mr. secretary? secretary mnuchin: that's correct. mr. lucas: when you reset the world it's not a simple progress, correct, sir? secretary mnuchin: correct, sir. mr. lucas: it will be economically challenging? so staying the course is something we need to do? secretary mnuchin: it is, thank you. mr. lucas: that said, i was a young wheat farmer when president carter did the embargo against the russians, which also led to our boycotting the 1980 olympics. using agriculture for a political tool on some other issue. but in the industries -- all industries in the united states that depend on trade, this is not using us as a tool for some political goal, this is trying to achieve the survival of those industries for the long haul, correct, mr. secretary? secretary mnuchin: it's about economic fairness, as you've outlined. mr. lucas: thank you, mr. secretary. yield back, mr. chairman. mr. hensarling: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. green, ranking member of our oversight and investigations subcommittee

mr. secretary. >> mr. secretary, the people of this nation are very worried, they're very concerned about this trade war, make no mistake about it, both democrats and republicans are very much worried about it. now i really want you to listen very carefully to me, because there is no state that could be so devastating impact on this than my beloved state of georgia. let me explain to you how. let's take the fact that poultry, for example, georgia is the leading producer of poultry in the world and according to our national chicken council and leading chicken producers like tysons food, they've informed me that in 2014, for example, u.s. chicken exports to mexico, one of our most important markets alone, totalled $800 million. but during the same period, mr. secretary, brazil, brazil's exports went up from 50 million to 200 million. if we continue to put up these trade barriers in mexico, it is clear as a bell to anybody looking at this that they will take even much more of the market, leaving american chick

mr. secretary, what happened to respecting the independence of the federal reserve? >> i think they do and we as an administration absolutely support the independence of the fed and the president made it clear is their decision. these are just comments thing as interest rates going up, it's something that the president has a concern.but he absolutely respects the independence of the fed.the market expects interest rates to keep going up, the only question is how far and for how long we think the fed will be very careful in managing the economy. >>chris: in fact, isn't it responsible as the economy heats up. when we've had these artificially low interest rates when the economy was chugging along at 1-2 percent. isn't it responsible for the fed to increase interest rates? >> i think it is in the market expects it. it's been targeting two percent inflation and with two percent inflation, we have to have slightly higher interest rates to manage through that. >>chris: i want to ask you about another potential drag on the economy and that is the drop in some tech stocks. f

mr. general secretary, even as we verify. mr. general secretary, we have agreed many times there are important fundamental differences between us. yet, as we work over the long run to narrow these differences, as we work for what i hope will be a new era of human peace and freedom, we must acknowledge our solemn responsibility to take steps now to reduce the chances of conflict, and to prevent war. this we have done today, a first step toward a brighter future, a safer world. america's allies and friends welcome this treaty, too. we consulted them fully during its negotiation. we made clear that we would never put their security or their interests at risk, that on the contrary, we would only sign a treaty if it enhanced their security, as this one does. finally, if i may, i would like to take a moment to thank the united states senate for their work on this treaty. the way of democracy is sometimes a complicated way, and sometimes trying, but it is a good way, and we believe the best way. once again, mr. general secretary, i want

mr. secretary. >> now recognizes gemma from north carolina. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for being here, it is good to see you again. i would like to commend you on implanting tax cuts and jobs act. as many of those that think you would like to continue in that. we are growing at three percent. some would say even more. ori know i speak for a number o us today that we appreciate the role you played. >> says it is the hearing on the state of international financial systems i wanted to switch from hr one to move to things of importance for me. as you know, we operate under a state-based system of regulation. the u.s. insurance market has long been one of the largest insurance systems in the world. in fact, more than half of the worlds 50 largest insurance markets are u.s. states. north carolina market for example is bigger itself than the entire market of belgium, sweden and denmark and finland. yet, u.s. officials have been engaging in overseas negotiations that would ultimately import europ

mr. secretary.ause of this president's trade war, again, mid continental mail, which i basedned in my statement, in missouri, laid off 60 workers last week and expects to go out of business by labor day. harley davidson, this company is as american as motherhood and apple pie. based in wisconsin, moving jobs overseas to europe to avoid tariffs on it exports. they hiredn, though 4000 new workers in the south carolina u.s. chamber of commerce, they warned that 2.6 million jobs are on the chopping policiesause of these on tariffs. on top of all the job loss, american families will pay higher prices for the goods that they buy, since tariffs are a tax paid by americans. it seems that things are only going to get worse. just yesterday trump announced that he may levy an additional $200 billion in tariffs on china. china responded that it would take further retaliatory measures, possibly including more tariffs on u.s., letting its currency depreciate or even selling off billions of treasury bonds. the tru

mr. secretary and mr. chairman and i yield back. >> the gentleman from massachusetts, mr.lynch. >> and you mr. chairmaenqueue md ranking member. >> mr. treasurer take you for being here i want to follow up on the line of questioning about sanctions. obviously as a result of the presidents withdraw, you're going to have to reinstitute the sanction against those compani companies. for some of the partners that are cosigners of that agreement including great britain, germany phantom ofrance and the eu, rusd china earlier in your testimony you said that you have frequent conversations with china. is china going to reinstitute the ban on importing oil. it would be appropriate if the ballgame right here. it's the largest single purchase of iranian oil is not part of this deal, then the sanctions are meaning less. >> it would be inappropriate to comment on the specifics of the conversation before i will telll tell you it is our intent to enforce the sanctions on iran related allele against everybody including china. so we are in the middle of a trade war with china. i'm asking wh

mr. secretary. you did attempt to increase the rents and you moved back on it to triple the rent. now that we have that cleared up, i would also like to clarify your rationale for offering the proposal. your claim that this proposal was intended to increase self sufficiency, there's simply no evidence to support that claim. you've also claimed that it was only proposed to address shortages in hud's budget. but you, your civself have call for cutting the budget. what is the real reason for this proposal. you can see what i'm saying. if you gave for the excuse the reason was for tripling the rents is because you have a budget problem but yet you were initiating budget cuts, how do you justify that? >> that's not the only reason for increasing rents. if you recall secretary donovan advocated exactly the same thing. >> reclaiming my time. i'm not talking about secretary donovan. >> in the previous administration. >> reclaiming my time. i'm not talking about secretary donovan. i'm talking about you. i'm

mr. secretary.e kids are -- so happy right now they're playing and, getting an education, and they're being treated with love, why are you turning away members of congress, the news media, from visiting these facilities to let the world see what's going on? because you know the, the impression that the entire world is seeing of the united states right now. people all over the world are wondering what's going on? >> oh, come on, wolf. you know media and members of congress. over 60 members of congress tour facilities. we have moved asking them to please do it in groups, where we schedule, because, our grantees are trying to take care of the kids. i have case managers that are trying to work three each of the individual cases for the individuals to get them reunited with their parents. i can't have them running tours, while they're trying to do that vital work. okay. so we're frying to manage it. we worked with the chairman of the judiciary, ranking members, judiciary in the house and senate to coordi

secretary mnuchin: things are being considered. mr. avidson: you're considering whether to pursue those investigations? secretary mnuchin: i want to be careful on commenting on the specifics. mr. davidson: ok, thank you. we talked a lot about trade. and there's been a lot of attention given to trade deficits. and, you know, more tilism emphasized the importance of trade deficits and of course under mercantilism we were largely using gold to settle current accounts and gold can be horded so there was an ideal that it was a zero some game. today we don't have that. we have something consumable. the petro dollar, basically the premises for our currency and it's consumed so people don't horde it. trade deficits are commonly misunderstood as zero sum game. are you confident that dialogue that's being had today as we negotiate with our allies and with our competitors, strategic competitors in the marketplace that we are focused on trade, free, fair, reciprocal trade and not a more more tilist idea? secretary mnuchin: i am completely but in ma

mr. chairman and secretary for being here today.i want to be clear the questions you are getting today usually go to the district to ask what questions they would like to ask the secretary said just note these are coming from people that have genuine concern. forgive me also if you've answered some of these questions i need to make sure that i get these on record. you aryou're here to report thes including the u.s. involvement in the international monetary fund in its recent world economic outlook of the imf expressed concerns that the prospect of trade restrictions and restrictions threaten to undermine confidence and derail the global growth prematurely. do you share those concerns? >> i also questioned some of their projections on the u.s. economy as well. >> back in may you were quoted as saying that they were on hold yet less than seven weeks later they went into effect and were immediately met by retaliatory tarrifs i've heard concerns from many different people. i had a small-business owner from my office come to my office, u

mr. secretary. i you back. >> mr. secretary, thank you for taking the time to visit with us. et me preface my remarks. mr. ellison talked about the housing situation in the minneapolis area where affordable housing is becoming hard to find. in colorado in my district i represent the denver metropolitan area and we've enjoyed a good economy for five or six years runnin running to e point where my district i've been under 3% on appointment for at least five years now. very strong but as a consequence we have seen a lot of congestion in our highways so in a production issue and housing particularly for the disabled, elderly, the low to moderate income has really become hard to find. my question to you is what will you do about it. >> first of all, i should congratulate you but i've been to the denver housing authority and seen incredible things that are going on there so it's quite impressive and some of the things that are be done for the veterans there also. very, very impressive. we continue to work with the different localities and the concept of public private partnerships b

mr. secretary? >> senator, i think it is the case that the soviet union and now russia's efforts to undermine western democracy are long and continuous. i think they occurred in 2016. i am confident that the russians are endeavoring to divide, to separate us from our allies, to create space to find partners for themselves around the world and the same way will go out and work diligently with allies. i always think that having a united united states, folks who come at these problems with seriousness and thoughtfulness towards a shared goal increase it is likelihood of america prevailing against these challenges. >> i happen to agree with you and i just hope that my colleagues and i will adopt a tone and approach to this very serious issue which impacts all americans in recognition of everything you just said. so -- mr. secretary, just about an hour ago president trump convened a joint press conference with the president of the european commission, jean-claude juncker and the president and both the pr

mr. secretary, basic all politics is local but also all economics is local. i produce a if the farms are thriving, local economies are thriving. it's been tough for farms in the last couple of years. >> and rural community spirit we know that many people don't recognize they are not associate with farming, farming is down 50% from 2013. that's quite a stretch there. it's a breakeven for many farms now, but the good ones survivets now, but the good ones survive, and they find other things to do. that is the way our economy works, but it is very, very challenging. that's why the cumulative effect obviously of the issues over ethanol and the rfs issue is so important. that is why trade is so important and that's why the cumulative effect of even the farm bill anticipating the farm bill renewal as a safety net is all-important. >> mr. secretary, we are about to get the hook but i want to sq real quickly about rural daily life. the population of our rural communities is shrinking. >> it is troubling right now. one of the things we are really focused on usda for re

mr. secretary. mr. secretary, just a couple of thoughts. i was very discouraged when the president was offered a choice in the questions he believed u.s. intel or did he believe putin that he had engaged in hacking of the elections. he basically said my own people have made a great case to me. putin has made a great case to me. i don't see why russia would have done this. he came back and corrected it the next day in the united states. he said i believe my intel community. there are a lot of people, it could have been someone else. this dragged on for a couple days. you know where i live. you know i have a lot of constituents. they used to be your employees' cia. people come to me and say i'm with the ic and they are very demoralized by. this they're very demoralized when standing next to putin the president's words were to suggest that he trusted putin over them. there was a suggestion when president trump said it was an incredible offer about ambassador mcfall that he was also potentially willing to throw not just in tell folks under the

mr. secretary, thank you for doing this job. the president made a wise decision appointing you as secretary of state, and you're aquitting yourself very well here today and we appreciate that. you've always been straightforward with us and i appreciate that. i know many of my colleagues, not all, but many of my colleagues fully appreciate that. >> are you prepared to say most are you just going to go with many. >> i'm going to stay with many. >> let me say that as far as what happened at the nato summit, very few americans heard anything exempt the argument that went on about the -- about funding. i know the president believes and you believe and i believe and most everyone believes that nato is the most successful military alliance in the history of the world. as you pointed out, it's certainly one of the pillars of our national security and one that we need to support and one that we need to work well. there are very few downsides of nato but there is one blemish. the president has underscored that publicly and well. his predec

mr. secretary for your testimony. i want to commend you for quick statements with regard to the naturepresident putin and president trump regarding certain individuals like mr. mcfall and others traveling to russia to be interrogated by the russians. the state department came out, said that was inappropriate despite the president's statement that there was an incredible offer. it took the white house a full two days or three days to contradict that statement that president putin had made. the state department quickly said that that was inappropriate. inappropriate. so thank you for so thank you for doing that. >> senator flake, you give me a little too much credit. i'm doing my level best every day to implement the president's policies. so that statement was from the united states president state department. >> okay. the united states president said that it was an incredible offer and so that's why i pointed out the difference and commending you. please take it. with regard to what else was with regard to what else was

mr. secretary, we welcome you again. and you can summarize your comments if you have any written materials you would like to enter to the record. we will do so. and with that, we look forward to your testimony. >> good afternoon, chairman corker, ranking member menendez and distinguished members. thank you for the opportunity to be with you today. during my confirmation hearing, you asked me to work on a host of world problems. and after 12 weeks, i've been doing just that. i hope we'll get a chance to talk about each of those today. the last few weeks i've engaged in three areas of particular interest to this committee, north korea, nato and russia. on the subject of russia, i want to bring something to your attention right off the bat today. today the trump administration is releasing what we're calling the crimea declaration. i won't read the whole thing, i will submit it for the record. it's been publicly released as well. but one part reads as follows, quote, the united states calls on russia to respect the principl

mr. secretary. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, senator leahy. i present you have to be here today and look forward to our conversation. i appreciate the opportunity to talk about the presidents budget and senator graham, the list you sure there are long and i could add a couple others and i'm sure you could add a couple more as well. i want youio to know how much i present you have operated in a bipartisan manner. talk to many of you on the phone and haveg productive conversations over a wideil rane of topics. i know i'm always available to listen to make sure that our priorities and we were thinking about the world is helpful but something i do as a courtesy but something i value extraordinarily. you are all very short opening statements and i will do the same. you should see the overall purpose but to reflect an effort to manage dollars wisely. we've already made progress on next year'sr' budget. a record to working to achieve america's foreign policy d objective and i have a written statement and i have submitted and happy to close their inta

mr. secretary, thank you for doing this job. the president made a wise decision appointing you as secretary of state. you're a quitting yourself very well here today and we appreciate that. you've always been straightforward with us and i appreciate that. many of my colleagues fully appreciate that. i want -- >> are you prepared to say more or going with many? >> i'm going to stay with many. let me say that as far as what happened at the nato summit very few americans heard anything except the argument that went on about funding. i know that the president believes and i know you believe and i believe and most everyone believes that nato is the most successful military alliance in the whole world. as you pointed out, it's a pillar of our national security and one that we need to support and one that we need to work well. there's very few down sides of nato, but there's one blemish. the president has underscored that publicly and well. his predecessor attempted to do it. all of us that meet with the europeans underscore it. that is

mr. secretary, i have to agree with you 100%. you know, i listen to the wailing of paul ryan wailing about everything including the tariffs saying this is no way to operate. we've heard this nonsense from the republican party's establishment leadership as well as the dems, the business press even going into all sorts of, you know, fits of despair over tariffs. and yet that is precisely the incipient point at which the european union decided to expand rather than contract the po of greater trade with the united states. >> that's for sure. i really think there would have been zero chance of this happening had it not been for the very firm tariff and trade policy the president put into effect. because think about it. we've put up, almost since world war ii, with unfair trade practices. it's a very hard thing to tear back down that kind of an apparatus that grew up over such a long time. and for the longest while the europeans said we won't even negotiate until you unilaterally exempt us permanently from tariffs. that's all gone. we'

mr. secretary. one of the ideas, both mention inde the blueprint and that you discuss publicly since its release is doing away with rebates and medicare part d through changes, to antikickback statute safe harbors. you have stayed the rebates could be replaced withh somethig called a, quote, fixed-price disco,o, unquote. the term fix and price in the same phrase does make me ame little bit nervous. i'm sure it doesn't mean setting a price, but can you explain what the term means, how would be different fromce a rebate, ad how it would limit list price increases from year-to-year or over a longer period of time? w >> absolutely, mr. chairman. right now the problem is the pharmacy benefit managers make their money often on getting a high list price and negotiating a big rebate offer that, and in keeping a percent of that rebate at the don't necessarily passed to the patient or to the insurance companies that do work for and that'sni just the busins model. it's not saying they're doing anything wrong.

mr. secretary. i want this administration to continue doing what is working. >> this administration's policy. you're advocating for this administrations policy. it's important for every one to understand. >> senator flake. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, secretary, for your testimony. i want on the commend the state department, you in particular, for a quick statement with respect to the nature of the conversation action it was between president putin and president trump regarding certain individuals like mr. mcfall and others traveling to russia to be interrogated by the russians. the white house took three days to contradict the statement that there was an offer, that president putin made, the state department quickly said that that was inappropriate. so thank you for doing that. >> senator flake, you gave me too much credit. i'm doing my level best every day to implement the president's policies. that statement was from the united states president's state department. >> okay. the united st

mr. secretary, you have already -- >> no, senator, i haven't begun to describe -- >> you haven't answered my question. let me try it a little different way. wouldn't you want to know as secretary of state -- i mean, i'm taking you and your sincerity here as secretary of state whether all the russian financial interests, oligarchs and others are part of the decision making of the president. i mean, wouldn't you want that out in the open and understand what went on at helsinki? it's an easy kind of yes or no question. >> senator, i don't need second hand understandings of what president trump is instructing his administration to do to push back against russia. i was firsthand understandings. >> well -- >> and directives. >> let me ask the question a little bit differently here. >> we have opposed -- a 4 x 30 out of nato. a big setback for russia. i'm happy to continue the list. i'm happy to -- >> well -- >> i will submit the entirety of this administration's actions against russia for the record if i might. >> please do. >> we'll back a truck up and got it on in here. >> candidate trump fai

mr. secretary, can we count on 3% growth in this year, 2018, which would be the highest annual rate since the great recession, and president trump talked late this week that he could see eight or 9% growth, is that realistic? >> secretary mnuchin: we've been very clear since the campaign, the president's economic plan has always consisted of tax reform, trade relief and regulatory relief and we said we were going to achieve 3% or higher sustained gdp, and that's where we are. the 4%, 4.1, was a terrific order, but we are very focused on the long-term sustained economic growth, which our plans have had. >> chris: so you believe it will be 3% this year and going how far into the future? >> secretary mnuchin: we can only project a couple years in the future, but i think we are well on this path for several years, so i don't think this is a one or two year phenomenon, i think we definitely are in a period of four or five years of sustained 3% growth at least. >> chris: as you know, some economists say this 4.1% figure in the second quarter is more of a blip than a trend. i want to put up some

mr. secretary general, can we expect that there will be another separate declaration about georgia? and what can you say about the declaration, which was published a few minutes ago. what it says new about georgia? thank you. >> well, we are planning a new declaration together with georgia. and you can read the declaration when you publish it. but we will end that declaration. our practical support. and welcome both nato allies are providing, more support in different ways to georgia. with the training center, the capacity of supporting, but also rends the significant progress that georgia is making. and the fact that georgia is contributing to many nato missions and operations. i can say more about this when we have published or agreed that the statement tomorrow. >> okay. >> james from british forces tv and radio. secretary general, since the end of the combat mission in 2014, the continued trained, is the numbers going in the wrong direction? afghan forces getting smaller. nato, step by step, increasing the size of its mission. at what point do you say, this plan isn't working? w

mr. secretary. mr. secretary, just a couple of thoughts. i was very discouraged at the helsinki summit when the president basically was offered a choice in some of the questions that he believed u.s. intel or did he believe vladimir putin's protestations that he engaged in hacking of the election. he basically said my own people made a great case to me. vladimir putin has made a great case to me. i don't see why russia would have done this. he came back and corrected it the next day in the united states. at the end, he said i believe my intel community, but there's a lot of people out there. it could have been someone else. then this dragged on for a couple days. you know where i live. i have a lot of constituents who used to be your employees at the cia. people come to me in virginia and say i'm with the i.c. and they're very demoralized by this. when they stand up to president putin, the president's words were he trusted vladimir putin over them. >>> there was the suggestion when president trump said it was an incredible offer about ambas

mr. secretary, i want to get >> mr. secretary, i want to get started by talking about the thing that's on all of our minds. i want to repeat the injunction, ask us questions from the audience or from the live stream audience, send them to #postlive and we will process them and put them to secretary panetta. mr. secretary, this morning we watched president trump arrive in brussels, just, you know, practically smoke coming out of his ears. sat down to breakfast with the nato secretary general, jens spott stoltenberg and talked about how germany was a captive to russia and all the familiar lines about how germany is not paying their w way. i always thought when we thought about the future of democracy we should think about nato and our european allies and that structure of friendships and alliances that was about the future of democracy and keeping it going. what did you think as you listened to president trump's rhetoric yesterday on his way to brussels, this morning? what's your reaction to that and how do you think our a

mr. secretary?o hear that >> both of those acts will make us poorer as a country the fed, even if it wanted to lower interest rates, or it wanted to slow the hikes in interest rates couldn't do it because we'll look -- in front of the president other people want to sell the dollar, that's going to put upward pressure on u.s. interest rates, and it's going to put upward pressure on u.s. inflation. it's going to put pressure on a large number of things we buy from the eu, it's going to make us this poorer, the president is obsessed rightly with raising the wages and the purchasing power of workers we import less, making things more expensive we reduce the purchasing power of workers look, i-we see this around the world and it seems we hugely say it but every banana republic as the leader, who surrounds himself with people who -- judiciary of his country, who focuses on anger a anger at immigrants, runs up a huge deficit, drives down the value of the currency and tries to overrule what the central bank

mr. secretary. what do you need now to show that they are committed? and what about the return of millions of syrian refugees? have you seen those proposals? pompeo: a lot of discussion taking place. there was a discussion between president trump and president vladimir putin about a resolution in syria and how we make at the refugees back. this conversation is important to the world that at the right with a voluntary mechanism, these refugees can return to their home country. the u.n. is working on the same problem. there is a lot of work to do to figure out how to implement that that the united states wants to be a part of achieving that resolution. the first question was about what we need to see. it is really pretty straightforward. and it is not my description of what needs to take place. chairman kim made a promise. he told not only president trump but president moon that he was prepared to denuclearize. the scope and scale of that has been agreed to. there is no mistake about what that looks like. what do we need to see? to do whatirman kim he pr

mr. secretary, thanks so much for joining us. let me get your quick reaction to earlier today, the president wouldn't answer if he had a goal for this summit. he said he'd tell us what his goal might be after the summit. what, if anything, does that tell you? >> well, i think, wolf, it's wise to have relatively modest expectations about this. i do think you have to raise issues like election meddling and russian malicious tools that are found in our critical infrastructure. but i don't for a minute believe putin will wind up admitting it or apologizing. you have to lay a marker down, but you have to have a reasonable idea of what you'll get back. i frankly think the area that's most likely to yield some interesting discussion is the future of syria and the future of iran and the region. >> yeah, i'm going to get to that shortly. but, as you know, mr. secretary, there have been calls for president trump to simply call off this meeting in light of the mueller indictment of 12 senior russian military officers on friday, clearly the

mr. secretary, thank you for being with us today. some big news yesterday with the ecb.where we stand because going back to may, you said that the trade war with china was on hold and that lasted a few weeks. is this a different situation? is this a more formalized or more concrete situation with the ecb this time of around. >> good morning. it's great to be here and i think this is. we had a long negotiating session yesterday. we concluded an outline of an agreement and now we'll turn this into a real agreement. this really started with president trump and his discussions at the g7 making it clear that he wanted with the g7 and europe free trade which was no tariffs, no tariff barriers, no subsidies. i continued those conversations last weekend at the g20 with my counterparts. we also discussed very significant wto reform which we'll call wto 2.0. we had a long session yesterday concluding with an outline of agreement. >> great news to hear and i should correct myself. the eu -- we said ecb. but obviously this is all with the eu. what does this mean? we're still trying