mr. abraham. thank you for anticipating that and moving up there. our trade and tax policy as we all know and all perhaps both sides talked about this has encouraged a corporate business model fairly new to world economics. a corporate business model that shuts down factories in toledo or dayton, cashes in on a tax credit fundamentally at the expense of americans, shifts to reynosa, then sells those goods back to the united states. far too many of those jobs that remain don't pay enough in wages and benefits from what they put in. the goal is to put dollars, as we said yesterday, if we're going to give a tax break to the middle class, we're going to give tax break to the middle class, we all to give a tax break to the middle class directly. the other goal is stop outsourcing. we've all paid homage, said that in this committee but i'm not sure this bill does this. my question is this. the bill by senate republicans minimum tax rate, mr. abraham, for profit attributed to intangible assets, intellect

mr. abraham, correct in his analysis? >> well, he was maybe a little bit too fast for me there so i'll just step back and say relative to present law i think the point that mr. abra bra ham made is that t incentives might be different than what they are today silt a substantially better outcome for the investor under present law without -- if it were shifted abroad the global intangible low-tax income would have current taxation at an effective rate of also 12.5%, which would seem to equalize the outcome compared to present law also there's not current taxation of any income earned abroad. >> i'm going to continue to see if we can drill into all of the ways this bill allows the big companies to gain the system. under the foreign based erosion rule controlled foreign corporation of the united states pays 10% of income from their foreign ip. they can then sell a phone or something similar with no further tax because the inbound base erosion rule doesn't apply to the cost of goods sold. that's what the article refers to. it

mr. ryan abraham and mr. drew crouch from the minority staff. all are present to answer questions about the mark. we are also joined by mr. tom west who serves as tax legislative council at tom landry. mr. west is here to give us the administration's perspective on issues under discussion. i'm sure members of the committee have several questions about the mark. i will recognize members for if purpose of asking such questions in the appropriate order under the rules of the committee. so we'll just go from there. turn to you senator. >> thank you mr. chairman. and the first thing i want to say is tom barthold and his team at the joint committee on taxation, in my view, are the gold standard for professionalism in this field. they call in on the basis of the facts. they are objective. they are straight with democrats. they are straight with republicans. they are straight with everybody across the political spectrum. mr. barthold, i just want to begin by thanking you and your staff for your habitual professionalism. and i think we are probably going

mr. abraham, for five minutes. mr. abraham: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to thank the emergency contribution of the civil air patrol. in the near future, i hope to also talk about two other primary mission to the c.a.p., youth development and aerospace and stem education. literally every day they respond to life-threatening emergencies, homeland security requests and a wide range of missions for states and the federal government with over 500 single engine aircraft in every state and in puerto rico. as an active member since 2004, i had the privilege of flying many of these missions, so i speak from personal experience. over the past 15 months, c.a.p. has responded to four hurricanes, major wildfires in the west, dozens of other emergencies, including search and rescues in addition to vital military missions on a daily basis. the high operational tempo has helped ensure that c.a.p. for a second year in a rojas flown over 100,000 hours -- row has flown over 100,000 hours. one considers these missions are flown by volunteer professionals who pay

mr. abraham, for five minute. mr. abraham: thank should have having a dignified life and have at least one darn meal a you, m speaker. i have a map beside me. it's not a verizon or at&t map showing its coverage. what this is is a snapshot, a moment in time, of the number of airplanes in the united states airspace at any moment. over 90,000 flights a day. think about that. that's over 200,000 takeoff and landings. we in the united states have the safest and the busiest airspace in the world. yet there are some in congress that want to privatize this to a made up of 13 members only. i personally think it is more of a monopolization not a privatization of our made up ai. this is the taxpayers' airspace. this is not the airspace that we should be giving away to a 13-member board or the control of. those that want to pass this airr act, h.r. 2997, want us to compare it to canada i have flown in canada look at the map. below the line in the united states, above the line in canada. it's not even apples. it's not apples to ora

mr. abraham was the democratic staff consulted in the development of this? i understand apparently you were shown it here after it was written. but in the development was the democratic staff consulted in any of it? >> no, we were not. >> so colleagues, once again, the partisanship starts, it is obvious. this is another opportunity late at night when we were voting for there to be discussion between democrats and republicans about how we might find some common ground. we didn't get it. now, i listened to you and you went through a lot of things, a whole lot t find that would help middle class families. i heard about the pre-file program and that struck me as something that would be useful and senator nelson has been a leader in that. but i heard an awful lot that i can tell you a lot of lobiveses who are following this or paying attention to. could you just give me a sense of whether anything else is there that help the middle class? >> perhaps senator widen the second to last item that i mentioned related to the disaster losses in the ississippi delta flood

mr. abraham, with the democratic, was the staff consulted in the developing of this? i understand you are showing this after it was written. but in the development of it, with the democratic consulted in any of it? >> no, we were not. >> colleagues, once again the partisanship is starved, it is obviously this another opportunity. late at night when we were voting for there to be discussion between democrats and republicans about how we might find common ground, we did not get it. now, i listened to you and he went through a lot of things. i could not find from my ear, a lot that would help middle-class families. i have heard about the -- program and instruct me of something that will be useful and senator nelson has been a leader in that. but i heard an awful lot that i can tell you a lot of lobbyists for following this are paying attention to. can you give me the sense whether anything else is there that helped the middle class? >> perhaps senator whiting the second to last item i mentioned the disaster lost the mississippi delta flooding. a number. >> mississippi on

mr. abraham, was the democratic staff consulted in the development of this? understand that you were shown after it was written, but in the development, where the democratic staff consulted? >> no, they were not. theo colleagues, once again partisanship is stark, it is obvious.this is another opportunity late at night when we were voting for there to be discussion between democrats and republicans about common ground. we didn't get it. mr. barthold, i listened to you and you went through a lot of things, and i couldn't find, just from my ear, a whole lot that would help middle-class families.i heard about the free file program , and that struck me as something that would be useful. senator nelson has been a leader in that. i heard an awful lot that i can tell you a lot of lobbyists for are payinghis art -- attention to. can you give me a sense of anything else that can help the middle class? >> perhaps, senator wyden, the second to last item i mentioned related to the disaster losses in the mississippi delta flooding -- sen. wyden: mississippi only, right? we

mr. abraham in my question-and-answer session couple days ago, makes it worse. why in the world would we do more to give more incentives to companies to shut down and move overseas? didn't president trump -- he won my state in large part because of those sorts of issues, and if we are going to make this worse it is just beyond the pale to me, and i support the casey amendment. >> where are we? sen. hatch: rollcall vote? casey 10? call the roll. the clerk: mr. grassley, no. mr. crapo, no by proxy. esther roberts, no by proxy. mr. enzi, no. by proxy., no mr. thune, no. mr. burr, no. mr. portman, no. mr. toomey, no. mr. heller, no. mr. scott, no. mr. cassidy, no. mr. wyden? sen. wyden: aye. enow, aye. ms. stab ms. cantwell. sen. wyden: aye by proxy. by clerk: mr. nelson, aye proxy. mr. carper, aye by proxy. mr. cardin, aye by proxy. mr. brown, aye. mr. bennett, aye. mr. casey, aye. mr. warner, aye. ms. mccaskill, aye. mr. chairman? sen. hatch: no. the clerk: 12 ayes, 14 nays. sen. hatch: the amendment is defeated. go to mccaskill number six, i guess. sen. mccaskill

mr. abraham in my question-and-answer session couple days ago, makes it worse. why in the world would we do more to give more incentives to companies to shut down and move overseas? didn't president trump -- he won my state in large part because of those sorts of issues, and if we are going to make this worse it is just beyond the pale to me, and i support the casey amendment. >> where are we? sen. hatch: rollcall vote? casey 10? call the roll. the clerk: mr. grassley, no. mr. crapo, no by proxy. mr. roberts, no by proxy. mr. enzi, no. mr. cornyn, no by proxy. mr. thune, no. mr. burr, no. mr. portman, no. mr. toomey, no. mr. heller, no. mr. scott, no. mr. cassidy, no. mr. wyden? sen. wyden: aye. the clerk: ms. stabenow, aye. ms. cantwell. sen. wyden: aye by proxy. the clerk: mr. nelson, aye by proxy. mr. carper, aye by proxy. mr. cardin, aye by proxy. mr. brown, aye. mr. bennett, aye. mr. casey, aye. mr. warner, aye. ms. mccaskill, aye. mr. chairman? sen. hatch: no. the clerk: 12 ayes, 14 nays. sen. hatch: the amendment is defeated. go to mccaskill number six, i

mr. abraham can tell me, your staff is getting briefed to. somebody added this provision. i'm trying to answer my constituents. he served our country. i'm trying to tell them if he is going to pay more taxes and i have to tell him that the president gets a $32 million tax break. the president can clarify. maybeppy to hear he is not going to get a tax break. i would love him to come clean about what his taxes are the in the middle of the night this provision change, i don't know what else it is going to add and what else it changes. i need to explain this. >> your time is up. cracks thank you. -- >> thank you. i'm glad there was concentration. bracket,xt two lowest bracket, there are people in that. under the old bill where would that start? >> adding the personal exemption. zero tax bracket would be 24,000 at least. >> for joint filers. in that case, no personal exemptions since they are repealed. >> in answer to the previous questions, it is hard to give somebody an additional tax break that under the code would not pay a tax. they still get federal benefits. i noticed th

mr. abraham: i'd like to thank him for his selfless service to the community and for making my state a better place. thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida seek recognition? the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. >> i rise to oppose the republican tax bill. mr. speaker, how much can the american people take? how many alternative facts will we ask them to believe? how many broken promises will we ask them to overlook. the proposed tax bill is camouflaged as a tax break for the middle class but you and i both know the only permanent tax breaks are for the richest people and corporations in america? as a matter of fact, over 36 million families will see a tax increase, and now there is a new flimflam on the table. mrs. demings: mr. speaker, you are well aware that republicans voted over 50 times to repeal the affordable care act, all attempts failed. but now a repeal of the mandate that all americans have health care has mysteriously been added to the tax bill. is it possible that tax reform is just a ruse to rep

mr. abraham. our trade tax policy as we all know has encouraged that corporate business model that shuts down factories in toledo or dayton chefs production then sells the goods back to the united states. many of those don't pay enough in wages or benefits to compensate so a the of vocal of international tax reform that if we will give a tax break to the middle-class we ought to do give it to them directly but the other goal is we should stop outsourcing we have all said that and paid homage but i am not sure so my question is the bill introduced by senate republicans has a minimum tax rate for those intangible assets with their property trade secrets kept offshore as i read that there is no equivalent or minimum rate for real business activity overseas meeting every corporation has the incentive to keep profits overseas. correct?. >> there is attacks on routine returns operating overseas. >> does that incentivize them to keep the profits overseas?. >> yes. >> that is amazing considering a the spe

mr. ryan abraham and mr. drew crouch from the minority staff. in addition, we have mr. tom west, the tax legislative counsel from the treasury. with us today. all are present to answer questions of any member of this committee. members have any questions that members have about the modification, that is. i'm sure there are a number of matters my colleagues would like to discuss at this point, and that's customary. however, i do want to note that members had several hours yesterday to ask questions about the original mark, and through the latter part of the day, they chose to forego those opportunities. therefore, i hope that members will focus most of their attention today on the modification and less on the provisions of the mark that haven't changed. furthermore, i hope that members will focus their questions and discussion on the subject at hand, which once again, is tax reform. health care matters are fine for discussion as long as they relate to the tax code. but if we continually end up in the weeds on health care policy with little or no connection to our subject

mr. abraham can't tell me. it says to me somebody in the middle of the night added this provision.this is my point. he has served our country, i'm trying to tell him if he is going to have to pay more taxes and why the president of the united states gets a $32 million tax break. i'm happy to hear maybe he's not going to get a $32 million tax break. i would love him to come clean about what his taxes are. but if the middle of the night, this provision changed. i don't know what else is going to add in and what is going to change. i need to explain this to my constituents. >> we'll try and help you, senator. your time is up. senator lindsey? >> thank you, mr. chairman. there's been a lot of talk about the tax brackets here. in the next to the lowest tax bracket, the zero tax bracket, there are people in that i assume, under the old bill where would that category start under current law? the people that pay no tax? >> senator, the tax brackets of present law are in the original description we had of the chairman's mark, but in general terms, you would figure out a zero tax bracket amo

mr. o'brien, he would have known i was the anti-monopoly dude. well, i am here to salute abraham lincoln. of course i was a little boy born in 1878. of course as a little boy what a hero abraham lincoln was to me. even with some caution from your chief executive here, i wanted to share with you of course what you already know. i'm a famous knickerbocker, a new yorker through and through, but i stand before you half georgiaen. my great great grandfather was the revolutionary of georgia. you might know mrs. rosa is a daughter of georgia and now of course the bulks -- indeed some historians say if not for the stories i heard as a young boy, stories of relatives who hunted panthers in the swamp, of an uncle, of those who marched off to florida to fight in the seminal war, if not for all of these stories for southern dare ask doom and adventure, then i might have not grown to pbe you president. i can indeed improve my southern stock. my grandfather and grandmother, they were sweethearts as children. my grandfather james steven bulk and my grandmother martha stewart. i thought you migh

the comments and i'll direct this to you fired this is a common to be a facebook abraham says isis is an ideology based on mr much mis interpretation of religion and fueled by injustice of arab dictators as well as despair of the youth from ever making their countries great again he goes on to say as long as these causes exist side by side with the have to load of weapons from america there will always be tens of organizations like isis this is really picking up on a point that iran made earlier about those who are fighting in those who have an ideology that they are seeking online but when you look at this as the impetus behind why people might join organizations like this how do you even begin to tackle that. i mean i think it's a very interesting comment. i mean over the last few weeks and months we've been seeing media reports that hailing the defeat of isis but i think that's a little bit premature i think that we can't look at organizations like isis in isolation they are a product of broader. wars that have been going on now for several decades. and just as a few years ago we. people were calling that

mr. adams of northwestern illinois, was a dear friend of abraham lincoln's and known as his double d adams, for the spelling of the family name. the lincoln administrationi, how we wish it had lasted longer than it had, but it wasn't to be. we are inspired still by that greatest of men. we were weakened as you heard at theodore roosevelt island. during the civil war the island was occupied by united states colored troops. and it was a freeman's village, in the later years of the war and in the years right after the war. the island was known then as mason island, the revolutionary pay trot george mason, his family owning the island through those years. there is a wonderful bit of connection through history. i love the way that we find that history has these wonderful webs that are woven to remind us that we are all indeed connected. on that island, a mason owned the island during the war of 1812, and mason served the descendant of the original mason. mason served as the commissioner in charge of exchange of prisoners with the british. so he was sought after by francis scott key. it was maso

mr. portman: i ask unanimous consent for six additional full-access floor passes to be you a equally divided between the minority and majority leaderser majority for the following staffers, randy herndon, zach rdasel, ryan abraham, adam coroso, and sarah snyder. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: tonight i want to talk about an opportunity we have before us here in the united states senate and that is for tax reform that can truly help our economy and help the middle-class families we represent. it's a once-in-a-generation opportunity. the last time we reformed our opportunity in any substantial way was 31 years ago. ronald reagan was president. pete rose was still playing for the cincinnati reds. that's how long ago it was. but that 1986 tax reform gave our economy a much-needed shot in the arm and it led to more jobs and higher wages in the 1980's and 190's. now 31 years later after a decade of disappointing growth and flat wages, we need that shot in the arm again. we need a tax code that better reflects the needs of today's workers, today's families, and our 21's century economy. there's bipartisan agreement that the tax code is broken, hopelessly broken, and it is up to congress to fix

mr. kinzinger: for his military service, he received the combat infantryman badge, army achievement medal and the army commendation medal and he also won the illinois national guard abraham lincoln medal of freedom ribbon. he joined the law enforcement division at the illinois department of natural resources before coming home to serve as an officer in the rockford police department. mr. speaker, jamie cox spent his life dedicated to serving and protecting others. on a daily by a circumstances he risks his life to help others and he gave the ultimate sacrifice protecting our community. on behalf of the 16th congressional district of illinois, we honor his service, mourn his sacrifice, and pay tribute to our fallen hero, jamie cox. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition? without objection. mr. langevin: mr. speaker, i want to talk about the importance of preserving net neutrality. as many of my colleagues are aware, cybersecurity is a top priority of mine and as i believe it's the national and economic security challenge of the 21st century. as co-chair of the congr

mr. david roush, chief of police for the city of knoxville, tennessee, rabbi abraham cooper, associate dean and director of the global social action agenda at the simon wiesenthal center, and mr. richard cohen, president of the southern poverty law center. thank all of you for being here today. the chair recognizes police chief roush for his testimony. >> good afternoon, chairman mccaul, ranking member thompson and members of the committee. thank you for the opportunity to speak about with worldwide threats, specifically domestic terrorism and the threat posed by extremist groups. i'm the chief of police in knoxville, tennessee, also a member of the executive board of directors for the international association of chiefs of police and currently the general chair for the midsized agencies division, which represents agencies with 50 to 999 sworn officers. the ic spshgs the world's largest association of law enforcement members. i've been fortunate to have been trained by the fbi and domestic and international terrorism as well as participated in training at the u.s. army war college in additi

mrs making up to thirty percent of the country's g.d.p. so how haitians in the u.s. being affected by the decision and what plans are they making here to help us discuss from year to abraham is a t.p.s. recipient and lives in miami and jacqueline charles is the caribbean correspondent for the miami herald welcome back to the stream both of you i want to start on my laptop with a tweet from a member of our community lisa writes in haiti is still reeling from natural disasters and is not ready to receive sixty thousand people their own government has said as much haitian t.p.s. recipients are working in key industries here in the u.s. like hospitality this decision doesn't make sense economically and tears us families apart i want to start with you how are you reacting to the news how are you feeling right now about their new to after. news about two dozen nineteen we have to leave the country for for me and for my family need to be separated from my daughter because haiti we know we need to receive these people i'm not ready to go back haiti because i don't have nothing over here. jacqueline howard is waiting for this for this news to happen i know haitians in over the u.s

mr. trump, you are running for the office once held by abraham lincoln. you know, is this language appropriate? of course we know what the answer is. so what i want to do in my brief comment, i'm going to open it up to questions can what i tried to do in the book is to take the focus off trump, our obsessive focus on the orange god king, which is so riveting, and to turn it around to us, how did we elect him president? how did the conservative movement go from william f. buckley to ann coulter next how do we go from ronald reagan to donald trump? how do you go from edmund burke to sean hannity? what happened to us? and, of course, one of the key things when i started writing the book was to figure out what just happened to us. was this a one-off? was a one-time thing? wasn't something we missed in the conservative movement? did donald trump just parachute in and take over an otherwise healthy movement? or was something else going on? i concluded reluctantly, very reluctantly, that donald trump is not merely a cause. he certainly makes things worse but is

mr. president -- you know, the continuum of how these things fit together is so amazing. one of the things that really struck me was he gives a wonderful history. abraham lincoln, right, master of modern media -- which was the photograph -- and lincoln allowed himself to be photographed several times. and at the end of his career, had submitted to 130 photographs. remarkable, extraordinary. bill clinton -- [laughter] as ken recounts had approximately 10,000 photographs a day taken. [laughter] and pete souza, by the end of his career with obama had two million photographs that he'd taken, and most of them were on flickr. you see what this has meant. we've now accepted it so much as a part of our hives and a -- our live9 and part of this institution. and that's what ken has done a wonderful job of explicating here. we're very fortunate to have a couple of people who actually know about this. number one, mr. mike mccurry was press secretary to bill clinton -- [applause] and has dealt with a few photo images -- >> thank you. >> so, mike, please come center stage. >> take center stage. this is a great opportunity to pay transcribe you -- tribute to ken who

mr. president, our nation was founded on a powerful principle encapsulated by the first three words of our constitution -- we the people. we were meant to be a in addition, in the words of abraham lincoln, of the people, by the people, and for the people. not a nation by and for the most powerful, not a nation by and for the most privileged. yet time and time again, we are seeing a complete and total corruption of the vision of our constitution. we have seen this earlier this year with one trumpcare bill after another designed to rip health care away from 20 million pour million americans to deliver tax giveaways to the richest thi in america. we have seen it in conversation a budget just recently that reversed that and said in order to give $4.5 trillion of tax giveaways almost entirely to the richest americans we will take -- take $1 trillion out of medicaid and half a trillion out of medicare. we've seen this powerful conversion of standing our constitution on its head, and now we have the supreme court fully participating in this effort in a case called janus v. afscme. it's the very epitome of the principle of a nation so corrupted that it honors the opposite of what our c

are the party of abraham lincoln and we have a tradition and we should be much more concerned about the brand of this party. when it's going to be stained by somebody of this caliber and mr >> again, what we heard from kellyanne conway and what we heard from the official white house statement is that if the allegations are true, then moore should step aside. but they do not believe at this point they have heard enough to make that judgment. >> well, again, john, we're not talking about a legal proceeding here. of course, a person is entitled to the presumption of innocence in a court of law. we're talking here about the court of public opinion. this is an election. a very different standard. we have asked candidates. i served as chairman of the ethics committee and i have seen members of congress resign for far less than what mr. moore is being accused of. so the point i'm making is a very different standard here when we're talking in a very political context and we're talking about control of the senate here. mr. moore needs to do what's right and step aside. >> there's also a context which is beyond political, too, which is in this day and age when there are sexual har

mr. speaker, i rise to support 76 years of celebrating god's word during national bible week. no other book has sold more copies or changed more lives than the bible. abraham lincoln said in regard for this great book i have this to say, it is the best gift god has given to man. all that the good savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. mr. arrington: may we always remember the impact the bible has had on this country and on our democracy. may we govern according to its timeless percepts and principles, and may god bless these united states of america. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> i rise in objection to the g.o.p. tax bill h.r. 1, which considering who it really helps should be labeled h.r. 1%. as a member of ways and means i offered amendments to ensure the middle-class benefits but republicans rejected both proposals to give away tax proposals to the top 1%. instead h.r. 1% repeals the deductions for estate and l

mr. must tell. remember what i said to. >> you remember what i said to you. >> the committee calls abraham possession land ski to the stand- conspiracy, the trial of the chicago 8 and this year's shot about gun violence. we have closen the director of the closen to read, write or direct the testimony. just justin connelly will be congressman veld. sha rin kyle, copublisher of our progressive reads as republican congress. potter. >> what were some of the productions which you were connected? >> i wrote the play force of evil and i was a sole author of the screen play, i can get it for you on sale. >> were you an if you believe of actor's laboratory? >> this is a question we'll have to talk about here. i'm going to refuse to answer that question and so far as the 1st amendment is to it i'd like to use that one too. >> question, would you -- >> i would permit -- >> as spousesing the views of communism? >> yeah. yes, sir. >> and securing the position did you sign this statement or did you make this answer to an inquiry that is made the inquiry being as follows, did you ever have or do you now have membership in or support any

abraham denmark. up to this -- what's our main goals here, would you think? what is -- what's realistic that we can accomplish, do you think, mr. secretary? >> yeah. president trump's goals really are twofold. first is to secure alliance coordination and cooperation on a hard line approach towards north korea and include china in that effort to make sure china is on board when it comes to north korea. second is trade. to buttress american trade deals with these countries in east asia, to sign deals and to make progress on bilateral trade agreements there's the broader story, though, beneath all of these -- all of these other issues is a burgeoning competition between the united states and china about who drives, who leads regional political architecture and the future of the region's economy. >> so at this point is it, you know, too hot, too cold? how are relationships? there's a lot of fear that something had happened with china with president trump and yet it doesn't seem like it's got more confrontational it almost seems like the relationship is pretty solid, at least personally between the president, president trump and pr

mr. renton, the anti-lynching bill. i signed petitions for these measures and joined organizations to advocate and contributed money and will continue to do so. i will take my philosophy from thomas payne, thomas jefferson, abraham and i will not be dictated to or intimidated by matterwhom the kkk, as a of committee record, is an acceptable american institution. that on manyer questions of public interest my opinions as a citizen have not always been with the opinions of the majority. they are not now nor have they ever been fixed and unchanging. nor are they now fixed or unchangeable. right or wrong, i claim, and i insist upon my rights to speak freely, to join the republican ,arty or the communist party the democratic, or the prohibition party, to publish whatever i please. to fix my mind or change my mind without dictation from anyone. to offer any criticism i see fitting of any public official or policy. to join any organization i please no matter what certain legislatures may think of them. above all, i challenge the right of this committee to inquire into my political or religious beliefs or in any manner or degree, and i insist that the conduct of the committee -- not the conduct of the committee but its