mr. chairman. mr. hess, welcome. welcome to the committee. >> thank you. >> senator, you've made several references to your religion. today. i share that devotion to christianity. but i must say, i've been reminded somewhat of saul on his way to damascus. you seem to have been converted over the last several weeks and several months. you wrote in your book just last year that. but if we're going to, this is the book war on warriors. but if we're going to send our boys to fight and it should be boys, we need to unleash them to win later on. our boys should not fight by rules written by dignified men. which is it? is it? is it? only boys can fight. i mean, you've you've testified here today that you believe in women in combat, but you didn't just last year. how do you explain your conversion, senator? >> my testimony is clear. writing a book is different than being secretary of defense. and i look forward to leading the men and women of our military. and my comment there, senator, was about the burdensome rules of enga

mr. chairman. >> mr. hegseth, welcome to this committee. >> thank you. >> you know, we have far too much partisanship in our country right now. i think it's eating away at the fabric of what has always made this country great about bringing people together from all sorts of backgrounds, all sorts of experiences. and we know that in our motto, together as one, we are strong. and so we and this committee, and certainly i speak for myself, but i think i speak for many of my colleagues, want to take partisanship out of this proceeding as much as we can. i'm not naive. it's out there, i get it. but we've got to try to to take that out. and i want you to know that i was a member of this committee. i have voted in a bipartisan way for secretaries of defense. i voted for two secretaries of defense when donald trump was previously president. we had those two. we had, i think, five total secretaries of defense during that four year period. so we want to keep that in mind as to what we might see in this coming admin

mr. chairman. welcome. mr. hegseth. you have conducted yourself very well today, in fact, so well that i believe it's incumbent upon this committee to confirm you asap to get you on the job to clean up the mess that we have at the pentagon ongoing at this moment because of the leadership there over the last four years, has failed us in president biden's first year in office, the department of defense spent over 5 million man hours on quote unquote, counter extremism and diversity training. what you and i might call woke training or die. the administration has refused to provide us any more recent data than that first year, but we know that it's exponentially more man hours wasted on dei over the last four years. and i wonder, what do you make of that? what could those 5 million man hours in that first year of secretary austin and president biden's administration? what could those five hours, 5 million man hours have been used for? >> senator, that's a lot of service members sitting in a lot of briefs, hearing about a lo

mr. chairman. thank you. mr. hegseth. i do want to thank you for your service, and i want to thank you for your willingness to serve in this capacity. >> thank you, senator, i have many concerns about your record and particularly your public statements, because they are so hurtful to the men and women who are currently serving in the u.s. military, harmful to morale, harmful to good order and discipline. >> if you are saying that women shouldn't be serving in the military, and i'm going to read you your quotes because the quotes themselves are terrible, you will have to change how you see women to do this job well. and i don't know if you are capable of that. so i want to press on these issues that my colleague jeanne shaheen brought up because she said it so well. so first of all, you answered your questionnaire. do you believe that any american who wants to serve their country in the military and can meet objective standards set by the military, should be allowed to serve without limitation? you said yes to that questio

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator cramer. senator king. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. hegseth, welcome to the committee. >> thank you, senator. >> you made several references to your religion today. i share that devotion to christianity. but i just say i'm reminded of saul on the way to damascus, and you seem to have been converted over the last several weeks and several months. you wrote in your book just last year -- this is the book "war on warriors," but if we're going to send our boys to fight, and it should be boys, we need to unleash them to win. they are on our -- boys should not fight by rules written by dignified men. which is is it? is it only boys can fight? you've testified here today that you believe women in combat, but you didn't just last year. how do you explain your conversion? >> senator, my testimony is clear. writing a book is different than being secretary of defense. and i look forward to leading the men and women of our military and my comment there, senator, but about the burden some rules of engagement that members of our generation -- men an

mr. chairman. >> thank you. >> mr. duke, i'm perplexed by a lot of your testimony today. you had a lot of criticism over the small business deduction. what do you consider a small business? mr. duke: i don't have a definition. i only said small business deduction. ms. van duyne: the 199. mr. duke: those are pass-throughs. ms. van duyne: do you think the way it's being held now helps small businesses, the 33 million small business, the 99.9% of all businesses in the u.s. that are small business that are able to take advantage of this, do you think the 199-a helps them? mr. duke: it gives them a tax cut. increases -- ms. van duyne: you are concerned about the debt. as a democrat i was surprised as a democrat witness some of the ideas you held we should be concerned about the debt. we should be concerned about how much of that is owned by china. i'm curious as a volunteer in the biden-harris transition team and the person who is part of the biden administration's build back better and american rescue plan, as the white house national economic council, you are a senior policy

mr. chairman. mr. hicks, welcome. >> thank you. >> i am focused on your fitness to serve, including your character and temperament and your overall qualifications to do the job. and i do appreciate the comments of ranking member reid with his concerns regarding your nomination, because i share those concerns as part of my responsibility as a member of this committee to ensure the fitness of all nominees to come before any of the committees on which i sit, i ask the following two initial questions. first, since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature? >> no. senator. >> have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement relating to this kind of conduct? >> senator? i was falsely accused in october of 2017. it was fully investigated and i was completely cleared. >> i don't think completely cleared is accurate, but my the fact is that your own lawyer said that you entered into an

mr. chairman. mr. hegseth, welcome. >> thank you. >> i am focused on your fitness to serve including your character and temperament and your overall qualifications to do the job and i do appreciate the comments of ranking member reid with his concerns regarding your nomination because i share those concerns. as part of my responsibility as a member of this committee to insure the fitness of all nominees that come before any of the committees on which i sit i ask the following two initial questions. first, since you became a legal adult have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature. >> no, senator. >> have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement relating to this kind of conduct. >> senator, i was falsely accused in october of 2017. it was fully investigated and i was completely cleared. >> i don't think completely cleared is accurate but the fact is that your own lawyer said that you entered into an nda

mr. chairman. i think you are doing incredible today. i am neat surprised. mom, how are you doing? good. ms. bondi: i told her not to react, no matter what. >> that's probably harder for her than you. listen, i -- we talked about this over the years. for me i didn't know -- didn't know any lawyers growing up. i'm trying to think when i actually met a lawyer in my life. i grew up in a really blue collar neighborhood. i was attracted to law because i felt like it gave guardrails for people to pursue their dreams. you would be on equal footing. i think that your fights for the little guy, i referenced this in the opening statements, are admirable. sen. schmidt: you got questions earlier are you willing to stand up against corporate interests? are you willing to fight back? i think you demonstrated that. ms. bondi: i think we did it together when we were attorneys general as well. sen. submit: your -- senator schmitt: in these jobs, especially a local prosecutor, i think is even more appropriate. there

mr. chairman. uh, mr. hegseth, welcome. >> thank you. >> i am focused on your fitness to serve, including your character and temperament and your overall qualifications to do the job. and i do appreciate the comments of ranking member reed with his concerns regarding your nomination, because i share those concerns as part of my responsibility as a member of this committee to ensure the fitness of all nominees to come before any of the committees on which i sit, i ask the following two initial questions. first, since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature? >> no. >> senator, have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement relating to this kind of conduct? >> senator? i was falsely accused in october of 2017. it was fully investigated and i was completely cleared. >> i don't think completely cleared is accurate, but my the the fact is that your own lawyer said that you entered in

mr. chairman. mr. ratcliffe, thank you for your service to our country already and to michelle, thank you for the sacrifice which you also offer in allowing him to do this particular job in the future. i want to go back to fisa section 702 just a little bit. we're in an open session and i think one of the opportunities that we have is to perhaps share with the american people with a little bit more clarity what 072 is really about and what actually happens. could you kind of describe in an approach that -- look, it's coming up for renewal again in april of next year. and between now and then we're going to have to convince the american people and other members of congress that we've made significant improvements in the protections but also we've done our best to try to explain why this is such an important part of -- a tool in our collection of approach. can you talk more about the mechanics so that, as those listening to you today, may understand what fisa 702 actually is and how it fits in to the col

mr. chairman and thank you, mr. hegseth. thank you for your service and i want to thank you for your willingness to serve in this capacity. i have many concerns about your record and particularly your public statements because they are so hurtful to the men and women who are currently serving in the u.s. military. harmful to morale, harmful to good order and discipline. if you are saying that women shouldn't be serving in the military -- i will read your quotes. the quotes themselves are terrible. you will have to change how you see women to do this job well. i don't know if you are capable of that. i want to press on these issues that my colleague jean sheehan brought up. she said it so well. you answered your questionnaire do you believe that any american who wants to serve their country in the military and can meet objective standards set by the military should be allowed to serve without limitation. you said yes. in all these other circumstances you have denigrate i had active duty service members. we have hundreds -- hu

mr. chairman. gentlemen, thank you for being here today. it's been referenced that there are federal laws against intercepting aircraft or intercepting communication signals, and it's been cited today regarding the absence of a specific federal law authorizing local law enforcement to use existing technologies to mitigate against an unmanned aerial system threat or drone threat. let me say that, mr. chairman, i believe the 10th amendment already extends such rights to disarming states, and let me say that the current law, the current federal law that authorizes specific federal law enforcement agencies to use existing and emerging technologies to mitigate against unmanned aerial systems, yes, that authorizes those specific federal agencies to deploy their technology, but in no way does the current law prohibit the rights of the sovereign state to authorize their own state and local law enforcement to use existing technologies and emerging technologies in a law enforcement capacity. and local enforc

mr. chairman. >> thank you mr. sitting in the chairman seat, general ponte, it is a great feeling of power. >> do you have documents you want me to radio? >> there are many things i would like you to sign. let me ask you here and i think i might be your last interlock oratory congratulations, you have done fantastic and thank you for answering all the questions peer tilt let me ask about the other appearances this past administration perpetrated still in place and i'm referrino from attorney garland targeting parents at school board meetings. do you remember this? >> yes, senator. >> what happens as you recall, we now know what the biden administration in the white house and the secretary of education solicited a letter from the national school board and they had steak from the end calling for scrutiny of against parents, taxpaying parents going to school board meetings inquiring about what the children are being taught, critical race theory code to get talk about bowing to political pressure. when the white house t

mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator cortez masto. >> thank you, mr. chairman, ranking member and thank you for the time he spent with me in my office talking about the issues that obviously are important to so many of us particularly in nevada as well. it's nice to see her family here. welcome. appreciate your commitment to public service. dr. hussan let me start with you. we had this conversation me follow up. in 2013 you said in a written research peace quote, with lackluster gdp growth rate become our new normal, allowing more immigrants to enter for the sake of employment is one of the few policies that might restore our old normal. has he was doubled its immigration portal to bring in new workers picket at more than half a a percentage point hero expected gdp growth, unquote. despite the clear evidence indicating you are correct, here we are in 2017 with the administration pursuing precisely the opposite policies. the president's policy of mass deportation is sparking panic and fear many latino community is causing consumer spending to fall by dou

mr. chairman. i would like to congratulate you on your chairmanship and i look forward to continuing the strong tradition of bipartisanship and collaboration. thank you for your thoughtful and conscientious service. i would also like to take a moment to join chairman wicker in welcoming our new members, senators slotkin, senator bank, and senator shaheen. welcome. we look forward to working with you. mr. hegseth, i welcome you and your family to today's hearing and i am glad to recognize my former colleague and congressman mike wells. mr. hegseth, i want to begin saying that i respect and appreciate your military service in the army national guard. i know from experience there is no greater privilege than to lead american soldiers, and i thank you for answering the call. you have been nominated to be the secretary of defense the secretary is responsible for leading 3.5 million servicemembers and civilians, an annual budget of 900 billion dollars, and hundreds of thousands of aircraft, ships, submar

mr. chairm. >> thank you, vice chairman. former attorney general john ashcroft was planned, scheduled to be here to introduce mr. ratcliffe, given the current circumstances he could not attend. he sent us his remarks and senator cornyn has kind of great to represent attorney general ashcroft today. the floor is yours. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's always good to be with my colleagues on the senate select committee on intelligence and today it's my pleasure to introduce john ratcliffe who is nominee for director of national intelligence. as the chairman said, we do have a letter from the former attorney general and it's rather lengthy. i'm not going to read all of it but it will refer to some excerpts but ask consent that be made part of the record following my remarks. and the reason why i think it's so important for the committee and the senate to hear from former attorney general ratcliffe, excuse me, former attorney general ashcroft, because of his intimate knowledge of the professional qualification of the nominee as w

mr. chairman. welcome, attorney general bondi, and to your family and supporters, thank you for your service, and i look forward to our conversation today. i have a simple three factor test when considering the executive branch nominees before us. do you have the qualifications and experience to do the job policy views to do the job in the best interest of the american people and the character and integrity to conduct your job and yours in particular, with the independence that the role requires, you demonstrably have the relevant experience. i understand we will not see eye to eye on some or even many policies, but we had a constructive conversation last week about our shared interest in fighting the opioid epidemic, countering human trafficking and criminal justice reform, and supporting law enforcement. but i need to know that you share a core value, ensuring the department of justice remains free from partizan or political influence, in particular by the white house. so i look forward to our di

mr. chairm. >> thank you, vice chairman. former attorney general john ashcroft was planned, scheduled to be here to introduce mr. ratcliffe, given the current circumstances he could not attend. he sent us his remarks and senator cornyn has kind of great to represent attorney general ashcroft today. the floor is yours. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's always good to be with my colleagues on the senate select committee on intelligence and today it's my pleasure to introduce john ratcliffe who is nominee for director of national intelligence. as the chairman said, we do have a letter from the former attorney general and it's rather lengthy. i'm not going to read all of it but it will refer to some excerpts but ask consent that be made part of the record following my remarks. and the reason why i think it's so important for the committee and the senate to hear from former attorney general ratcliffe, excuse me, former attorney general ashcroft, because of his intimate knowledge of the professional qualification of the nominee as w

mr. chairman. -- thank you, mr. chairman. congressman, i appreciated the opportunity to talk with you last week. as one of the authors along with former senator joe lieberman, of the 2004 law that created the director of nationa intelligence potion. -- position. i have a special interest in making sure that the leader of intelligence community fulfills what we envisioned. in that regard, i appreciated the opportunity to review your background with you in depth to make sure that you met the statutory standard of having extensive national security exp so, today, i want to turn to a different issue. as some members have already said today, the ability to speak truth to power is essential to serving as a successful dni. would you communicate the intelligence co analytic views to the president even if you knew that he would strongly disagree with them? rep. ratcliffe: of course. >> would you be willing to communicate the ic's analytic conclusions to the president even if you believed it would place your job in jeopardy? rep. ratcl

mr. chairman. welcome to your family and supporters, thank you for your service and i look forward to our conversation today. i have a simple three factor test when considering the executive branch nominees before us. do you have a qualifications and experience to do the job? policy views and best interest of the american people and the character and integrity to conduct your job and yours in particular with the independence that the role requires? >> you have the relevant experience. we won't see eye-to-eye on some or many policies but we had a constructive conversation last week about our shared interest in fighting the opioid epidemic, criminal justice reform and supporting law enforcement. but i need to know that you insure the department of justice remains from partisan or political influence. in particular by the white house. i look forward to our discussion about that today. as attorney general if confirmed who would be your client? >> my oath would be to support and defend the constitution

mr. chairman. i just want to know that another area of serious concern to me is president trump saying he wants to use the military to help with mass deportations which would cost millions of dollars and what that will do to readiness is very concerning. mr. hegseth, i have noticed a disturbing pattern. you previously have made a series of inflammatory statements about women in combat , lgbtq service members, muslim americans and democrats. since your nomination however you have walked those back on tv and interviews and most recently in your opening statements. you are no longer on fox and friends. if confirmed, your words, actions and decisions will have real impact on national security and our service members lives. there are close to 3 million personnel in the department of defense. $900 billion budget. i hardly think you are prepared to do the job. thank you, mr. chairman. >> that was not a question mr. hegseth. thank you senator hirono. senator sullivan. >> mr. hegseth congratulations on your

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much and we will go to store an off. >> thank you, mr. chairman. linda, i figured if chairman risk can call you and i can, too. and i will. >> thank you. >> i appreciate you taking the time you did you spend as much sums up one as you did with me, you've been pretty busy. you are taking this very seriously. >> yes. >> i particularly enjoyed our visit because i've been there. we have similar backgrounds. you are a lot bigger than i was. i didn't get up to 800 employees but i remember spending 20 years didn't beat up by the proxies understand all of it about it and i think the office that you have has the opportunity to do so much more than is that in the past. we have a guy named tom buchanan who's ahead of the oklahoma farm bureau when i talk to him about the problems the farmers are having, not just in my state which is a farm state, but throughout america. he said there's nothing that in agricultural bill. it is the overregulation of the epa. that's his word and my words. we watched this happen. he set of all the problems we had all the overregula

mr. chairman, yield. -- i yield. chair wicker: a free she ate your presence today. -- i appreciate your presence today. i have the honor of introducing congress and walls -- congressman walls. >> thank you, chairman wicker. chairman has a very nice ring to it. congratulations. ranking member reed, it is a privilege to appear and urge the members to confirm pete hegseth as the next secretary of defense. i'm not here today to advocate on behalf of a future colic, -- future colleague, but to speak about someone i have considered a friend for a decade now. i'm a veteran. we deployed to afghanistan and all over the world at the height of the war on terror, which is the war of our generation. like thousands of other war fighters we have witnessed the hardships of war. we have experienced the loss of friends in combat. we have endured too much time away from family and friends. no one -- i can promise you this -- no one hates war more than those who had to go fight. no one does. pete's story is not that much different from m

mr. chairman. >> okay, it's now time for senators to introduce the nominee. the first one will be senator scott at the table. as you see. and senator schmidt is a member of this committee at his place on the dais. uh, senator scott, please proceed. >> mr. chairman, ranking member and committee members, it is an absolute honor to sit before you today to introduce my good friend pam for her nomination hearing. >> i'd also like to recognize some important people appearing in support of her today. >> her husband, john, as well as her mother and father in law, sister, brother, sister in law and nephews, friends and family members of john. >> many more would surely be here if space allowed. i can tell you wholeheartedly that president trump couldn't have a better leader than pam bondi for attorney general. >> she is undoubtedly qualified, brilliant and committed to defending and protecting the laws of this nation and has the track record to prove. >> it is no secret that the doj is facing a public trust

mr. chairman. thank you, ms. bondi, for being here today. i, too, show the assessment that gil slater is a great after having beating within yesterday. just thrilled you hear and willing to serve. i would like to talk to you as a long time lawyer and one who is handled criminal matters about the fourth amendment what can you tell us about the fourth amendment work requirements and why it's so important? >> the warrant requirement is so important which i've dealt with that since i was in my 20s as a state prosecutor. a war is so important because it protects citizens rights and that's why it's so important. >> and does its visit because under the fourth amendment you are required to go to a judge and required to show a judge evidence, evidence providing probable cause and based on that probable cause you can describe what with particularly things or persons researched or seized on that basis for judgment issue or not issue the warrant but without it you can get it. this is time-consuming no doubt, right? >> i have done many of them. yes, it i

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much. senator enof? >> thank you, mr. chairman. gured if chairman rich can call you linda, i can do and i will. >> thank you. >> i want to tell you how much i appreciate your time. if you spend as much time with everyone as you did with me, you're pretty busy and taking this very seriously. and i particularly enjoyed our business because i've been there. we have similar backgrounds. you were a lot bigger than i was. i didn't get up to the numbers that you did, 800 employees but i can remember spending years getting beat up by the bureaucracy so i understand a little bit about it and i think the office that you have has the opportunity to do so much more than it's done in the past. we have a guy named tom buchanan, the head of the open farm bureau. and when i talk to him about the problem with farmers in america, not only in oklahoma. but he said it's the overregulation of the effort p.a. we watched this happen. he said of all the overregulations, the one that scared us most was wotus, the water bill. a lot of people, a lot of libaro

mr. chairman. mr. speaker, on october 7, 2023, hamas terrorist brutally murdered and kidnapped hundreds of innocent israelis. over a year later hamas still holds hostages, some dead, many alive. israel in response to these truly horrific attacks has defended itself from hamas and other iranian terrorist proxies. i would have expected the international community to unequivocally condemn these barbaric terrorist attacks by hamas and support israel's fight for survival. however, corrupt international organizations like the international criminal court have issued arrest warrants against israeli officials for simply trying to defend themselves and defend their country. the i.c.c.'s anti-semitism speaks volumes. this is an unacceptable attack against our greatest ally in the united states must make it clear that those who participate in this illegitimate prosecution from the i.c.c. are subject to the strongest possible sanctions. america needs leadership and this is where we need it. i urge you and my colle

mr. chairman. one, the legacy projects that have been running, the approach has not gone back and taken lessons learned to approve the dutch improve, update how they deal with legend -- to improve and update how they deal with legacy projects. my outside impression, because projects have not delivered in a timely fashion, there is that tendency to load everything in. i think one of the things -- >> when you say the trust issue, break that down for me. from the people responsible for developing? >> from the end users. from the employees. >> ok. we are not going to get another delivery for an extended time, so let's go ahead and add everything, all of our requests on right now? >> that is right. there is burnout. now we are on the fourth try were nothing happens, so why should i really participate as i am busy because this try is probably going to fail as well, so why do i need to get it all? that is a management and culture challenge. i think the other challenge is the build once, use many, to say w

mr. chairman. >> senator graham. >> thank you. congratulations. >> you forgot to say that john's family was from south carolina, the upstate. >> i'm sorry. yeah. >> give you a pass on that madison, by the way. >> so, listen, president trump asked a bunch of us, who would you pick for attorney general? >> how many of you got to ask that on our side? >> probably didn't ask dick, but he asked me. i said, pam bondi. >> it's like an easy decision. i couldn't think of anybody more qualified that he knew that he trusted. and it's okay to have. >> you were his lawyer, right? >> yes, sir. i represented him when they tried to impeach him the first time as part of white house counsel, office of special counsel. >> then trump's lawyer prepares you for many things. >> so, yeah, you have a long standing relationship with the president. he trusts you. that's a good thing. that's probably why president kennedy picked his brother, bobby kennedy. i guess you can say no to your older brother. i'm sure he would. but this idea there's something bad is

mr. chairman and ms. bondi for being here today. i share the assessment that slater is great and had a meeting with her yesterday. just thrilled that you are here and willing to serve. i would like to talk to you as a long-time lawyer and one who has handled a vary tee of criminal matters and talk about the fourth amendment and why it's so require. >> the warrant requirement. i dealt with that since i was in my 20s as a state prosecutor. a warrant protects citizens rights and why it is so important. >> it does that under the forth amendment you are required to go a judge and show a judge evidence providing probable cause and based on that probable cause you can describe in particular the things or persons to be searched or seized. on that basis the judge may issue or not issue the warrant. without it you can't get it. it is time consuming no doubt, right? >> i've done many of them. yes, very time consuming, senator. >> there is probably not a law enforcement officer anywhere in the world who wouldn't acknowledge they could save time

mr. chairman. chair grassley: ok. it is time for senators to introduce the nominee. the first and will be senator scott, at the table as you see and senator schmitt as a member of this committee at his place on the dais. senator scott, please proceed. sen. scott: mr. chairman, ranking member, it's an honor to be before you to introduce my good friend pam bondi for her nomination hearing. i would like to recognize important people. appearing in support of her today. her husband john, mother, father, sisters, family members. many more would surely be here if space allowed. i can tell you wholeheartedly president trump could not have a better leader than pam bondi for attorney general. she is undoubtedly qualified, brilliant and committed to defending and protecting the laws of the nation and has a track record to prove it. it's no secret the doj is facing a public trust crisis. after democrats spent years weaponizing the justice system and the entire federal government. it's become an agency that attacks the american people instead of defending and protecting them. tha

mr. kelly, the chairman of the tax subcommittee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. kelly: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of this bill. this bill would be the first step in establishing an informal tax treaty with our ally, taiwan. currently, taiwan is our largest trading partner without a tax treaty. through fair and reciprocal tax treatment, h.r. 33 would deepen our economic relationship with taiwan, specifically our semiconductor and chip manufacturing industries, and secure our strategic supply chains. america should not have to rely on foreign adversaries like china for our supply chains when we can partner with better allies like taiwan. if we've learned nothing from the pandemic, it's that we cannot rely on people who do not feel the same as we do to supply us with needed products. as the conflicts continue to rise across the globe, we must build our relationships with strong democracies like taiwan. in recent years, we have watched china strengthen trade ties with nations across

mr. chairman.fallout is today. . >> you know, maria, we've been working over two years for this time, and yesterday was the first committee hearing based on policy and all congress was on tax policy it was on expiring provisions taxes we heard from real small businesses, real working moms and issues they are facing if there are tax expirations we had one cpa testify yesterday, maria, that said her phone is ringing off the hook from clients, concerned about thank you uncertainty for 2026 will they have a tax rate 4 positive -- 43.4% or currently 23%? that is what we have to deliver a certainty, and yesterday was the first step. maria: mr. chairman also, yesterday, president trump, floated this idea that he is going to announcing external revenue service instead of internal revenue service ers collect taxes duties, tariffs from foreign sources, what do you make of this. >> president trump is a great communicator, the external revenue service quite important he campaigned on the tariffs that he would

so for my chair and his ranking member, uh let's all use more glass from wyoming and california, mr chairman, i yield back. thank you very much, senator lewis and from wyoming, california, we'll make that transition. senator padilla. >> thank you, mr chair. i want to just acknowledge some of the questions and some of the work that senator lois and i are doing together, not just on addressing, we, we talked about clean water for safe water, but also water affordability and how a lot of rural communities or smaller agencies are able to finance the upgrade of infrastructure to address some of these issues. uh but uh since uh you invoked the name of my state, i'm proud to represent, let me brag a little bit more on what we're doing in california. proud to represent the state that tries to lead the nation when it comes to environmental policy. as mr aach can well attest and plastic is certainly no exception. in california community, plastics are pervasive with single use items like shopping bags, acting like tumbleweeds when you find them in beaches and in parks and frankly just regular neighborh

mr. chairman. ms. bondi, as you're aware, criminal justice reform has been an important part of my role on this committee. i worked for the better part of a decade with senator durbin, chairman grassley, senator whitehouse, senator cornyn, senator booker and others who passed the first step act which president trump signed into law in december of 2018. the first step act, as the name implies, was intended to be the first of multiple steps, much remains to be done, including with the implementation of the first step act. the credits available under the first step act are still being implemented. i assume you'd be willing if confirmed to help us continue to implement first step act. ms. bondi: yes, senator. and also, i just learned it's my understanding, i don't know for fact, but it's my understanding that a lot of those beds for halfway houses, for re-entry, have not been filled under the first step act. so if that's true, i want to look at that right away and figure out why. sen. lee: right. and i thi

mr. chairman, members of the committee, my former colleagues.duce a son of minnesota to you, pete hegseth. as a senator from minnesota i spent many hours with this young man as he walked the halls of congress advocating on behalf of america's veterans. and he is young in the best sense of the word. strong, focus,ed, intelligent. a great listener and supernaturally energetic. what we need in a secretary of defense in times of massive change. he is the real deal. the problem with america is there are no second acts. he was wrong. pete was a brave soldier, an able communicator and i believe is about to begin a great second act as our secretary of defense. he has struggled and overcome great personal challenges. please don't give in to the cynical notion that people can't change. we need the ones who can change to lead us, to be beacons of hope and to remind us that grace can lead us home. four years ago president biden's nominee lloyd austin, a good and honorable man, received 97 votes on the floor of the senate and we went through the debacle of t

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much for ms. harris what is it about the it megaprojects that makes them so risky and prone to failure? >> when you take that wonderful monolithic approach, or develop the farmers in the beginning then you're designing and developing the system. once you deploy five -- seven yourself, that's when you realize it's not going to meet your mission need so you have already sunk in at that point hundreds of millions possibly billions of dollars to set up to fail. very good. you project. agency pass the buck to contractors what are some examples of the product model in project to model so the general public can understand the difference in over talking about? >> absolutely. i do think the examples you provided of some of these systems are very good examples of the project model with the challenges are with that approach. i'm going to give a couple positive examples of the project model i mention the irs direct to file for quick's first time we heard them mentioned in a favorable manner. [it was actually

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator hirono. mr. babcock said that time, money, and power have shifted -- and i may mischaracterize big tech infringers. most of the largest technology companies, household names apple, meta are members of your association. i'd be interested in your perspective on the impact of the restore patent rights act on members of your organization, and are there any revisions to this bill that in your view could make it better? >> i'll start at the end of your question with the revisions point. at the end of my testimony, i actually do propose a revision that i think would really address a lot of the concerns you're hearing from myself, from professor contreras, while also strengthening that providing a presumption of injunctive relief. and that would be to attach it to some form of working requirement to say you get the presumption. if you are making a product or if you're working with an exclusive licensee to make a product. if you're working with a startup to make a product, if you're doing something with y

mr. chairman, mr. welsh talks about being legless. he has been evading mr. cohn here for hours . the question before sundown, apart from the government, even 170 communist cause. i just give this man direction, and i want to say, mr. welsh, that it has been labeled long befobecame a member, as early as 1944. cold. i learned to do, you know, first degree. and if i did, i beg your pardon. let us not if kohn not had that need, i did know personally, i meant to do you no personally, and if i did, i beg your pardon. let us not assassinate this man. you have done enough. have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last. have now left no sense of decency? >> i know the first mr. welch, mr. chairman, as a point, i would like to finish this. >> senator, i think it hurts you, too, sir, i know mr. cohen, i intend to, however. and mr. welch talks about any sense of decency, it seems that mr. welch is pained so deeply he thinks it's improper for me to give the record, the communist record of a man whom he wanted to hoist upon this committee. but it doesn't pain him at all, there's no pain in h

mr. chairman. mr. hegseth, thank you. thank you for your service. so if you are confirmed you will oversee our military including about a quarter of a million women who currently serve on active duty in the army, navy, air force, spaceports, marines. i have serious concerns that your behavior toward women disqualifies you from serving in this role. now i been trying to get answers from you for quite some time on this. you haven't wanted to meet our answer into my questions get so we'll just have to do it here and diving. i want to pick up on some of the questions asked by senator shaheen and gillibrand and geraldo and make sure with a list to some of the facts i think are undisputed. a going to talk about anonymous sources. i'm going to quote you directly. we've got the video. with god it in print. so going back to january 2013 come to told fox news interview the women in military simply could measure up to me in a military saying allowing women to serve in combat roles would force the military to lower the bar. he picked up on that same theme in 20

mr. chairman, ranking member for holding the city. and mr. hegseth, i appreciate your service and your willingness to serve again. .. however, i'm deeply disappoind you would not agree to me as with other members of the committee prior to the hearing as is the precedent for this committee and others. let me tell you about what i would've talked about how you make yourself available prior to the hearing. nevada is home to the premier aviation training ranges for both of air force and the navy, the largest ammunition depot in the world, and the only place where we verify reliability of our nuclear stockpile without the need for explosive testing. the national guard is one of the units across the country with the mission of fighting wildfires currently activated to fight the devastating fires around los angeles and we therefore play a critical role in national security and hold the position of secretary of defense military equity but every single person who serves in the military, we talk about recruitment and retention in one day they will beco