mr. grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: we've been told by the majority party that soon we will be having a vote on an 800-page bill to change 50 state voting laws for one federal law. this bill is called the for people act. it was compiled after the 2018 elections to call into question legitimacy of democratic elections for partisan political purposes. if it had been a serious attempt at legislating, there would have been some outreach to some republicans because it takes 60 votes, a bipartisan vote, to get anything through the united states senate. in that process, there would have been consultation also with local elected officials. the election officials that conduct the state elections, to make sure it was workable. there would have been hearings in the congress. there would have been revisions from the bill originally introduced. the fact that back in 2018 when it was introduced is the fact that it was intended as political propaganda, and that's betrays the absu

mr. grassley's, questions. >> thank you. i'm quite certain that our ranking members questions are much more value added than mine. it's an extraordinary privilege to sit at this table in this room before the committee. it's also an extraordinary privilege to sit with this particular witness panel with mr. charles and his story of redemption. with mr. garcia who represents an entity, hida, it's one of those acronyms that matter in terms of saving lives and empowering federal, state and local aggressive drug task force efforts. i applaud him for his 30 years of public service. it's also a real privilege to sit with someone who represents our nations assistant united states attorney's. as your former colleague, then attorney general sessions would say, they are the coin of the realm. they are the coin of the realm in implementing with this committee and congress passes. they do an amazing job serving our country. so it's a real privilege, gentlemen. this room, this beautiful wood paneled room, is very far from louisville, kentu

mr. grassley: thank you, senator gillibrand. mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i think we just heard the senator from new york speak very strongly about the need for this legislation. she said 12 times she's come to the senate floor to ask for a u.c. on this bill. so we all ought to know not only on this bill but a lot of things the senator from new york is involved in, she's not going to give up. and eight years on this bill proves that. her persistence. we need to get this done. and i would think that a bill that has 66 cosponsors and the demonstrated need for it is such that the people opposing this would be embarrassed, particularly with the 66 cosponsors. so i thank senator gillibrand for her persistence. i've been glad to be with her on this subject. i haven't worked on it as hard as she has, but i believe in everything she has said. and this bill should pass. in the last 15 years there's been virtually no progress in reducing the level of sexual assault in the military. far too many service men a

mr. grassley: thank you, mr. president. it's no secret that this senator has been a leader in promoting renewable energy sources. iowa has don't even more to lead the nation in biofuels production. this leads to a cleaner environment and really increases america's energy independence. last week reuters reported the biden administration is considering ways to allow u.s. oil refiners to not meet their biofuel-blending requirements. this same administration has proposed hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies in electric vehicles, but failed to include any support for biofuels infrastructure which play a vital role in our nation's transportation sector as well as our efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. need i remind my colleagues president biden promised in his campaign, quote, to promote and advance renewable energy, ethanol, and other biofuels to help rural america and our nation's farmers. president biden is not keeping that promise. unfortunately despite the administration's emphasis on the environment and climate, th

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator grassley. our work together is a body of work which i'm most proud of and i want to continue it and though we may have had a disagreement about the elements and the procedures today, there's no fundamental disagreement between us and i look forward to working with you to have a complete hearing on all the important issues that face us. i will now turn to senator booker, the chair of the judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice and counterterrorism for an opening statement. >> mr. chairman, i thank you for the opportunity to speak for a brief time at the top of this hearing. i would like to submit my formal opening remarks for the record. i want to share with my colleagues, you know, there's guiding principles to this country where we aspire to the highest ideals of humanity. it's what our constitution is based upon, by our founder fathers who sought to make our nation one of the best evidenced, the ideals not just of humanity but of divine providence. there is a -- from the abraham faith an i

mr. garcia, we are grateful you are here. i had the privilege of assuming the role of grassley again and mr. wasserman, you come also with a greater demonstrated dedication to country. you have been assistant u.s. attorney in the district of columbia since 2003. to date, you are appearing as a member of the board for the directors for the national natil association of assistant u.s. attorneys. you obviously distinguished yourself within that organization because you were vice president of policy of the committee from 2018 to 2020. your legal experience is significant and previous, the trial attorney focused ongn organized crime at the department of justice from 1996 to 2003. if you allow me, you have something in common with me. we both stand in the shadow of siblings that are better than us. your sister is debbie wasserman schultz, someone who people on both sides of the i'll have a lot of affection for. thank you very much. would you please give us your testimony. >> thank you, chairman durbin, ranking member grassley, senator booker and members of the committee for the opportunity to appe

mr. grassley: senator gillibrand, as one of the other 65 cosponsors of this legislation, i think you're to be commended for every day coming to the floor being as consistent for this legislation as you have been since 2013. and i -- every one of us thank you for your persistence. you need to be congratulated and all the people that have been harmed by sexual assaults over the last decades owe you a great deal of gratitude for that. so i'm here to join senator gillibrand in asking for a vote on this crucial legislation, and obviously today we aren't going to get it. but eventually it's going to happen. you can't say no to 66 senators that want this legislation. the military justice and improvement prevention act has that many bipartisan cosponsors, and it's past time for this bill to become law. this legislation was first introduced by senator gillibrand and me and other senators eight years ago and has gained more and more support each year. senators who previously were skeptical have come around and realized that the department of defense can't handle the pervasive problems of sexual assa

mr. grassley: thank you, madam president.hen i was first elected to congress in the 1970's, i ran as grassley, the inflation fighter. inflation was about 12% or 13% at that time when i ran for the senate, it was 1213 ors 13 -- 12% or 13% again. and it hasn't been a major problem since then. those who remember that time of high inflation, it's a time period that inflation was a real problem. it kneecaps middle class prosperity, causes severe hardships for those already struggling. inflation is nothing short of a redressive tax -- regressive tax as it hurts americans more, the less money that they have. it's a stealth tax. with the income tax you can see how much the government is taking out of your paycheck. with sales tax, you can see on your receipt what the government took for its cut. with inflation, the value of your -- of the dollar in your pocket is reduced without even leaving your billfold. when americans suddenly notice that it costs more to buy the same groceries, it can be hard to know who to blame. did the store j

grassley. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thanks to all of our witnesses that will be testifying today and answering our questions. today's hearing addresses a topic of interest to many members of congress, and americans around the country. and it's a very important issue for me because, like you, mr. chairman, i've worked to find a legislative solution to addressing the daca populations. in 2018 i did just that when i introduced the secure and succeed act with several members of this committee. i know this is an issue of great importance to you, and i know that you have been a leading bipartisan discussions in recent weeks to try and reach an agreement. as ranking member of this committee, i look forward to participating in those discussions moving forward. i'd like to take two brief points that i'd like to make about the ongoing debate over legal status of undocumented young people brought here as children. i start with the assumption that children brought here by their parents did not violate our laws, but their parents di

grassley. >> thank you, mr. chairman and to all of the witnesses that will be testifying today answering the questions. today's hearing addresses the topic of interest to many members of congress and americans around the country and it's a very important issue for me because like you i've worked to find a legislative solution to address the populations and with several members of the committee. i know this is an issue of great importance to you and that you have been a leading bipartisan discussions in recent weeks to try to reach an agreement. as ranking member of the committee, i look forward to participating in those discussions moving forward. i'd like to take two brief points that i'd like to make about the ongoing debate and legal status. i started with the assumption children brought here by their parents did not violate the law but their parents did by violating the law coming to the country. first, any legislation providing legal status for those people must include meaningful security and immigration e

grassley. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to talk about stepped up basis. and this is a hot topic. and every one of the town meetings i have across iowa ever since the president's proposed it. i know that the president has said there's going to be some sort of special rule to protect family operations by allowing them to delay payment of the tax. but farmers don't buy farmland to buy it one day and sell it the next day. farmers in iowa and throughout the midwest, the family farms, they do it to pass on from one generation to another generation, a family operation. and sometimes i run into farmers that are fourth or fifth generation of farming. even six or seven generations occasionally you run into. i want to quote what the democratic chairman of the house, david scout said recently about the proposed exception, quote, could still result in significant tax burdens on family farming operations. so i -- my question is, isn't chairman scott correct in regard to that? is it really your point that family farms of several generations ought to be broken up because of doing away with the s

grassley, if you a deep dive. he discovered kazakhstan oligarchs, the russian oligarch, first lady of moscow, chinese national shopping spree, the bank of china, paris smile. now he's the commander in chief. mrs. conflict of interest? >> of course it is, and it was e back then even though the press declared that it wasn't. joe biden out right lied to american public repeatedly about the fact that he didn't discuss with hunter the overseas business transactions but, we proved that they lied in our report. recovered a vast web of foreignness jon's but, he by the way at dinner with joe biden. he said the bidens are compromised. i have to admit, it's pretty imaginative scum of the way they are figuring out how to cash in on the family name. we know the bidens are shameless but the press will call them ons it. >> sean: i'm a little bit troubled about this because we know that joe got nothing with the summit of vladimir putin.nt if though that he not give support to the nordstrom pipeline which will allow us to get rich again an end and he signed off on the pipeline but the extra twist is he did it while simultaneously canceling the keystone xl pipeline and along with it high paying career energy j

mr. connolly: i thank the distinguished chairwoman. this measure is nearly identical to a bipartisan provision in the senate crafted by republican senator grassley of iowa. in addition to these provisions, the bill includes several other important measures to bolster the independence of our nonpartisan watchdogs. this bill is an important bill in reasserting the independence and accountability and transparency of i.g.'s. they are a critical part of making this government work and rebuilding american trust in its government. i thank the distinguished chairwoman for her leadership in bringing it to us and urge members on both sides of the aisle to support this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia yields. the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. maloney: madam chair, first i'd like to recognize the hard work of the chairman of the subcommittee. he authored two proposals that were included in the bill. and was a major leader on it. i thank mr. connolly. i now recognize the gentleman from the great state of maryland, the chairman of the subcommi

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i guess i'm not surprised that we would have an objection like this because of a program that is corrupt, we've been trying to reform for eight years, every time that we try reach an agreement, there's big money interest in this town and around the country that keeps it from happening. today's objection represents another victory for the same power money, corrupt interest that has worked to kill reforms to a program that they love to abuse for nothing more than their own financial benefit. it also means that congress will not be able to pass legislation to reauthorize the program in advance of its expiration on june 30, a narrow subset of money encrypt interest has now shown that they would rather kill the program all together than have to accept integrity programs designed to clamp down on their bad behavior. i thank all those groups that have been working with us for eight years to get this program reformed. a lot of these people use that program. they were willing to make

mr. grassley: --. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: for the past 41 years i've toured our state to hear from iowa workers, our community leaders, and our farmers at my annual 99 county meetings. so far this yeef -- year i've been in 71. as a farmer myself, i enjoy speaking with those involved in agriculture all across the state who tell me that they are third, fourth, fifth generation farmers. these folks use the same soil and barns as their grandfathers before them. everyone i speak with intends to leave their land to their children, and leave it better than they found it. that goes way back to it being entrusted to their care. we all have that responsibility. between the use of cover crops, buffer strips, no-till farming, minimum-till farming, more conservation practices than ever before are being used on iowa's 35 million acres of farmland. and while iowa farmers are continuing to feed our country and the world, they a

mr. grassley: thank you, madam president. in january of 2020, when reports began to circulate about the coronavirus, i instructed my oversight and investigation staff to get a classified briefing from the department of health and human services office of national security. around that same time i publicly said that there were signs that the virus could develop into a worldwide threat. i also noted at that time my concern that china may not be accurately reflecting the scale or scope of the problem and that china was failing to share information with global health organizations. unfortunately, my concerns proved to be true. from the beginning, my goal has been to ensure a robust federal response to the threat and to better understand the origins of the virus. today, as we emerge from the pandemic, the focus has rightly shifted to understanding how the virus originated. we've lost over 500,000 of our american -- fellow americans, and this body has spent trillions of dollars to support the u.s. economy during the pandemic. we, t

mr. grassley: as my colleague from iowa just said, something mysterious happened just before the holiday weekend when the budget was reduced. so just before memorial day, the administration released its long-awaited fiscal year 2022 budget proposal. having reviewed the proposal, it's obvious why they chose this timing to do it because they hoped most americans would be too distracted by their backyard barbecues and tributes to fallen heroes to even notice how outlandish this budget proposal is. thank god president's only dispose congress disposes because we have the power of the purse. i have bad news for my democratic colleagues about the release of this, that the american public won't have the wool pulled over their eyes as easily as this administration thinks so by putting this out late friday before the holiday weekend. americans will see this budget for what it is, a very unserious political document containing a laundry list of liberal wish list policies -- unaware of economic or fiscal reality. it would be funny if not for the very serious issues we currently face in our country,