senator lujan: mr. vought, you offered sections of project 2025 what sets forth a blueprint for dangerous plans under this new administration. you'll have an enormous responsibility at o.m.b., and given your record, i have serious questions about whether you can be trusted to carry out the law and safeguard programs that many americans rely on, like medicare, medicaid, social security, and many more. you also authored this 2023 budget proposal at a foundation that i believe you helped to found over at the center for renewing americans, is that correct? mr. vought: i did help found the center for renewing american, put that together. senator lujan: and you stand by your name? mr. vought: senator, i am not here to talk about the proposals of -- senator lujan: mr. vought, my question is simple. do you stand by your name? mr. vought: i do stand by my name? senator lujan: it is simple. do you stand by your name and word? mr. vought: i appreciate it because you signed this document and this is your signature,

chair graham: senator lujan. sen. lujan: you authored sections of project 2025 ways sets forth a blueprint for dangerous plans under this new administration. you would have in a norma's responsibility at omb and even your record i have serious questions about whether you could be trusted to carried out the safeguard programs that many americans rely on like medicare, medicaid, social security and anymore. you also authored this money he 23 budget proposal at a foundation that i believe you helped to found over at the center for renewing americans, is that correct? mr. vought: i did help found that and put that together. sen. lujan: you stand by your name? mr. vought: i am not here to talk about those proposals. sen. lujan: it is simple, do you stand by your name and word? mr. vought: i appreciate it because you signed this document and this is your signature, i appreciate that. in 2021, what was the reason for founding the center? mr. vought: we wanted to continue the work on policies that were based on the principles

senator lujan. sen. lujan: mr. kennedy, when we met you stated to me it is not your goal to take away programs that work for americans. do you stand by the statement? mr. kennedy: yes, senator. sen. lujan: do you know how many americans rely on medicaid? mr. kennedy: about 72 million plus 7 million kids. sen. lujan: yes or no, is it important that expecting mothers and newborns have access to health coverage? mr. kennedy: -- absolutely. sen. lujan: do you know how many babies born in this country are covered by medicaid? mr. kennedy: i would guess -- i do not know the answer. i would guess 30 million. sen. lujan: about 41%, 1.4 million babies are financed by medicaid according to statistics. yes or no, do you believe medicaid is a critical program? mr. kennedy: i believe that medicaid is a critical program but it is not working as well as it should and president trump has asked me to make it work better. most americans are not happy with it. the premiums are too high, the deductibles are too high. everyone is getti

senator lujan. senator lujan: mr.kennedy, when we met, you stated to me it was not your goal to take away programs that work for americans. do you stand by that statement? mr. kennedy: yes, senator. sen. lujan: do you know how many americans rely on medicaid? mr. kennedy: about 72 million plus the 7 million kids. sen. lujan: i appreciate that. 72 million. yes or no, is it important that expecting mothers and newborns have access to health coverage? is it important that expecting mothers and newborns have access to health coverage? mr. kennedy: absolutely. sen. lujan: do you know how many babies born in this country are covered through medicaid? mr. kennedy: i would guess -- i don't know the answer. i would guess about 30 million. sen. lujan: 41% or 1.4 million babies births are financed by medicaid according to the national center for health statistics. yes or no, do you believe that medicaid is a cripple program? -- a critical program? mr. kennedy: i believe that medicaid is a critical program. but that it is not wor

senator lujan. sen. lujan: mr. lutnick thank you for being with us today. i appreciated the conversation in our office as well. i will start on the subject that it sounds like there has been a lot of conversation in this space. i apologize for not being here for the entire hearing. i was over in the finance. mr. lutnick yes or no do you believe reaching truly universal access to high-speed internet across the country is an important and possible goal to achieve? mr. lutnick: sounds like a great goal. sen. lujan: do you believe it is important high-speed internet is available at every school in america? mr. lutnick: sounds very important to do. sen. lujan: do you believe it can be done? mr. lutnick: i do. we are the greatest country on earth. how would we not be able to do that? sen. lujan: would you commit to investing infrastructure to get it done? mr. lutnick: with all of the tools available to me i will do my best to get that done. it sounds like an excellent set of goals. sen. lujan: if you are asked to cut that program by the president of the united st

chair crapo: senator lujan. sen. lujan: thank you mr. chairman. in 2024, new mexico exported over $10.5 billion worth of goods, up from less than $5 billion the year before. over six to percent of those exports went to mexico and were worth over $6.5 billion. mr. greer, i appreciated your priorities and thoughts regarding the u.s. trade representative role in directing trade policy in this country and its impact on our economy and american workers. the 2026 usc m -- usmca review is approaching and president trump has threatened tariffs on mexico. what specific changes to the agreement would you advocate for? mr. greer: thank you senator. i appreciated our conversation yesterday. i know that being a border state gives you unique insight into our relationship with mexico, which as you acknowledge is complex, not just across trade but security and foreign policy. as we enter this process of taking a second look at usmca, which was built into the process deliberately to make sure the agreement remains relevant and beneficial, we need to look closely a

lujan: thank you, chairman -- mr. lieu: thank you, chairman aguilar. leader jeffries has a 10-point plan to fight against the trump administration. there's going to be a legislative strategy, a mobilization strategy, and a litigation strategy. to that end, over 25 lawsuits have already been filed. we expect that a number of these actions by the trump administration will be reversed because all the courts have to do is follow the law. and in fact if you look at what happened, a number of trump actions have been stopped or the administration has simply folded. the administration wants to you think they are invincible, that they are just rolling right along to do all of these things. that is simply not true. a number of times they have been stopped and they have had to back down. for example, on the birth right citizenship order, a reagan-appointed federal judge declared it unconstitutional, put it an injunction on it. then with the o.m.b. freeze memo, there's pushback from democrats, from the american people, and they had to rescind that memo and a judge

lujan, no. mr. lujan, no. >> mr. warnock, no. >> mr. warnock, no. >> mr.ch, mr. >> welch, no. >> mr. chairman, >> chairman. votes i. >> mr. chairman the final tally. >> is 14 ayes. >> 13 ayes. >> the vote. >> was. would the clerk please restate the vote. >> mr. chairman. >> the final tally was 14 ayes. >> 13 ayes. >> the vote was 1413. the nomination is reported favorably. we will now turn to other senators who would like to make a statement. since i asked my republican colleagues to hold off at the outset, i'll go to the republican side next. first, senator tillis. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i voted i. >> today. >> and i want. >> to just briefly. >> explain why. >> i believe. >> in my. >> 65 years. >> okay. you just watched 14 ayes, 13 noes, party line vote there to advance robert f kennedy, jr. s nomination to be the next. secretary of the health and human services department there in the government to the full senate. now, that's where the next step will be. i want to join ryan nobles again. who's there on capitol hill as long as as well as peter baker

lujan, no. mr. warnock, no. mr. chairman? the chairman votes aye. the final tally is 14 ayes, 13 nays. chair crapo: with the click please restate the vo--with the clerk restate the vote? >> 14 ayes, 13 nays. chair crapo: the vote is reported favorably. since i asked my republican colleagues to hold off at the outset, i will go to my republican colleague first. senator tillis. sen. tillis: i voted aye today and i wanted to briefly explain why. i believe in my 65 years -- i will be 65 in august -- that mr. kennedy will be one of the first people coming before who is not a trained health care expert. he views this through the lens of an attorney. he's brought many lawsuits on food safety, vaccine safety, a number of other things. mr. chair, i think it was senator warnock that said that the president said he was going to go wild in the department of health and human services. i hope he does. i hope he goes wild and finds a way to reduce the cost of health care. i hope he goes wild and instead of having the discussions we have had for the 10 years i've b

lujan. no. mr.. lujan. no. mr.. warnock. >> no. >> mr.. warnock. no. mr.. welch. mr. welch. no. mr. chairman. chairman. votes aye. mr. chairman, the final tally is 14 ayes. 13 ayes. >> the vote was. would the clerk please restate the vote? >> mr. chairman the was 14. ayes. 13. ayes. >> the. the vote was 1413. the nomination is reported favorably. we will now turn to other senators who would like to make a statement. since i asked my republican colleagues to hold off at the outset, i'll go to the republican side next. first, senator tillis. thank you, mr. chairman. >> i voted. >> i today, and i want to just briefly explain why i believe. >> in my 65 years, i'll be 65 in august that mr. kennedy will be one of the first people. >> we have been watching the senate finance committee vote on robert f. kennedy's nomination to be the secretary of health and human services. it is very rare these days on capitol hill that you go in to a hearing or a business meeting like this and don't really have an idea how it's actually going to land. all eyes were on one senator, senator bill cassidy, rep

lujan: for the past two weeks, my office has receives thousands of calls.ried new mexicans are sharing stories and pleading for help and assistance. last monday, when president trump and russell vought illegally froze federal programs and grant money, allocated by congress, chaos erupted in new mexico and across america. a single mother of four in bernalea wrote to me, i will literally have to choose between feeding my children or paying for them to have private health insurance. i barely make it paycheck to paycheck as it is. this freeze would definitely put us over. please help our state. a senior from albuquerque told me, my savings have been wiped out by home health care costs after one hospitalization. i'm unable to work and i'm living solely on social security income, most of which is eaten up by insurance premiums. i'm dependent on medicare health trea treatments. a family doctor said if the federal freeze on grants and programs were implemented it would put a family clinic that serves 50,000 new mexicans in immediate danger of closing, leaving thous

lujan. ms. lummis. mr. markey.mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. plan is to help the wealthy get wealthier tax giveaways families paying the bill. how massive giveaways going to be paid for? slashing services to families and families try to get on their feet so they can thrive and get to the middle-class. great betrayal. today we will consider russell the office of management and the budget really the place for this campaign is coordinated. we will hear very different ideas have to take our country forward. from my friends across the aisle will hear we need to continue to give massive tax giveaways to the wealthiest americans and we will hear how nonpartisan expertise that makes our country run smoothly should be replaced by those with politic

senator lujan. >> thank you for holding this hearing today.over $10.5 billion worth of goods less than 5 billion a year before. over 60% of those exports last year wereex into mexico and more worth over $6.5 billion in mr. greer i appreciate our conversation yesterday about your priorities on the the ambassador role in directing trade policy in this country and its impact on the economy and american workers. as you note the 2020 60 usmc review is approaching and president trump has put tariffs on mexico. what specific changes to the agreement would you advocate for? >> thank you senator and i appreciate our conversation yesterday in your office. being a border state gives you unique insight in our relationship with mexico which you cite is complex not just trade. security and foreign-policyt etc.. we are in the process of taking a second look at usta to make sure it remains relevant and beneficial to americans. we'll make sure that third countries and foreign countries of concern are not hit inadvertently on agreement at the expense of america

lujan. ms. lummis. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. sheehy. ms. slotkin. ms. smith. mr. sullivan. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. the presiding officer: a quorum is present. the ske is is it the sense of the senate that the debate on the nomination of russell vought of virginia to be director. office of management and budget shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. ms. baldwin. mr. banks. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. >> thank you, mr. chairman, ranking member, members of the esteemed committee for the opportunity to