crapo: thank you. my second question -- you have already answered it, but i wanted to raise it again because it is so important. we have seen the unfortunate circumstance, in my opinion, in the last few years of the irs actually targeting individuals because of what they believe, and how they advocate in our society. you have already talked about this, but i would just encourage you to make a high priority that not only the irs that all of the federal functions under your jurisdiction as secretary of treasury, which i'm sure you are be confirmed to be, stopped from that kind of targeting of american citizens who are conducting perfectly legal business and engaging in perfectly free and legal speech. mr. mnuchin: you have my 100% assurance that i will do that. i think there is no place in not only the treasury but in other agencies for us to be having people act that way. sen. crapo: all right, thank you. my last question in this round would be back to the tax issue. one of the big issues that i think w

crapo of idaho. of mrs. duckworth of illinois. [inaudible conversations] >> raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear he was supported within the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same company take this oath and obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which you are about to enter, so help you god: congratulations, senators. [applause] [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> the clerk will call the roll them so the next group. >> mr. grassley of iowa.s ms. harris of california. ms. haston of new hampshire. mr. >> mr. hogan of north dakota. [inaudible conversations] >> please raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear he solemnly swear you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic,ha that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, they take this obligation freelyd

i hope you stand solidly against it. >> thank you, senator crapo, i know you worked on that issue. i would be sympathetic and willing to receive any information that i know you've gathered on to a form your views about it. >> i appreciate that. let me move on, to the question of regulatory overreach. i'll use one example there. i'm one who believes that, today, we have gone -- we talked a lot in the hearing about the rule of law. in america, statutes are passed by congress and signed into law by a willing president. but now we have multiple agencies that are doing rule makings, that in my opinion are going far beyond the legal authority of the laws under which they operate. i'll use one example, the waters of the united states rule that has been implemented or seeking to be implemented by the epa and army corps of engineers. that is totally unfounded in law in my opinion. often, the department of justice is partnered up these agenciesing a they try to defend their activities in court. and i am not sure i know the proper role. does the department of justice simply to have litigate o

>> well, thank you, senator crapo. you know, i came here as a lawyer, tried to conduct myself properly and consider what some might consider legal technicalities, but i think are pretty important. the bill, as i understood it, was controversial primarily because of this situation in which a non-tribal member could be tried in a tribal court which apparently, i think, it's fair to say is not constructed in a way that's consistent with the constitution, and that we have never done this before. and, so, eight of the nine republicans on the judiciary committee concluded that this was not appropriate. so, by voting against that version of the violence against women's act, if it had failed, we would not then, i'm confident, not had a bill. we would have been able to pass a violence against women act that didn't have that provision in it. so, that's sort of where we were in the political process. and one of the bad things about modern american politics is if you take that position, you're not portrayed as being wrong on the t

. >> i will, senator crapo and i would note on the death penalty case, my appealat lawyers gave a little briefing of the cases that were coming up and they said we'll be defending this death case but we're probably going to lose. i said why are we going to lose and they said it didn't have the aggravating factor you needed to carry out a death penalty. and i said we can't go before the supreme court and argue for a death penalty if it doesn't meet the standard for death penalty to which the lawyer said, well, the local people are really fired up about it and we usually just do what they want. and let the court decide. i said, no we shouldn't do that. well that turned out to be an easy decision to make that day but when i was running for the united states senate, a few -- maybe a year later, i became one of the biggest ads and biggest attacks on me that i failed to defend a jury conviction for murder in this county. you have to do the right thing and some of these other cases reflect the same thing indeed. this insurance commissioner, the case was taken by the governor's team to the state

crapo, 14%. tillis not rated. kennedy not rated. what did the democrats get on this committee?stein got 100%. leahy got 100%. durbin got 100%. whitehouse got 100%. klobuchar got 100%. franken got 100%. cans -- coons got 96. hirono got 100%. why do, would you say that there seem to a be difference in terms of the parties and how well they do with the naacp's legislative agenda? >> there is no questions the report card is based on legislation, not party affiliation. >> well, isn't it kind of odd one party gets 100% and nobody else does very well on our side? >> i don't think, senator, i don't think it is odd. it simply reflects -- >> i think it is really odd. i think it is, well it speaks for itself. name one, it means that you're picking things that conservative republicansp don't agree with you on, and liberal democrats do. i hope that doesn't make us all racist. and all of them perfect on the issue. can you name one person you think would be a good attorney general on the republican side? >> senator, my purpose here is, as you well know as a witness is to speak to the nominee'

dodd-frank, what you are starting to see is -- andmnuchin and jeff jeb hensarling as senator mike crapo, the banking committee chairman, all starting to put together behind the scenes and agenda of how exactly repealing parts of and walking back parts of the dodd frank bill would look like. there was aer day, meeting between jeb hensarling and statement edging discussing this topic along with tax reform. steven mnuchin has been making the rounds a meeting with key lawmakers ahead of this hearing and met with key members of leadership within the republican party to begin mapping out that agenda. he wills the criticism receive today within the hearing from democrats, the capitol hill aides i am speaking with are telling me that they will try to portray steven mnuchin as part of the way in which donald trump whoe into power as someone is, while connected to goldman sachs, is also a political outsider of sorts. inauguration being tomorrow , even if he has a couple of hiccup today, it could change the narrative tomorrow. you soft and -- soften dodd-frank or the volcker rule? how do you reduc

that is why senator crapo and i and others included it in the bill. there has not been any test to that. nobody's appealed it, nobody's objected to it, but would you be able to, if somebody does, would you be able to defend it in court? >> i would defend the statute if it's reasonably defensible, yes. as passed by congress it, would be the duty of the attorney general, whether they voted for it or support it to defend it. now, did i call you mr. chairman, mr. chairman, a while ago? i think i did. you've been my chairman many years. >> i spent 20 years back and forth. and i'm delighted to turn it over to senator feinstein and senator grassley. >> well, you'll be handling all the money of the united states i understand in your new position. >> i'll -- the -- in 2009 i offered the matthew shepherd and james bird hate crimes prevention act as an amendment to the defense bill. it extended hate crimes protection to lgbt individuals, women and individuals with disabilities. it passed the senate overwhelmingly. you opposed it. you stated at a hearing that you

. >> senator crapo. >> thank you very much, senator hatch. i appreciate your willingness, mr. mnuchin, to go through this and serve the american people. we truly need the kind of vision that president trump has enunciated for the country and that you've committed to help work with him to achieve for the country. as a part of that, one of the things that you've already mentioned today is that -- and i'm paraphrasing you here, i believe you said in essence, we have a regulatory excess in the united states in many circumstances that can and is inhibiting lending and inhibiting capital formation, two very important things that i think are critical to a pro-growth economy. could you elaborate on that? >> sure. let me first say i absolutely believe in proper regulation. and before i had the opportunity to put in a bid for indy mac bank, i had to be issued a charter. and i worked very closely with what was the ots at the time, and by the way, i was a big fan of you merging the ots is twith occ and getting rid of a regulatory agency. at the time i worked with the ots and the fed. the

crapo of idaho.o you solemnly support swear you will protect against enemies foreign and domestic and bear true faith and allegiance to the same that you take this oath and obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion that he will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office you are about to introduce a help you god? congratulations, senators. [applause] [inaudible conversations] the clerk will call the names of the next group. mr. grassley of iowa. ms. harris of california. mr. hoeven of north dakota do you swear to protect against enemies foreign and domestic that he will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation y or purpose of evasion and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which you are about to enter so help you god? congratulations. [applause] >> [inaudible conversations] the clerk will call the names of the next group. of mr. isakson, mr. johnson of wi

. >> senator crapo. >> thank you very much. mr. mnuchin i appreciate you being here and your willing nose go through this and to serve the american people. we truly need the kind of vision that president trump has enunciated for the country and you've helped work with him to achieve for the country. as a part of that one of the things you've already mentioned today and i'm paraphrasing you but i believe you said we have a regulatory excess in the united states in many circumstances that can, and is inhibiting lending and inhibiting capital formation, two very important things that i think are critical to a pro growth economy. could you elaborate on that? >> sure. let me first say i absolutely believe in proper regulation. and before i had the opportunity to put in a bid for indymac bank i had to be issued a charter and i worked very closely with what was the ots at the time and by the time i was a big fan of you merging the ots with the occ in getting rid of another regulatory agency. at the time i worked with the ots and the fed a

crapo of idaho, ms. duckworth of illinois. [inaudible conversations] >> raise your right hand. you solemnly swear will defend as for the constitution to basic and all enemies foreign and domestic, you will bear true faith and allegiance to do the do you take this up in obligation freely without any observation or mental perspiration that she will is basically discharged the offices of the duty and which are about about to enter so help you god. congratulations, senators. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> the clerk will call the names of the next group. >> mr. grassley of iowa, ms. harris of california, this has been after him sure mr. ho said of north dakota -- mr. hove in a joint dakota. [inaudible conversations] >> please raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear that you'll support and defend the constitution of the united foreign and domestic, that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that you will well an

crapo of idaho, ms. duckworth of illinois. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this oath of obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations, senators. the vice president: the clerk will call the names of the next group. the clerk: mr. grassley of iowa iowa, ms. harris of california, ms. hassan of new hampshire, mr. hoeven of north dakota. the vice president: please raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this oath and obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of ev

i've spoken with the new incoming chairman, mike crapo, chairman of the banking committee.ive impact from a number of the republicans . as you said, kevin, this is a bipartisan issue. we had two thirds of a majority in the senate vote for ex-im. we don't need that many to come from the board. but we need to get the board in place to do the full operation of the bank, which includes a lot of the small businesses. kevin: it will be interesting to see if chairman crapo is speaking from the same political playbook as his house colleague, chairman jeb hensarling. you have a couple of days left. fred: this is my last day. you got me on the last day, last interview. kevin: and you look back on your im bank come the ex- what has been the highlight for you personally, chairman fred hochberg? fred: the highlight is the jobs. over 1.4 million jobs the time i was at ex-im bank. i am very proud of that. 90% of the companies we work with our small businesses. kevin: chairman fred hochberg, appreciate the time is always. have a good one. julie: thank you so much, given, with fred hochberg

that is why senator crapo and i and others included it in the bill. ut let me -- there may be -- there have not been -- nobody's appealed this, nobody's objected to it but would you be able to, if somebody does, would you be able to defend it in court? senator sessions: i would defend the statute if it's reasonably defensible. yes, it's passed by congress. it would be the duty of the attorney general, whether they voted for it or supported it, to defend it. did i call you mr. chairman, mr. chairman, a while ago? you've been my chairman many years. senator leahy: i spent 20 years back and forth on this. i'm delighted to turn it over to senator feinstein and senator grassley. senator sessions: you will be handling all of the money of the united states, i understand, in your new position. senator leahy: i'll -- in 2009, i offered the matthew shepherd and james byrd hate crimes prevention act as an amendment to the defense bill. it extended the hate crimes protections to lgbt individuals, women and individuals with disabilities. it passed the senate overw

i appreciate very much your earlier comments to me and senator crapo about gse reform. but i want to clear up one thing. as you're aware, there have been a number of hedge funds that at the absolute demise of those fannie and freddie in the public markets, they went in and bought them cheap. that's what hedge funds do. they have then launched a remarkable campaign both public and private of lobbying that is in certain ways in terms of character assassination of certain senators in some ways that is almost unprecedent. the president-elect and you invested in one of those funds. the president-elect has dive vested himself, i imagine you will as well. but in light of your firm commitment earlier not to go with some kind of recap and release scheme that would greatly enhance those hedge funds profits i believe and then leave the taxpayers potentially holding the bag if another housing crisis took place, i thought you probably want to comment and reaffirm that you will be looking out for the taxpayers and not the folks you invested in the past. >>ive divested my interest in

crapo: you let into my next question. it is closely related. as you know, as the secretary of the treasury, you have a important role as the chairperson of fsoc. in my view, they have focused --vily on statutory mandates some of it statutory while , ignoring others. one of the statutory mandates that the dodd frank act requires them to do is -- this is the statutory language -- advised congress and make recommendations in such areas that will enhance the integrity and efficiency and competitiveness and stability of u.s. financial markets. i am not aware of them fulfilling that role. we do not get a lot of advice from fsoc. will you pledge as the chairperson that the council considers ways to make u.s. financial markets more efficient and advise and work with congress to achieve those outcomes? mr. mnuchin: i absolutely will, senator. let me just comment on the vocal rule. i do support the vocal rule. the concept of proprietary trading does not belong with banks with fdic insurance. but the federal reserve just put out its own report that that r

crapo of idaho, ms. duckworth of illinois. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this oath of obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations, senators. the vice president: the clerk will call the names of the next group. the clerk: mr. grassley of iowa iowa, ms. harris of california, ms. hassan of new hampshire, mr. hoeven of north dakota. the vice president: please raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this oath and obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of ev

one area that i have had a huge amount of concern and interest in, i know senator crapo and number of us on this panel is on fannie and freddie, and i know that there were some people potentially interpreted some of your comment abo recap and release, which would in a nse say, even though the american taxpayer was paid back the $188 billion we invested in those failing institutions in a moment of crisis, i think both of us from perhaps our business standpoint that was high-risk capital we ought to get a better return, but those who simply say let's refloat these two entities and basically ignore some of the underlying challenges, do you support that position of recap and release some have advocated. >> so, let me first be clear. i did make some comments about this. my comment were never that there should be recap and release. what my comment were, first of all, i've been around the mortgage industry for 30 years. i've seen this for a long period of time, so this is an area i do believe i have expertise in. for very long periods of time i think that fannie and freddie have been well-ru

chairman jeb hensarling huddled with his committee along with his counterpart in the senate, senator mike crapottee chairman and the chief topic of conversation was how to dismantle key portions of dodd-frank. legislation,g's the financial choice act, is going to be the benchmark once laughed that months ago when it was first revealed. it now appears to be the blueprint for financial deregulatory policy. francine: we are getting tweets from president trump, talking about automakers. he says he will meet with top automobile executives are that meeting will be at 9:00 a.m. new york time, and he wants new auto plants to be built in the u.s. for cars sold here. what will his relationship be like? how will it shift and change through the months between president trump and the co's? kevin: yesterday he met with other business leaders, including elon musk, including his manufacturing council, and today he's meeting with auto industry ceo's. so clearly the messaging out of the west wing is that they want to project that they are going to be meeting with u.s. business leaders in order to, again, craft t

. >> senator crapo. >> thank you very much, senator hatch. mr.mnuchin, i appreciate your willingness to go through this and serve the american people. we truly need the kind of vision that president trump has enunciated for the country and that you commence to help work with him to issue for the country. as a part of that, one of the things that you party mentioned today and i am paraphrasing your amount that i believe you said msn that you have the regulatory excess in many circumstances that can and is inhibiting binding and inhibiting capital formation, the two very important things i think are critical to a pro-growth economy. could you elaborate on that? >> sure. let me first say that i absolutely believe in proper regulation. before i had the opportunity to put in a bid, i had to be issued a charter and they worked very closely with what was the ots at the time. and by the way, i was a big fan of the emerging ots at the occ and getting rid of the regulatory fee. at the time i worked with the ots announced that in the regulators explain to m

crapo: i agree with you on both of those objectives. that is exactly what we need to work together to identify. steve mnuchin: i'm optimistic we can work together and hopefully find a bipartisan solution. question,: my second we have seen the unfortunate circumstance in the last few years of the irs actually targeting individuals because of and how theyieve advocate in our society. i would just encourage you to make a high priority that not only the irs but all of the federal functions under your jurisdiction as secretary of are stopped from that of americaneting citizens who are conducting perfectly fleree and legal speech. steve mnuchin: you have my 100% assurance that i will do that. there's no place in the treasury or other agencies for us to be having people act that way. question,: my last back to the tax issue, one of the big issues i think we must a huge with is that percentage commit a significant majority of business entities in the u.s. pay tax through the individual income side of the code rather than the corporate side of t

senator sessions also oppose the bipartisan 2013 leahy/crapo violence against women reauthorization legislation. that overwhelmingly passed the senate with a support from a majority of republican senators. during the hearing and in written questions senator sessions refused to commit to defend this important law's constitutionality. he said he would carefully study it to determine whether it is reasonably defensible. it is the law. it is the law of the land. no court has struck it down. in fact, since enacted, nobody has challenged it in any court in the country. but he'll study it to see whether it should be defended. his refusal to voice support -- is more troubling and the report at the heritage foundation bl h budget blueprint, being relied upon by the new administration, calls for eliminating all violence against women act grants. i asked senator sessions to commit to stand up for women, preserve the critical programs and again he refused -- appeared before the committee, bravely shared the story of being raped as a child, explained why this issue is so important. we need an attorney gener

one area that i've had a huge amount of concern, interest in, i know senator crapo and a number of us on the panel on fannie and freddie. i know there were some people that potentially interpreted some of your comments about recap and release, which would in a sense say even though the american taxpayer was paid back the $188 billion that we invested in those failing institutions at a moment of crisis, i think both of us would perhaps from a business standpoint say that was high risk capital and we got a better return, but somehow those who simply say let's refloat these two entities and basically ignore all -- some of the underlying challenges, do you support that position of recap and release that some have advocated. >> let me be clear. i did make some comments about this. my comments were never that there should be recap and release. what my comments were, and, first of all, i've been around the mortgage industry for 30 years, i've seen this for a long period of time, so this is an area i do believe i have expertise in. for very long periods of time, i think that fannie and freddi