mr. conaway: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my colleague from utah. while i'm not unappreciative of my colleague from california's comments, do i think we're at a place where we do need to move forward f we succumb to the emotions of what's going on around us and don't stick to the facts, stick to the -- what we're trying to get done, we do that to our detriment. i have great respect for my colleagues and his opinions. i believe that plays into the emotions what's going on rather than the facts of what's going on f we can just continue to push forward. going on if t -- we can just continue to push forward. let me say it preserves the operational flexibility of section 702 while instituting key reforms to further protect u.s. personal privacy. one of the major issues discussed over the past year has een the n.s.a.'s communication collection. a tortured title, but nevertheless we'll stick with the phrase abouts communication. abouts communications collection takes place at n.s.a.'s up stream collection and due to how the internet communications work all

mr. conaway: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my colleague from utah. while i'm not unappreciative of my colleague from california's comments, do i think we're at a place where we do need to move forward f we succumb to the emotions of what's going on around us and don't stick to the facts, stick to the -- what we're trying to get done, we do that to our detriment. i have great respect for my colleagues and his opinions. i believe that plays into the emotions what's going on rather than the facts of what's going on f we can just continue to push forward. going on if t -- we can just continue to push forward. let me say it preserves the operational flexibility of section 702 while instituting key reforms to further protect u.s. personal privacy. one of the major issues discussed over the past year has een the n.s.a.'s communication collection. a tortured title, but nevertheless we'll stick with the phrase abouts communication. abouts communications collection takes place at n.s.a.'s up stream collection and due to how the internet communications work all

mr. conaway. >> thank you. please pass onto your team thank you for where you've gotten us to today, the thousands of people hours whatever got you to it. however flawed we are at this point, we're far better off than when i first took up this task. i have seen that progress. got a long way to go. don't want to overpromise and underdeliver. the '18 audit is unlikely to be a clean opinion given the scope of what has to be done. but we are so much further along based on the leadership that you and your team are providing and the hard work of the folks who get up and go to work to face this daunting problem that so please tell them thank you. it's like trying to push that rock up everyday. we'll try to keep that process moving forward and not do anything that hampers from a legislative standpoint because we're frustrated it hasn't gotten done sooner. we have to recognize it is getting done. you talked about findings. that's got a certain definition to you. could you explain to the committee what a finding really i

mr. conaway, who is acting as the chairman on this investigation, was trying his hardest to be fair. i don't know exactly what's happening behind the scenes, but the only other assumption is that mr. nunes is making it much more difficult. the only person on the house side that can intervene is the speaker of the house. he has to be called upon to require these subpoenas to be issued. beyond that, these separate, rogue, unilateral investigations, which are taking place without any democratic input at all, for the most part, we're not even being made aware of what their investigation and asking us to participate at all. only the speaker of the house can stop this nonsense and bring us back into a fair, bipartisan approach. what exactly took place. in our lifetime, there will be no more important investigation. republicans should care as much about this as we do. they haven't tried to hack into the dnc and other measures, they hacked into our board of elections. as mr. comey said, they'll be back. >> but we want to point out that there's also no evidence that they were able to influence

mr. conaway and we have a good, working relationship and it has been in many respects a model of bipartisanshiput the ultimate decisions are made by chairman nunes. for that reason, subpoenas that should go out aren't and those not necessary carrying us in a completely different direction are going out. end of the day, the leadership of the committee in the investigation is in mr. nunes' hands. the problem from the very beginning, you know, chuck, with that midnight run to the white house from our chairman, canvassing where he got that information poisoned our committee thereafter, giving me no sense of enjoyment to see the senate run into the same problem. if one party views this responsibility as circling the wagons around the white house and protecting at white house at all costs it's very lard to do a bipartisan investigation. >> let me ask you this. at this point, we have a special counsel. at the end of the day, obviously, you guys have a fact-finding mission. you're a separate branch of government. i'm not disputing that, but because there's a special counsel basically looking at everyth

mr. conaway: mr. speaker, some folks in washington are upset because we just passed the largest tax increase in american history. they think this money is washington's money. and that politicians and bureaucrats to decide how to spend it. coy not disagree more. you and i know this money belongs to the american people. came right out of their wallets. under our new law we put hardworking families first by helping them cope with the cost of raising children by doubling the child tax credit. also help small businesses by cutting their taxes so that they can compete with foreign companies and create jobs right here in america. for those folks who don't think they need an extra also help sm by cutting their taxes so that they can compete $,500 or so or who think politicians and bureaucrats can spend their money better, i have a solution. mr. babin: go ahead and drop your new refund check in the mail. send it to the i.r.s. they will be glad to take your money. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempor

mr. conaway. >> two things real quick. the department is constantly facing funding challenges, et cetera. do you think you've got the right position or strength of position to be able to maintain and protect the funding to get all of this done? do you think you have the right support from the secretary and others to be able to make a cogent argument? >> i have the support of the secretary and the deputy secretary at secretary. at the committee level, i'm very comfortable. if you start talking about a cr that runs through the year, that changes. we have readiness issues in others that i'd have to be paying attention to as well. >> on the database of findings, there will be some findings that are more important than others. >> mm-hm. >> so when it first comes out, just the scope of the number of findings will probably be startling. will the cpa firms grade those findings as to ones that are, for lack of a better phrase, really critical or systemic versus easily fixed? is there some sort of a gray there that will help bifurca

mr. conaway. >> thank you. two other things real quick. the department is constantly facing funding challenges, et cetera. do you think you've got the right position or strength of position to be able to maintain and protect the funding to get all of this done? because it's going to be setting priorities and trading these dl dollars that are going to be needed over time versus spending them somewhere else. do you think you have the right support from the secretary and others to be able to make a argument that you need these funds to continue the audits and continue the fixes? >> i have the support of the secretary and the deputy secretary. i will tell you at the president's budget level or at the committee level, i'm very comfortable. if you start talking about a cr that runs through the year, we're in a very different place. i'll fight to protect this, but we have readiness issues in others that i'd have to be paying attention to as well. >> the bca levels would be a disaster? >> that would be a disaster. >> on the database of findings, t

mr. conaway: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my colleague from utah. while i'm not unappreciative of my colleague from california's comments, do i think we're at a place where we do need to move forward f we succumb to the emotions of what's going on around us and don't stick to the facts, stick to the -- what we're trying to get done, we do that to our detriment. i have great respect for my colleagues and his opinions. i believe that plays into the emotions what's going on rather than the facts of what's going on f we can just continue to push forward. going on if t -- we can just continue to push forward. let me say it preserves the operational flexibility of section 702 while instituting key reforms to further protect u.s. personal privacy. one of the major issues discussed over the past year has een the n.s.a.'s communication collection. a tortured title, but nevertheless we'll stick with the phrase abouts communication. abouts communications collection takes place at n.s.a.'s up stream collection and due to how the internet communications work all

i want to commend chairman conaway for his expertise and persistence on this issue as well as mr. courtney who was also a member of the audit panel several years ago. they will both be glad to know that we have had additional members join the committee in recent years who can contribute their background and experience to this issue as it we move ahead to -- as we move ahead. we hear evidence every week that we are not providing our military with the funding they need to carry out the missions they have been assigned. spend more. at the same time we have a responsibility to americans to see that each of their tax dollars being spent to protect them is being spent in a transparent way with appropriate accountability. we should never assume that an audit will solve all the problems of inefficiency but it seems to me that the requirement of spending money smarter is knowing the certainty -- knowing with certainty how it is being spent. it is likely the result of the first audit will not be pretty. those results will help direct us all, commerce on the department, and where we need to

i want to commend chairman conaway for his expertise and persistence on this issue as well as mr. courtney who was also a member of the audit panel several years ago. they will both be glad to know that we have had additional members join the committee in recent years who can contribute their background and experience to this issue as it we move ahead to -- as we move ahead. we hear evidence every week that we are not providing our military with the funding they need to carry out the missions they have been assigned. spend more. at the same time we have a responsibility to americans to see that each of their tax dollars being spent to protect them is being spent in a transparent way with appropriate accountability. we should never assume that an audit will solve all the problems of inefficiency but it seems to me that the requirement of spending money smarter is knowing the certainty -- knowing with certainty how it is being spent. it is likely the result of the first audit will not be pretty. those results will help direct us all, commerce on the department, and where we need to

mr. president, they are in control. here are our graphics. as you know, the senate intel committee headed by burr, republican. the house intel headed by mike conaway, a republican. and chuck grassley, a republican. and the doj are who the president appointed. mueller, chris wray. >> bob mueller sat with the president that was a job interview for working in his government, so not set up to be an enemy. >> david, he is not satisfied with what the republicans are doing. >> look, i think the president has laid out such a clear strategy, right? if there are charges brought ultimately against anyone, he will argue that the fix was in from the start. there was a rush to judgment. and this is the deep state within the government reaching out. and if the investigation falls short, he will be vindicated in arguing this was a witch-hunt from the very beginning. ultimately this is a political street fighting strategy that he is pursuing here. republicans are in control of congress. they are in control of these investigations. and i think to john's point, the danger here for critics of the president is overreach and in a political process which is anything tha