment with the departments and it's actually been really great these liaison meetings and working in partnership so i think there has been significant alignment. i would also advocate that we have additional meetings with the may

the members of the committee as well as folks like jell-o brand off the committee are very anxious to have a whinny pop -- to have a win in this digital space. for the first time in a long time there to reason to take a deep breath and release it because legislation is moving quickly. the good news is, and a lot of time has been spent working on the legislation finding places where there are disagreements, key for us getting us -- getting this to the president's desk. i think that is why this task happens next. to look at the component parts of hagerty bill. that is what we are moving fast is stable coins. sen. helmy: -- sen. hirono:sen rep. hill: we will begin the process where we left off the 118th congress. we worked hand in glove diligently with our colleagues on the democratic side of the aisle in the house. many of the ideas reflected in the market structure bill and some in the stable coins bill reflected views from the minority party in the house and we will continue to do that. you will see that as we move forward with a set of hearings and the discussion. i remain committed

we strongly support the house agriculture committee bill and senate agriculture committee proposal goingreflect the goal. along with thousands of farmers and processers and refiners, we urge them to act swiftly to pass a five year farm bill and strengthening the u.s. sugar policy and u.s. al curture and stand -- agriculture and stand ready and eager. i look forward to your questions. >> thank you, jennifer. leading congress to provide much needed aid for 2024. and thank you r thank you for delaying what would have been a full fledged farm crisis. many appreciate there's farmers out there who even with this relief this year i'm even more worried about what is to come. and last week we had one of the hardest decisions we've had: is farming really worth? we're only one farm family of thousands that are having these same conversations. >> a lot being mentioned about the aid at the end of last congress and this committee working hard in a bipartisan way to get that done. and >> that five year contract looking to it is very importanttous and then as i stated within what should congress be cons

member of the rules committee. happy to be here and thank you for the accommodation of moving this forward on the agenda because i believe that it is very important that you have a full understanding of all of this related to our military style equipment usage that we've had and what we were asking for upcoming in the next fiscal. presentation is being assisted by captain khabib here who will also be available for any follow up questions on the items that we are showing right now in our presentation and try to be as quick as possible. however, please feel free to ask any questions as we go along this again is to seek approval for the following continued use of existing equipment from our original mi up from 2023 additional equipment to replenish that which has been used in 2024 and additional equipment to supplement that that is in limited quantity right now of our current inventory. we do have a request for approval for one new item that will be presented as well if we can go forward with this again these presenta

he also said in march, given this committee's essential role, ways and means committee, in originating and crafting legislation on tax policy, legislative text is absolutely necessary to alloy us to evaluate it and consider the true impact of these dangerous policy proposals will have on our constituents. these are words right from chairman smith. he should be saying the same thing right this minute. he said, the american -- he likes the i.g.'s office because he said, the american people deserve to know the facts about this breach of trust. the treasury inspector general for taxed a strairks the i.r.s. and treasury, must explain to the american people what happened and what is being done to make sure that it's never done again with their private information. he said at a later date, it's up to us, members of the chief tax writing committee, that's us, in congress to protect the public trust and to secure private taxpayer administration. finally, on september 17 of 2024, on a floor debate he said, when americans file their tax returns, they expect their personal data and tax information

this is an interesting committee. it represents the spectrum of politics in the united states senate. we have the most republican republicans and the most democratic democrats sitting on this committee. so you won't be surprised that many times we disagree. and that disagreement sometimes leads to good speeches but very few laws. there was an exception. two years ago we took up this issue and started talking about what we could do to stop the spread of fentanyl and the deadly impact it is having on america. we actually voted in this committee on a bipartisan basis unanimously for five measures that dealt with social media. your point, if snapchat were a store on the corner selling fentanyl lateed percocet and it happened one time and they could be sued, that would be the end of the story. but we learned through section 230 that social media gets off the hook. you are joining families, i understand, trying to hold them responsible for your son's death and other deaths as well. i couldn't support you more. let me tell y

welcome to this committee. that was me before you you and i have had the experience of workingtogether previously. work together to see what veterans are well cared for at asmembers of this committee have an opportunity to express the views and make a difference in this arena. might work on this committee's almost always driven by what i hear from veterans. particulate home in kansas but also across the country. we will hear from a lot of veterans organizations as well. this is how do we make the v-8 vawork better? was it doing well, what is it not doing well? sometimes what it a time also is veterans as citizens in a group work to solve problems and access healthcare. benefits they've earned and thad achieved in their success in their service. i want them to be successful after their service. i expect the next secretary of veterans affairs to share a similar focus. the role of the secretary of the department of veterans affair is critical of america's national security is dependent upon all voluntary and a va

once the cra resolution is sent to a committee, if the committee does not report that resolution, 30 senators can band together to discharge the resolution from a committee. if you happen to see a cra resolution sitting around committee and thinking this isn't moving fast enough and my boss wants to get this discharged, then work to get 29 of your colleagues together to write a letter to get it discharged. then it will go to the floor and the cra resolution is privileged, meaning that the senate cannot proceed to other business, the vote cannot be postponed. they are going to be considering that cra resolution. debate on cra resolutions is very quick, it is limited to 10 hours divided equally between either side. of course the republicans are probably going to say we don't need five hours of debate on this. they can also pass a non-debatable resolution or motion to limit debate. some of the debate can happen very quickly on the cra. if you are writing vote recs for your boss, beyond top of cra's because those will come up very fast. make sure you are signed up for the cloak room emai

at his committee hearing mr. patel said all f.b.i. employees will be protected against political retribution. great. ok. yet just hours later the administration force the out eight of the bureau's most senior career, say that again, career public servants who serve in nonpartisan roles. one day later an email was sent to f.b.i. employees requesting a list of everyone who had worked on january 6 cases. quote, to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary, end quote. you just get assigned to a case. you are brand new agent. maybe you have been there and have a specialty working on certain types of cases. you get assigned and now you are on this list? seems a little bit reminiscent to the list that kash patel has at the end of his book. this could sweep up and will sweep up agents that are just doing their jobs. the f.b.i. director's loyalty must be to the american people, to the constitution, and to the rule of law. mr. patel has made it clear that his loyalty is to the president. he has threatened to come after, t

and this committee had members off of the committee. chair grassley, ranking member durbin, friends and colleagues on the committee, i have completed my due diligence and i am honored to provide my strongest recommendation for his confirmation. thank you. chair grassley: thank you for that introduction. before i swear you, i want to make clear that before you give your statement, if you want to hear whose family and friends in the audience you are welcome to do that. would you please stand and raise your hand. do you swear or affirm that the testimony at that url -- that you are about to give to the committee is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? mr. patel: i do. chair grassley: you may proceed. mr. patel: chairman grassley, ranking member durbin, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity. i messed -- i must start with a word of prayer for the tragic accident that befell our nation last night where we lost civilians in service members. i pray for their families and law enforcement and

move her out of committee? >> listen, margaret, edward snowden released more information probably did as much damage to our intelligence community as anyone in history. and the fact that miss gabbard, who actually had legislation to pardon edward snowden, called him a brave whistleblower, couldn't call him a traitor is disqualifying just on plain judgment. what would -- what signal would that send to the workers or contractors? is she going to enforce the law if she called snowden a brave whistleblower? what i'm concerned about, our sharing of information with our allies, that's not written into law. that's based on trust. will they really trust to share their intelligence with us if she can't call out one of the worst traitors in recent american history as such, as a tralter. >> do you think she can make it to full vote on the floor of the senate? >> i know there are a number -- our committee is the most bipartisan. we check our partisan hats at the door. there is enormous maga pressure, as we have seen, put o

this is one of the earliest dates the finance committee has helped a committee for the u.s. tr.ponses to questions from both sides of the aisle expedited the process. mr. greer is nominated by the president for an important job. our negotiator must report to congress, which means he reports to the finance committee. this week attention fell on president trump's executive orders to help secure our borders from illegal immigration and infantile smuggling. i strongly support securing wars and fighting fentanyl trafficking. the borders rely on emergency economic powers act and concerned drug policy and border security. the president, not the u.s. tr, invokes them. the department of homeland security, not the u.s. tr is responsible for securing borders. i am securing briefings on these orders and customs and border protection will brief the committee on this matter today. what the president has done that is different is to bring tariffs into the discussion about border security. ustr is america's chief trade negotiator. any time the u.s. government is considering tariffs or something

, transportation committee. faa hiring policy for air traffic controllers including under the first trump administration, offered equal opportunity to those with targeted disabilities including as the president read, hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial, complete paralysis, severe intellectual disability. the president singled this out, this policy, as a contributor possibly to the crash. do you agree with the diversity policy or do you agree with the president? i know you lost two limbs serving this country in afghanistan. do you hear those words and take offense to them? or -- >> no offense. let's unpack it. number one, use myself as an example, right. there are things that i am suited to do, no doubt, but flying an aircraft, to stick with the subject at hand would not be one of them. i could fly a personal aircraft but put me in charge of 50 or 150 lives that would not be the right case for me personally given my physical disabilities and foot pedals on aircraft. to go to the diversity side and the c

assertion, then damn, this committee ought to be able to draw the same adverse interest or have that -- sorry, adverse inference or have that adverse inference dispelled by having this individual actually testify about it. if we want to do this in closed session f. we want to do this with some safeguards, all of that is fine. but you spoke very eloquently at the beginning of this, mr. chairman, about the importance of precedent, and i just want to mark right now that this is a first time precedent in which a nominee for a senior law enforcement position in the united states of america has assert add fifth amendment privilege about his -- asserted a fifth amendment privilege about his own conduct and has testified in front of a grand jury and the committee is being denied access either to the gravamen of his fifth armed assertion or his content of his grand jury testimony. to me that is n extremely dangerous and astonishing precedent. i'll ask that the letter that we sent be put into the record. chair announcer: following the meeting democratic members of the committee voiced a concer

we have agreed, i think is a committee and we have done some pretty good work together as a committeeo try to put pressure on drug sales that come via the internet and through social media. and so it is disturbing to me that president trump pardoned an individual who ran a drug selling dark web site. he a also it's a murder for hire accusations just to add a little bit of color to a decent person he was. the place we get the most progress is ranking member durbin mentioned earlier is section 2:30 per i applaud the litigation going forward. i applaud the lawyers who been able to negotiate the various hurdles that congress has erected to the american system of justice. having its role in dealing with deaths and with these tragedies. i think there is bipartisan support for repealing section 2:30. i am on for that but the sooner we do that the better we are pretty simply wrong for enormously powerful social media entities that no other entity shares. they have blown any excuse to maintain that privilege position with their behavior in my view. so let's go for 2:30. with respect too enforc

this committee is one of the bipartisan here.because also i believe we have a lot more in common with on both sides of this committees eyes. we believe time axis and care for veterans for every eligible person. we're supposed to reach out information act provide that template we passed here that i was part of passing. the v.a. caledonian whistleblower protection act which passed by this body nancy that holds veterans workers and workers who touch her veterans to the isa standards possible. i will will tell you now the veterans of v.a. will not have a stronger fighter for the employees in the workforce than this sector if confirmed and also one that will make sure were held accountable because good work because good work and others need to be held accountable we will do that to make sure we get the best. the pass act which was mentioned something i think we're still developing and making sure everybody gets treatment. just past the elizabeth dole act something to look at next. as we look at this i bring one thing that will require

that's in committee. and the floor. there are several other republican senators who have not said how they will ultimately vote on the senate floor. phil, one other thing we need to watch out for this afternoon is the nomination of tulsi gabbard to be the next director of national intelligence. she's hanging by a thread because of one republican senator on that senate intelligence committee that senator todd young, just walked into the room. he still would not answer questions. moments ago when we asked him if he would support tulsi gabbard's nomination. so that's something to watch. this afternoon. two key committees, two nominees hanging by a thread by two senators, republican senators who have not said how they will vote. bill cassidy still, at this moment unclear whether he's going to break ranks and could scuttle this nomination in this committee or will join with his party advancing to the floor, setting up a major test for one of the most important positions in government. phil. >> yeah, a huge day for the nomina

not many of the funds committee member used to work for member of this committee is hardly i figure that long because he's ten years old. i remember when you're having -- my question is i know with new members and some of us need refresher. ntia which you are leading in a previous administration, 45, it matches the federal spectrum. a lot of agencies try to manage their own federal spectrum. can you c explain have a set supposed to work in the problems of how come what that causes when it happened? >> absolutely. so . so fragmentation when the worst could do to move things forward. you would lose everything from efficiencies you gained for all the federal agencies come together to discuss management of spectrum to national security concerns, can you imagine each agency was responsible for cybersecurity of the individual and? it would be disastrous. >> some agencies try to do that, right?ig >> some would like to, yes. >> all right. chair hudson and ranking member matsui talked about disputes going into this international bodies. just a refresher for some some who are new to the committee.

discharge from a committee. if you happen to see cra resolution and you say gosh, this isn't moving fast enough and my boss really wants to get discharged, then work to get 30 or 29 colleagues a letter and get it discharged and then it would go to the floor and cra resolution is privileged meaning that the senate cannot proceed to other business, the vote can't be postponed, if you are going to be considering that cra resolution. debate on cra resolutions is really quick, it is limited to ten hours divided equally between either side, of course, the republicans probably are going the say we don't really need five hours of debates on this, they can also pass a nondebatable resolution or motion to limit debate so some of the debate can happen very quickly on the cra so if you're writing vote recs for your boss, those vote wills come up really fast so make sure you're signed up for cloak room so you can get the vote reps out. the joint resolution itself may not be amended and then the senate can pass it by a majori

right now i have two bipartisan bills and commerce committee -- in commerce committee that deal with supply chains and strengthening those supply chains, because those key components, whether it is specialty metals or minerals or pharmaceutical ingredients, all of this in advanced manufacturing is vital to us. knowing that these inputs are going to come from trusted sources, that they are going to come from our allies and allow us to return to domestic manufacturing is something that is important. what i would like to hear from you is what steps you will take to strengthen these supply chains for us, for these domestic manufacturers, and make certain they can get what they need without having to necessarily deal with china. mr. greer: thank you senator. it was great to meet with you and your office and you have been a consistent supporter for me and i really appreciate that. that means a lot. you are fortunate in tennessee to have a dynamic economy and i think a lot of the country can learn a lot. i look at tennessee because you manufacture, you have ag, you have ip, all of these thi

or just say finance committee?ad: just one, they will vote on his nomination and you don't have to come out favorably. bill cassidy chairs the health committee, we don't know where he stands, that committee will not vote on his nomination. >> steve: to your point about cas cassidy, it is unclear how he'll vote but he doesn't like r.f.k. jr. has said in the past about vaccines. he is a professionally trained doctor, he's up for reelection next year in a very red state, louisiana. okay, doc, a physician, politician, physician, politician. >> chad: right. exactly. sometimes senators say this is my conscience, this is how i will vote on this. i will take the heat and defend this. i took the hippocratic oath, you just don't know. he is working through that nomination and if he's opposed in committee, he could vote no on the floor. you have heard me say, it is about the math. 53 votes in senate, they can only lose three to get down to j.d. vance casting a tiebreaking vote. >> ainsley: when can we watch the full hearing t

a refresher for some a new on the committee. with 2023 if you could talk about of the highlighted disputes and makes us ineffective. less effective. and if we go in to the international groups less effective how china will take advantage of that? >> absolute is on a prep work that goes into these events. >> not putting down personal his hand in phoenix of these international standards the specter knows no order and this and it know we can explain i cannot. but we do know that it crosses borders and so, what advantage does china have that they could leverage. were they do with having the leverage and what kind of standards to the influence and negatives and positives to them. >> is managers their community a great deal but it's she community of some pure walking in and your standards are accepted and you going to have that advantage of this what we want. >> so will kind of standards, more details. >> welcome whatever and so will have all of your radios and so the becomes incredibly expensive anyone want to try to have while other

senat banking, housing, and urban affairs committee. his fit appearance in frt of lawmakers since the 119 congress begann january. we will have live coverage at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3, c-span now, our free mobile video app, and on -- an online at c-span.org. >> democracy. it is not just an idea. it is a process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with regarding its basic principles. it is where debates unfold, decisions are made, and the nation's course is charted. democracy in real time. this is your government at work. this is c-span, giving you your democracy unfiltered. >> members of the house democratic women's caucus held a news conference on capitol hill where they spoke out against the trump administration's freezing of edible funds and discuss how it impacts women. congresswoman judy chu shared how she and wisconsin congresswoman walked into speaker johnson's office to demand access about elon musk's access to the treasury payments system. >> good morning, everyone. thank you fo