mr. chair? >> chairman: thank you. and welcome, mr. cardoza, from oewd. >> thank you. good morning, chair haney, supervisor safai, supervisor mar. my name is angel, and i'm with the office of the economic and workforce development. this morning we're requesting the committee's recommendation to expand the cares act recovery assistance loan fund of $550,000 from the department of commerce economic development and administration. the financial assistance award, executed by the e.d.a., and the office of economic and development, is awarded for purpose of establishing a loan fund. the purpose of this award is to capitalize the loan fund for severe economic dislocation caused by the covid-19 pandemic, to provide permanent resources to support economic resiliency and to further the long-term economic recovery of the city and county of san francisco. the use of these funds includes administrative and other activities that will help expedite lending, including advertising the availability of lending, processing loan application

mr. chair? >> madam secretary, do we have any public comment? >> clerk: if you are listening to us by phone and like to provide public comment, go ahead and press star, three. allow a few moments. mr. chair, at this time, it does not appear there are any members of the public wishing to comment on this item. >> so hearing no requests to speak on this item, i'll close public comment. commissioners, may i get a motion for the minutes? >> mr. chair, i move that the minutes be accepted as read with any corrections. >> thank you. do i have a second? >> second. >> thank you, vice chair rosales. madam secretary, please call the roll. >> clerk: commissioners, please announce your vote when i call your name. [roll call] >> clerk: mr. chair, the vote is three yeas, one objection, and one absent. >> okay. call the next item. >> clerk: the next item is an item authorizing a loan agreement for 59,200,732-with hpsy 52-54, l.p., a california limited partnership, for construction of a 112-unit affordable resid

mr. chair? >> madam secretary, do we have any public comment? >> clerk: if you are listening to us by phone and like to provide public comment, go ahead and press star, three. allow a few moments. mr. chair, at this time, it does not appear there are any members of the public wishing to comment on this item. >> so hearing no requests to speak on this item, i'll close public comment. commissioners, may i get a motion for the minutes? >> mr. chair, i move that the minutes be accepted as read with any corrections. >> thank you. do i have a second? >> second. >> thank you, vice chair rosales. madam secretary, please call the roll. >> clerk: commissioners, please announce your vote when i call your name. [roll call] >> clerk: mr. chair, the vote is three yeas, one objection, and one absent. >> okay. call the next item. >> clerk: the next item is an item authorizing a loan agreement for 59,200,732-with hpsy 52-54, l.p., a california limited partnership, for construction of a 112-unit affordable resid

mr. chair? i think you're muted, mr. e anyone from the public who wishes to provide a comment? >> clerk: at this time, members of the public who wish to provide public comment on the nonagenda items, please call 415-655-0001, enter access code 146-402-9485. press the pound sign twice to enter the call, and press star, three to submit your request to speak. any members of the public with us who would like to provide a public comment, press star, three to be placed in the queue. we'll allow a few moments for members to call in. mr. chair, at this time, it does not appear there are any members of the public wishing to comment on this item. >> okay. thank you. hearing no requests to speak, i will close public comment. madam secretary, please go onto the next item. >> clerk: the next item is item 7, report of the chair. >> thank you. so i just wanted to mention a couple of things. one, i wanted to thank mara for chairing the meeting last time when i was away, and also to let the public know as well as our commissioners that th

mr. chair? >> chair mar: great, thank you, mr. clerk. e chair stefani, for bringing this other important legislation forward. i understand you have a motion you'd like to make? >> supervisor stefani: yes, thank you, chair mar, for scheduling this item. i'd like to introduce an amendment which i shared with your office this morning. and the amendment aligns with the reporting requirements with quarterly reporting requirements that already exist in the police code. after we take these amendments, i'd like to continue this item to the call of the chair. there are some important policy questions that i would like to get answers before this item is heard before the committee, but i would request that we continue it to the call of the chair, but we hear it as soon as possible. i introduced this legislation because i was hearing rumblings from the domestic violence community that cases were not being prosecuted. and rather than just going on anecdotal evidence, i got that evidence from the police department. they reported 131 domestic violence c

thank you, mr. chair. >> thank you, senator padilla. senator johnson, you're recognized for your questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me start off by saying that under my championship, it was arare i didn't allow a second round of questions, the second time that the secretary appeared before this committee and we have serious issues to discuss and the second time that we won't be able to ask a second round of questions, i would hope the next time he appears and he will afford the committee the respect we deserve with responsibility. mr. secretary, have a short period of time so i've got a lot of questions and i hope you keep your answers short and suscinct. i appreciate the fact we had a phone conversation yesterday and went over some numbers, i just want to you confirm based on that conversation that the numbers i'm dealing with in terms of the extent of the crisis on the border are largely accurate. through six months, january through june, a total apprehensions are a little over 900,000, is that correct? >> i believe that is. i

representative davis for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chair. my first question would be to mr. horwitz. i want to say thank you for the work that you and your team have done. a wide variety of issues that you and your team and this country has faced over the last few years. i do want to raise an issue that falls outside the realm of transportation and infrastructure, though. you raised it in your testimony and that is because it affects many of my constituents, including me, and it is the issue of unemployment insurance fraud. does your committee have data on how many individuals were victims of identity theft during the pandemic as it relates to attempts to defraud the unemployment insurance system? how much money has the federal government been defrauded? >> congressman, we have worked closely with the ig at the labor department on these issues and the department of labor oig has done a lot of work in this space and it has made some estimates that the amount of fraud could be upwards of 10% at this point, but it is still unknown, i should emphasize, as we are investigating an

thank you, mr. chair. i yield back. mr. morelle: i'll note as the successor to my friend, luis slaughter, i know that she held new high regard as well. although i did think she preferred you as the ranking member than the chair. mr. sessions: i will assure you she preferred that. [laughter] mr. morelle: with that i'll call on mr. perlmutter. thank you. mr. perlmutter: thank you, mr. chair. to my friend, mr. sessions, that section that you read, that's in the budget resolution, right? mr. sessions: it is. mr. perlmutter: before we do the reconciliation bill where it would actually be nut putt into concrete -- will be put into concrete, because it sounds like a suspicious report activity kind of thing to me. mr. sessions: there's no question that i'm sure mr. perlmutter, to answer your question, i'm sure that there might be some reason it would be added. my point is that it is very descriptive about what it allows and when in the hands of those who think they've gotten the authorization it's very dangerous. mr. perlmutter: i a

thank you, mr. chair. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. any comments or questions from committee members? any comments from the clerk? >> good morning, chair peskin. we do appreciate that you are willing to consider this legislation. i believe it would be very helpful to the department for two separate reasons. the first is often times the office of the clerk of the board is included in legislation whether or not the departments are required to send reports or other items to the board of supervisors through our office. there is a better way to submit that information than often times the departments end up just sending it to the president. we like to be involved in assisting the departments in their submittals to us. also, because our office often times impacted by legislation, we do not have the opportunity to weigh in one way or the other how it would impact the department as a whole. number two, take into consideration the elected members of the board. city wide policy is applicable, there are other considerations that a particular depar

the chair recognizes mr. johnson from georgia for five minutes. rep. johnson: thank you, madame chair, and thank you to the witnesses for your time and testimony. $5.9 trillion is a significant sum of money, a lifeline for hard-working americans and the sum total of relief and job protection measures provided in the cares act. last year congress acted decisively during a once in a century pandemic, but our work is far from done. we are obligated to ensure that relief aid arrived to the folks who needed it most, especially black americans, communities of color, and low income groups. already in poor health due to being without health care coverage. communities of color were the essential workers who disproportionately bore the brunt of sickness, hospitalization and death due to covid 19, and who were exposed throughout the pandemic while enabling us to work from home. they are the people who have too often been underserved and unserved by the federal government. your office has found fema's management of disaster relief grant and funds to be inadequate.

mr. smith: chair? an important -- chair is an important program and reckless spending will cause it to go -- go insolvent. mr. neguse: i don't want to describe your views so you are entitled to your views on it. i think you can probably fairly say you oppose expanding chair benefits to include dental, vision, and hearing at this time, that's what you're saying. mr. smith: i want to make sure that reckless spending does not destroy it and this bill does that. mr. neguse: so this budget resolution plan includes an expansion of hearing, dental, and vision since the program was enacted in -- 55 years ago. obviously, the american people can judge as to their representative's views on their view on the budget resolution bill. it includes upwards of $18 billion to upgrade various v.a. facilities, is that correct, chairman yarmuth? mr. yarmuth: that's correct. we have a moral obligation to those who sacrificed so much for us and that's an investment that is justified in many ways. but i want to add one thing.

mr. doyle: gentlelady's time has expired. the chair now recognizes mr. pallone, the full committee chair, for 5 minutes. mr. pallone: thank you, chairman doyle. i was going to start with mr. donovan. in your written testimony, you argue that we should take a broader look at the equipment market to help ensure sustainable alternatives to equipment and services that deem -- that could pose a national security threat. and we have some of the companies that will help us do that on the panel today, and there are others like airspan and our longtime partners in producing secure networks, including ericsson, nokia, and samsung. so my question is, what have your members told you about how they handle technical problems in their networks when they arise, and do you have any thoughts on how we might make that troubleshooting easier for them? mr. donovan: well, thank you for that question. you put your finger on one of the top issues that our members have been talking about as they are discussing some of these evolutions. and, to my colleague's point in answering th

. >> thank you, mr. chair.dmiral, i would like to talk about the readiness impact of the navy's fy 22 budget request. i am concerned that despite making clear to this committee that it requires additional anti-air and ballistic missile defense capabilities in order to operate in a contested security environment, particularly in the indo pacific region, that the current request before the committee cuts -- i am of course concerned that this proposed cut in production, which is the backbone of our nation's surface combatants, as at a time when our navy needs more, not less capabilities, particularly anti-air and ballistic missiles defense capabilities, to address the increasingly lethal capabilities of our potential adversaries, most prominently china. the unique capabilities include anti-submarine warfare for keeping pace with china. i would say particularly the flight three eight our system is crucial. the current ballistic missile threat, as well as the proposed retirement of missile destroyers makes the poten

mr. perlmutter. >> thank you, senator chair. you can see my bumper sticker in the background you know where i'm coming from i want to get us to mars by 2033 so i guess all i hear you and i apologize as a member of congress that to do the plumbing and to do the road work and basic things for any facility, you are kind of put in the back of the bus. personally, i want to be an advocate for you as we go through this infrastructure package and the reconciliation. i would like that list of deferred maintenance projects that you have. all of us to be advocates as we go through this infrastructure moment that is definitely infrastructure in my opinion and i do not want to be a pollyanna about it because you had to deal with the shortfalls year in and year out. but at this moment, given what we are trying to do, give me an idea second my question would be the program, the moon, mars. what is your top two or three infrastructure needs for you to be able to support the program? >> that's a great question. let's talk a little bit about the

mr. chair, thanks for the time. i just want to make a comment -- i think part of the long-term plan should be to allow that the insurance commissioner, if they had some oversight over the national flood insurance plan, i think we might find a lot of these problems being handled. thank you, mr. chairman. i am over my time. chair brown: senator menendez from new jersey is recognized. senator menendez: thank you, mr. chair. i think everyone on the committee can agree we need to put an end to the short term reauthorization extensions of the nfip and finally pass a long term reauthorization of the program. in my mind, any nfip authorization bill needs to keep premiums affordable, invest in robust litigation and exclaim process that has left so many new jerseyans out of their homes for years after hurricane sandy. i also think we need to deal with the nfip debt so we can put the program on sound financial footing and invest into building resiliently so communities are prepared for the climate challenges of the 21st centur

chair raskin: i go to mr. roy of texas. representative: i served as ranking member with you and i appreciate it. chair raskin: good to see you back. my colleague, a conservative republican, is watching you today. please be on your best behavior. representative roy colin i think you get -- representative roy: i think you guys should be in texas doing your duties. is section two of the voting rights act in effect? mr. bernal: yes. representative: was it just section five that was overturned in the shelby county decision eight years ago? mr. bernal: yes. representative and the reason was because this body failed to update the data? mr. bernal: that was among the reasons. representative: so the 96 to five voting rights act remains in effect, provision, section five, overturned because was 50-year-old data. do you believe texas should submit to the department of justice for any changes it makes in voting laws or formulas? mr. bernal: yes. ms. collier: the historical nature of texas -- representative: yes or no? should they submit

iq, mr. chair. >> thank you, is my privilege to welcome to the subcommittee both ms. mira resnick in the bureau of political military affairs at the state department. she previously served as a senior affectional staff member covering the middle east and south africa for the house foreign affairs committee and works at the state department bureau of near eastern affairs and we have testifying today, miss dana stroll, she was a fellow at the washington institute in a single -- senior professional staff member. i don't know which order you want to do this in but the floor is yours. >> good morning, mr. chairman, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, it's an honor to appear before you to discuss u.s. security assistance to the middle east. i ask that my full statement be placed in the record. let me start by saying that the state department is fully committed to partnering with congress on these issues and we welcome the opportunity to engage. at a time when strategic competition with the people's republic of china is our foremost foreign policy challenge and in

with that, mr. chair, i yield back. >> thank you very much, senator kane, and let me recognize senator brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman. gentlemen, thank you for your service to our country. i'd like to follow up a little bit and continue the discussion that senator kane has begun, and that is with regard to the top line on the budget. i do believe that this defense budget request on the whole is moving in a very similar direction that we had before with regard to trying to follow through with the national defense strategy, the nds. i think, and i would like confirmation, and i'll begin with general milley, that this particular budget is focused on achieving the goals found in the nds from 2017. general milley, could you share a little bit in what terms those major goals are in the nds that this particular budget is trying to achieve? >> sure, senator. the nds was written under secretary madison. i was at that point chief staff of the army and all the joint chiefs participated in that. that's a rigorous

thank you, mr. chair man and appreciate you holding this hearing and look forward to hearing from the witnesses. the biggest economic challenge we face right now continues to be president biden's inflation crisis. the cost of housing, the cost of gasoline, groceries, cars, basic necessities of life have skyrocketed. rather than addressing the problem and proposing solutions, the biden administration's answer is don't worry, just keep printing more money and hope that inflation will just magically disappear. mr. chairman, these huge price spikes are not going to magically disappear. especially when liberals and socialists continue the reckless policies. the american people know that the massive increase in government spending we've seen in these last few months is responsible for the rising cost of prices that we pay for for everyday household items. by the way this is a tax on american working families and what is president biden's answer? he's pushing for an additional $4 trillion in new taxes and spendi

>> clerk: yes, mr. chair. the mee

the budget bill, excuse me, the voting rights act, your leadership, very distinguished chair of the committee, mr. nadler, the chair of the -- zoe lofgren for her work on house administration committee, mr. butter field, so many people and our distinguished whip, mr. clyburn, who has made this his. leif:'s work. pass -- his life's work. passing this bill paves the way for the building back better plan which will forge legislative progress unseen in 50 years, that will stand for generations alongside the new deal and the great society. this legislation will be the biggest and perhaps most controversial initiative that any of us have ever undertaken in our official lives. everything we do is about the children. as you've heard me say when people ask me, what are the three most important issues facing the congress, i always say the same thing. our children, our children, our children. their health, their education, the economic security of their families, a safe environment in which they can thrive, and a world at peace in which they can reach their fulfillment. when thirn come here to the cap -- wh

thank you, mr. chair. >> thank you. senator warren of massachusetts is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. so in our legal system, they set interest rate caps, determining what rates constitute usury. if i went to someone in massachusetts, the interest rate would be capped at the massachusetts maximum, which is 20%. the idea of protecting borrowers from usury dates back. in 1979, the supreme court took that away, opening a loophole a to let banks escape centuries of usury laws. over time, banks figured out they could open that loophole wider through the so-called rent a bank scheme. under this arrangement, a non-bank lender like an online lender or payday loan company that would usually be subject to usury laws, find a bank to originate a loan on its behalf, funneled the funding through the bank, and avoid state interest rate caps. that means the interest rate caps like 20%, they can go to 35% or 400% or 1000%. last year, the occ issued a rule clarifying who is entitled to the usury exemption in case

clerk, please open public comment. >> clerk: thank you, mr. chair. for those who are watching our meeting on san francisco cable channel 26 or via streaming link or through sfgovtv.org or elsewhere, if you wish to speak on this item, please call in now by following the instructions displaying on your screen. that would be by dialing 415-655-0001. enter today's meeting i.d. which is 146-150-5087. following that, press the pound symbol twice and then press star followed by three to enter the queue to speak. at this time right now, we have 16 listeners who have raised their hands to provide public comment to the committee. for those who have already connected to our meeting via phone, please press star, three if you wish to enter the queue to speak on this item, and for those already in the queue, please wait until you are prompted to speak. moderator, could you please bring us our first public comment caller. >> thank you. my name is kathy, and i'm calling in because i have a concern about the j church line, which since the pandemic has been stopped at

. >> thank you mr. chair. the first thing i would like to do is echo the comment i made earlier. and i would really appreciate if the slide and report be posted on the website ahead of the meeting. the other comment i have at this point is that i don't understand how and why the study could possibly be presented to the board for approval before you see the result of the true operations analysis. this is completely backwards as far as i'm concerned and i expect the board to be addressing this before it comes to you for approval. thank you. >> thank you. >> that concludes public comment. >> thank you donald. director, any other questions or comments for director chang or project director alfonzo? i'm not seeing any hands raised other than these are major items coming in front of the board for action. as these emerge and you see the details, feel free to contact nila to dive into details so we can have a good conversation at the board. these are major milestones coming up in the process and it's good to dive in and really understand the reports that are going to be coming forward fo

i recognize the gentle men from california to inquire. >> thank you, mr. chair.ou, secretary, for being here. i do believe our country is lucky to have as experienced and knowledgeable a policymaker as you at the helm of the treasury at this point in time but also have your hand on the wheel. i think you would agree that our response to this pandemic, especially by the federal government, has been remarkable. i do believe that because of our efforts, especially the american rescue plan, our economy may avoid permanent scarring, and consumers are ready to spend again. that's why as we recover from this pandemic, we should not hesitate to make long-overdue investments in our infrastructure, our environment, and our families, but as you would agree, we have to do it carefully. we have to monitor economic conditions and ensure the indicators of inflation are transitory. interest rates are low and government borrowing is cheap, but i think you will agree it ain't going to last forever. the federal government expects that inflation will be about 3.4% this year, a full

the other issue mr. chaire to the sarbanes-oxley accounting standards of yu statues i though he an effort to force them to do so by 2023 otherwise they get yanked off exchanges, but investors need to understand they don't follow the same rule that every other public company even though they trade on these exchanges. why? >> actually they are subject to same rules just have not allowed public companies to have oversight board he had to inspect auditors audit auditors so to speak sec my predecessors, pyou the clb, worked hard on that congress helped out an bipartisan base that it had doesn't happen in next three years you are right about 200, or 2 50 companies wouldn't be listed in u.s. what do you want to say to a blackrock have had a piece out gary said they are recommending investors list allocations to china by three times that is growth story increase holding in china companies. we don't see risks here with this recommendation that you are putting forth yet they are all-in on investing in companies saying t

chair cohen: thank you. mr.reenbaum, section 2 precludes -- it should congress amend section 2 when considering voting claims? or in lieu of these, what factors should they require to be taken into consideration and why? mr. greenbaum: i do think, chairman cohen, that congress is going to need to step in and amended section 2 to address brnovich. what you have in front of you, just like in 1982, congress had a lot of decisions that it could rely on with respect how to amend section to 2 to provide for claims. the fourth, fifth, sixth circuits have looked at what factors are relevant. going back to the fact of having this two-part test about there being burden and they have to show that burden is caused by the challenge voting practice and with the way that interacts with social and historical conditions of racial discrimination. in all of these cases the courts, among other things, have looked at the senate factors. chair cohen: thank you mr. greenbaum,. mr. henderson, what is your response to those that would a

. >> thank you, mr. chair. >> senator young. >> thank you, chairman. i will go off script and i know we are discussing foreign arms sales. i would like to discuss the arms that are finding their way from iran h into theouthis in yemen. we have a real interest. our partners and allies have an interest in ensuring that key weapons and technology do not continue to flow there in a manner that further destabilizes the country and perpetuates the civil war. it's been reported that the recent attack on the mercer street tanker in the gulf of oman originated from yemen with iranian produced drones, can you confirm this public ms. stroul: ms. stroul: report? thank you for that question, i can confirm the report and a few comments if you would allow. first of all, last friday, u.s. central command released its assessment based on the exploitation of the wreckage and what we were able to recover from the mercer street and what u.s. central command did in cooperation with the office of the secretary of defense, the joint staff is look at the different component w