mr. grassley. mr. crapo. >> wait a minute. i apologize. the amendment threatens the privilege of the resolution. do you want to appeal? sorry about that. i moved to table the bill that's non-debatable. please go call the roll. >> mr. grassley. mr. crapo. mr. johnson. mr. marshall. mr. cornyn. mr. lee. mr. kennedy. mr. ricketts. mr. moreno. mr. scott. mr. merkley. mrs. murray. mr. wyden. mr. sanders. mr. whitehouse. mr. warner. mr. kaine. mr. van hollen. mr. lujan. mr. padilla. sorry i forgot mr. lujan. mr. chairman. >> aye. mr. chairman the yeas are 11, the nine. >> padilla number six. before i present mr. chairman i ask i can be recorded on number five. >> without objection. this amendment would create it deficit-neutral reserve fund to protect communities from fentanyl by prohibiting the diversion of law enforcement resources away from fentanyl related investigations and prosecutions. if you agree that fentanyl is a big problem in america let's protect the very programs and resources in congress has authorized and appropriated funding fo

mr. grassley, no. the clerk: mr. mcconnell, no. vote: the presiding officer: the yeas are 47, the nays are 52, the amendment is not agreed to. mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senate majority leader. mr. thune: i think for the benefit of all members, i think soon we'll have a final agreement that will enable us to wind this down with a finite number of votes and when that happens i ask everybody to be in their seats so we can move fairly quickly through those and in the intervening time period, we have a couple of more amendments, i ask that the following amendments be reported by number, markey, 911, coons, 1223. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. markey: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. markey: mr. president, i call up my amendment numbered 911 and ask it be reported by number. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from massachusetts, mr. markey, proposes amendment numbered 911. mr. markey: mr. president, funding for alzheimer's

mr. grassley. combras -- senator grassley: aye. chair graham: no. no. we switched. this is harder than it looks. [laughter] the clerk: mr. crapo. senator crapo: no. the clerk: mr. johnson. senator johnson: no. the clerk: mr. marshall. senator marshall: no. the clerk: mr. cornyn. mr. lee. senator lee: no. the clerk: mr. kennedy. senator kennedy: no. the clerk: mr. ricketts. senator ricketts: no. the clerk: mr. moreno. senator moreno: no. the clerk: mr. scott. senator scott: no. the clerk: mr. merkley. senator merkley: aye. mrs. murray. senator murray: aye. the clerk: mr. wyden. senator wyden: aye. the clerk: mr. sanders. senator sanders: aye. the clerk: mr. whitehouse. senator whitehouse: aye. the clerk: mr. warner. senator warner: aye. the clerk: mr. kaine. senator kaine: aye. senator van hollen: aye. the clerk: mr. lujan. senator padilla: aye. the clerk: mr. padilla. senator padilla: aye. the clerk: mr. chairman. chair graham: we'll get back to -- oh, i'm sorry. the clerk: mr. chairman, the yeas are 10, the nays are 11. chair graham: sorry about that. senator padill

mr. grassley. combras -- senator grassley: aye. chair graham: no. no. we switched. this is harder than it looks. [laughter] the clerk: mr. crapo. senator crapo: no. the clerk: mr. johnson. senator johnson: no. the clerk: mr. marshall. senator marshall: no. the clerk: mr. cornyn. mr. lee. senator lee: no. the clerk: mr. kennedy. senator kennedy: no. the clerk: mr. ricketts. senator ricketts: no. the clerk: mr. moreno. senator moreno: no. the clerk: mr. scott. senator scott: no. the clerk: mr. merkley. senator merkley: aye. mrs. murray. senator murray: aye. the clerk: mr. wyden. senator wyden: aye. the clerk: mr. sanders. senator sanders: aye. the clerk: mr. whitehouse. senator whitehouse: aye. the clerk: mr. warner. senator warner: aye. the clerk: mr. kaine. senator kaine: aye. senator van hollen: aye. the clerk: mr. lujan. senator padilla: aye. the clerk: mr. padilla. senator padilla: aye. the clerk: mr. chairman. chair graham: we'll get back to -- oh, i'm sorry. the clerk: mr. chairman, the yeas are 10, the nays are 11. chair graham: sorry about that. senator padill

mr. grassley? >> no. >> mr. crepo? mr. johnson? >> no. >> mr. marshal? >> no. >> mr. coryny? >> no. >> mr. lee? >> no. >> mr. kennedy? >> no. >> no. >> mr. moreno? >> no. >> mr. scott? mr. merkley? mrs. murray? >> aye.ri >> mr. widen? >> aye. >> mr. sanders? >> aye. >> mr. whitehouse? >> aye. >> mr. warner? >> aye. >> mr. kane? >> aye. >> mr. van holland? mr. luhan? >> is that okay? yeah. thank you. [laughter] momentum here. mr. padilla? >> aye. >> mr. chairman? >> no. >> mr. chairman, the yeas are ten the and the nays are 11. >> senator widen one. >> thank you, mr. chairman. this takes medicaid off the chopping block in the united states senate. and we know that medicaid is a lifeline for nursing home patients and families. we know it's so important in rural communities. we know it's so important for employees who work somewhere where the employer can't afford healthcare coverage. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment. i guessth it's called widen one. >> what senator said before sounds good to me. i will oppose it. the clerk will call the roll. >> mr. grassley? >> n

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa is recognized. mr. sley: for the third time, i come to the senate floor to ask my democrat colleagues if they'll respect the democrats on the senate agriculture committee. that committee voted unanimously to approve mrs. rollins to be secretary of agriculture and there should be no reason to spend 30 hours of debate and would show disrespect for the democrats on the agriculture committee not to approve her unless we did it by unanimous consent. on another point, the champions of the 59th super bowl will celebrate with a parade on valentine's day in philadelphia. i can say with pride that the state of iowa is celebrating this victory with coop er dejon a hometown hero and former hawk eye. on super bowl sunday, he made history on his 22nd birthday in his rookie season with the philadelphia eagles. cooper grew up in the northeast iowa farming -- northwest iowa farming community of odobolt, population 985. he was a four-star varsity athlete in high school, competing with the falcons. he went to the universit

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: i recognize the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i take congress's constitutional oversight mandate very seriously. what you learn in eighth grade civics oversight responsibility is checks and balances of government. in the 118th congress, as ranking member of the senate budget committee, i established the committee's very first oversight and investigative unit. its oversight touched on 97% of taxpayer agencies, sending over 600 oversight letters to federal, state, and private-sector entities. last year my team sent over one letter per day on average. that oversight unit launched the committee's first subpoena since 1991, and i'm -- and obtained records for brand-new record about credit suisse of nazi accounts. i hosted also oversight roundtables where exist expose odd the biden administration's failure at the southern border to collect dna and protect unaccompanied children. my investigation resulted in a referral to law enforcement to find and protect unaccompanied children who were brought here in violation of our laws.

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: i recognize the senator from iowa. mr. sley: sometime today we're voting on the nomination of tulsi gabbard. she's going to be director of national intelligence after she's confirmed. until she was nominated, i only knew her from seeing her in media sound bites and what other people wrote about her. she came to my office and we had a very good, very substantive conversation. i determined that she's very smart and obviously an articulate person. in our discussion, we covered many of her past statements on various policy matters, and she was able to clarify what the media got right and what the media got wrong. obviously, since she served in the congress of the united states as a democrat, i and she may not agree on every policy. however, representative gabbard made clear that she does not see her position as director of national intelligence as a policymaking decision. she understands that president trump is the one who was elected. as director of national intelligence, tulsi gabbard's job will be simply to make sure that th

mr. grassley. >> aye. >> mr. cornyn. >> aye. mr. thune. aye. mr. cassidy. aye. mr. lankford. aye. mr. daines. aye. mr. barrasso, aye. mr. johnson, aye. mr. tillis, aye. ms. blackburn, aye mr. wyden, no. ms. cantwell, no. mr. bennet, no. mr. warner, no. mr. whitehouse, no. ms. hassan, no. ms. cortez masto, no. ms. warren, no. mr. sanders, no. ms. smith, no. mr. lujan, no. mr. warnock, no. mr. chairman? the chairman votes aye. the final tally is 14 ayes, 13 nays. chair crapo: with the click please restate the vo--with the clerk restate the vote? >> 14 ayes, 13 nays. chair crapo: the vote is reported favorably. since i asked my republican colleagues to hold off at the outset, i will go to my republican colleague first. senator tillis. sen. tillis: i voted aye today and i wanted to briefly explain why. i believe in my 65 years -- i will be 65 in august -- that mr. kennedy will be one of the first people coming before who is not a trained health care expert. he views this through the lens of an attorney. he's brought many lawsuits on food safety, vaccine safety, a number of other things. m

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: the senate will soon confirm kelly loeffler. she will then be the next administrator of the small business administration. as a former colleague in the senate representing georgia, i know she understands the need of small business in both rural and urban areas. i am very sympathetic to the needs of small business. these small businesses have experienced disruptions from the pandemic, labor shortages, inflation, and supply chain issues. i meet with many small business owners as i travel throughout iowa, and i hear about the policy issues that are important to them. small businesses are the backbone of our economy. douching the past 20 years -- during the past 20 years, small businesses have created 75% of the new private nonfarm jobs in the united states. we always hear about excessive taxes and regulations affecting small business, standing in the way of small businesses making the investments that would drive even more job growth. i have consistently supported legislation an

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the president pro tempore. mr. grassley: first a very short unanimous consent request for detail east to be -- detail ees to be on the floor with me. unanimous consent that sam -- i'm sorry -- sam rouie and ivan benchech, two detailees in my office be granted floor privileges. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: i come to the floor to speak about the nominee for the secretary of veterans' affairs that we'll be voting on in a couple of hours. i have long considered myself a friend of veterans. the men and women who have put themselves in harm's way to serve our country, they deserve our full support, and they have mine. too often, i hear from veterans in iowa that the department of veterans' affairs makes it difficult for them to access health care and the services that they -- that we honor them with because they have defended our country. whether this is expecting them to drive an unnecessary distance for their initial disability exam or making it more difficult to seek the care that they choose

mr. grassley. >> aye. >> mr. grassley aye. mr. cornyn. >> mr. >> cornyn i mr. mr.ne i mr. >> scott mr. >> scott i mr. cassidy mr. cassidy i mr. >> lankford mr. lankford i mr. >> daines mr. >> daines i mr. >> young mr. >> young i mr. >> barrasso mr. >> barrasso i mr. >> johnson mr. >> johnson i mr. >> tillis mr. tillis i mrs. blackburn mrs. >> blackburn i mr. marshall mr. >> marshall i mr. >> wyden. no. mr. wyden. no. >> miss cantwell, no. >> miss cantwell, no. mr. bennet, mr. bennet, no. mr. warner, no. mr. warner, no. mr. whitehouse, mr. whitehouse, no. miss hassan, miss. hassan, no. >> miss cortez masto. >> miss cortez masto. >> no. >> miss warren, no. >> miss warren, no. >> mr. sanders, mr. sanders, no. >> miss smith, no. >> miss smith, no. >> mr. lujan, no. mr. lujan, no. >> mr. warnock, no. >> mr. warnock, no. >> mr. welch, mr. >> welch, no. >> mr. chairman, >> chairman. votes i. >> mr. chairman the final tally. >> is 14 ayes. >> 13 ayes. >> the vote. >> was. would the clerk please restate the vote. >> mr. chairman. >> the final tally was 14 ayes. >> 13 ayes.

mr. patel: i do. chair grassley: you may proceed. mr. patel: chairman grassley, ranking member durbin, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity. i messed -- i must start with a word of prayer for the tragic accident that befell our nation last night where we lost civilians in service members. i pray for their families and law enforcement and military personnel and for their souls and hopefully god would sign the peace in the near future. -- find them peace in the near future. i would like to welcome my mother and father sitting here today. they traveled to get here from india. my sister is also here. she traversed the oceans just to be with me today. it means the world that you guys are here. i would not be here today without their guidance and unwavering support and relentless love. when president trump informed me of his intention to nominate me as director of the fbi i was honored. sitting here today i carry not only the dream of my parents but the hopes of millions of americans who stand for justice, fairness, and t

mr. grassley. >> aye. >> mr. grassley. aye. mr. cornyn. mr. cornyn, i mr.. thune, mr.. thune i mr.. scott. mr.. scott i mr.. cassidy, mr.. cassidy i mr.. langford i mr.. langford i mr.. daines mr.. daines i. mr.. young. mr.. young. i mr.. barrasso mr.. barrasso i mr.. johnson mr.. johnson i mr.. tillis mr.. tillis i mrs.. blackburn. mrs.. blackburn i mr.. marshall. mr.. marshall i mr.. wyden. no. mr.. wyden. no. miss cantwell. no. miss cantwell. no. mr.. bennett. mr.. bennett. no. mr.. warner. mr.. warner. no. mr.. white house. mr.. white house. no. miss hassan. miss. hassan. no. miss cortez masto. miss cortez masto. no. miss warren. no. miss warren. no. mr. sanders. no. mr.. sanders. no. miss smith. no. miss smith. no. mr.. lujan. no. mr.. lujan. no. mr.. warnock. >> no. >> mr.. warnock. no. mr.. welch. mr. welch. no. mr. chairman. chairman. votes aye. mr. chairman, the final tally is 14 ayes. 13 ayes. >> the vote was. would the clerk please restate the vote? >> mr. chairman the was 14. ayes. 13. ayes. >> the. the vote was 1413. the nomination is reported favorably. we will now tur

mr. grassley: today we're going to take a procedural vote on kash patel's nomination to be director of the fbi. i want to take a few minutes to express my support for his nomination and to urge my democratic colleagues to consider voting for this nomination. mr. patel's

mr. grassley: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: over the last three or four years, i've come to the floor to discuss with my colleagues information that i get from whistleblowers in the fbi, the department of justice, most of it dealing with the subject of the political weaponization of people at the highest levels of the fbi and their violating of protocol, getting involved in political situations that the fbi has no business being in. so, last week, when mr. patel was before my judiciary committee, i released some new e-mails that i have gotten that show further involvement of certain people in the case against trump that jack smith headed up. so i'm here today because when i release those e-mails last week there was a "new york times" story that got it all wrong. so, today i want to bring to my colleagues' attention a january 30, 2025 "new york times" article from adam goldman and allen fewerer about my and senator johnson's oversight of the fbi. in that article, they said, quote, fbi e-mails released thursday showed th

mr. chairman. i'm struggling with a bit of the flu. chair grassley: everybody's got flu. sen. booker: yeah, it's pretty rough, but i appreciate the time. mr. patel, if i can jump right in, 12 career prosecutors were involved in the investigation prosecuting cases against president trump and were recently fired. some of those that were involved were involved in the mar-a-lago classified documents case. do you know who brecht reynolds is? mr. patel: maybe, but it doesn't ring a bell at this point. sen. booker: you are under oath, you have no record action of who reynolds is? mr. patel: if you could provide me with more context i could possibly remember. sen. booker: are you aware of any plans or discussions to punish in any way including termination fbi agent or personnel associated with trump investigations? mr. patel: senator, just to be clear, i did not participate -- sen. booker: that is a yes or no question, are you are aware of any plans to punish in any way including termination fbi agent or personnel associated with trump investigations? mr. patel: i'm not aware. sen. boo

mr. grassley. aye. >> more cornyn aye. >> mr. scott aye. [vote taken] >> mr. chairman. chairman votes aye. mr. chairman, the final tally is 14 ayes, 13 nays. >> the vote -- would the clerk please restate the vote. >> the final total was 14 ayes and 13 ayes. we'll look to other senators and i will go to the republican side next. first senator tillis. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i voted aye today. i want to briefly explain why. i believe in my 65 years i will be 65 in august. that mr. kennedy will be one of the first people coming before who -- >> dana: you have it. the hurdle to get out of committee cleared by rfk, jr. the nominee from president trump to be health and human services secretary. there was a little bit of tension and drama leading up to it. cassidy from louisiana hadn't said how he would vote and he was a yes in the end. the vote now 14/13 to get rfk, jr. out of committee. now the challenge is to get enough votes to get off the floor. that will probably happen for him. john, what do you think john since it was unanimous on the republican side, i would -- co

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa is recognized. mr. grassley: sometime today we're confirming scott turner, a the new secretary of housing and urban development. as a former nfl cornerback, developer, state and local official, and executive director of the white house opportunity and revitalization council, mr. turner understands the challenges facing american communities. while the vast majority of housing and development issues are solved at the local and state level, i certainly understand how the federal government and the programs utilized by many iowa individual families and communities assist with making our cities the best place to live, work, and play. i look forward to working with scott turner to advance iowa's priorities and sound policies for our nation. even though i did not meet with scott turner in my office, as i do most nominees for cabinet, i stressed to him today the importance of responding to congressional letters and inquiries, and i'll have an example on that in just a minute. i want to explain that congress has

mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. presiding officer: pursuant to rule 12, no debate is permitted during vote. the senator will suspend e -- suspend. the clerk: mr. hawley. the presiding officer: pursuant to rule 12, no debate is permitted during a vote. the clerk: mr. hawley. mr. hickenlooper. the presiding officer: pursuant too rule 12, no debate is permitted during a vote. the senator will suspend. the clerk: ms. hirono. the presiding officer: pursuant to rule 12, no debate is permitted during a vote. the senator will suspend. the clerk: mr. hoeven. mr. husted. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr. kaine. the presiding officer: pursuant to rule 12, no debate is permitted during a vote. the senator will suspend e. the clerk: mr. quelly. -- mr. kelly. the presiding officer: no debate is permitted during a vote. the senator will success spend. the clerk: mr. kennedy. mr. kim. the presiding officer: pursuant to rule 12, no debate is permitted during a vote. the senator will suspend. the clerk: mr. king. the pre

chair grassley: now for the business of the committee. >> mr. chairman. chair grassley: i would rather do our administrative business. >> chair grassley. chair grassley: i wasn't planning on anybody speaking. >> i'd like to line up behind senator kennedy to speak myself. chair grassley: ok. i'll call on senator kennedy when we get done here. let's make very clear there's plenty of time for any sort of debate you want to do, a week from today, right now, to discuss anything you want to discuss. this is usually a very short meeting. 17 times last year, last congress, we let the democrats have -- not having to meet under circumstances similar to this. so they didn't have to meet. now we are here. so this authorizing resolution we'll adopt the resolution by voice vote. all those in favor of adopting the committee authorizing resolution say aye. opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. do have it. 9 authorizing resolution -- the authorizing resolution is adopted. next we'll adopt the committee rules. my staff and ranking member durbin likewise have worked on

mr. grassley: madam president. the presiding officer: the president pro tempore. mr. grassley: one short issue to just make mention and then i want to pay tribute to an iowan. this week we're going to vote on the secretary of agriculture to be confirmed for the cabinet. that person was voted out of committee unanimously. so i think it's ridiculous for the minority, for a committee where every democrat and every republican voted for this nominee to have even one minute of debate. it all to be proved by unanimous consent -- approved by unanimous consent. it may not be but at least i express my opinion and i gave a rationale why that should be done. we shouldn't be spending 30 hours of debate on somebody that's been approved unanimously by the agriculture committee. so today i pay tribute to an outstanding iowan who celebrated her 65th birthday february 9. an astronaut and patriotic american, peggy witsan has never stopped reaching for the stars. her hometown is located ring gold county. that community of beacon field is community building, is also the birth place of anot

chair grassley: now for the business of the committee. >> mr. chairman. chair grassley: i would rather do our administrative business. >> chair grassley. chair grassley: i wasn't planning on anybody speaking. >> i'd like to line up behind senator kennedy to speak myself. chair grassley: ok. i'll call on senator kennedy when we get done here. let's make very clear there's plenty of time for any sort of debate you want to do, a week from today, right now, to discuss anything you want to discuss. this is usually a very short meeting. 17 times last year, last congress, we let the democrats have -- not having to meet under circumstances similar to this. so they didn't have to meet. now we are here. so this authorizing resolution we'll adopt the resolution by voice vote. all those in favor of adopting the committee authorizing resolution say aye. opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. do have it. 9 authorizing resolution -- the authorizing resolution is adopted. next we'll adopt the committee rules. my staff and ranking member durbin likewise have worked on

mr. grassley: calling of the quorum off, please. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: today we're going to take a procedural vote on kash patel's nomination to be director of the fbi. i want to take a few minutes to express my support for his nomination and to urge my democratic colleagues to consider voting for this nomination. mr. patel's resume doesn't look like a normal one for fbi director, but everybody knows in this congress and maybe in the united states that we're for the living in normal times. as i've exposed through my oversight work, the fbi has been infected by politicalization and this storied agency has been weaponized against political op appropriates -- political opponents. mr. patel is the right man at the right time. his career has been a study in fighting for unpopular but righteous causes, exposing corruption and putting america first. mr. patel's served as a public defender, a counterterrorism prosecutor under president obama, and a house staffer. in the house he worked to expose crossfire hurricane as a political hit job that was based

mr. grassley, no. ms. murkowski, no. mr. husted, no. mr. cruz -- >> joining organizations, making their voices heard, that's what it's going to make the difference in the course of what happensin congress . it is the voice of the people on the streets as well as the battle in the inside his chamber that is the same from inflation that will save us from the plan that fenders the nest of billionaires. this connection between cutting programs for families and increasing tax giveaways for billionaires is actually a republican bill now side. they made it explicit . this language says for every vision of our cut from the safety net they can get away anadditional dollar to billionaires . that's in the republican bill in the house. that's pretty remarkable and bold to layout for all of america to read . there is an additional factor here. that is to run the nation deeper into that. we have seen this play again before . each of these bars represents an administration, the first president bush administration , george w. bush, obama's eight years, tru

mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mr. husted. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. sheehy. ms. slotkin. ms. smith. mr. sullivan. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. senators voting in the affirmative -- boozman, cornyn, crapo, graham, mullin, risch, rounds, and tuberville. senators voting in the negative -- bennet, gallego, lujan, markey, schumer, and wyden. vote: the clerk: mr. wicker, aye.

mr. chairman. sen. grassley: thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate your calling today's markup. it's a process to jump-start the process for moving forward with a trump agenda. president biden used a pandemic as an excuse to ram through his budget-busting far-left agenda while wasting billions on leftist causes, he neglected core government responsibilities. as we all know, the number one responsibility of the federal government, national security. but biden allowed our military to deteriorate and in fact as a result of not enforcing the immigration laws, we had opened our borders. this budget resolution represents a very first step towards correcting the biden-harris administration's spending excesses and it's disregard of security threats at our border and around the world. the previous administration's open border policies resulted in an unprecedented surge of illegal immigration, approximately three times the population of iowa, entered into the u.s. in just those four years, and everybody saw it nightly on our television. this left our nation vulnerable to gang members, cri

chairman grassley. mr. pizzuro, i will start with you. you know the trends of what we are facing online, probably as well as anybody, is that fair to say? >> i would say so. >> senator hawley: would you say it is more of it or less of it? >> mr. pizzuro: hundreds or thousands percent more. >> senator hawley: in 2023, there were 104 million images in videos of suspected child abused materials uploaded onto the internet compared to 450,000 in 2004. 450,000 to 104 million in the last four years in which we have data. here is another statistic. the number of reports of child exploitation materials went from 1 million in 2014 to 36.2 million in 2023. so, in other words, it is an enormous explosion. it is absolutely everywhere. let me ask you some of the remedies about this. if you are a parent and i am a parent of three young little kids, if you are a parent of a victim of child sexual abuse material, your child's images have been used and they have been exploited. you have companies hosted that content reckles

mr. chair. >> senator grassley. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you folks for attending. mr.-- zippy, i've been a member of the farm bureau since 1956. before i ask any of you questions, i've got a short statement. .. we have a system that we describe and i have heard secretaries of agriculture describe as nothing more than a modern-day sharecropper farming system and we know how that turned out years and years ago, it was not good. we need transparency. we need our farmers need the permit pay to be changed so they have a base pay not only for them but their bankers that depending on them to make payments on the families depending on them to make a living. that transparency will help us understand what people don't understand about animal agriculture, especially in integrated system when the chicken is delivered to me on my firm there are three things that go into how it performs. the environment it lives in, that's my responsibility and i have computers of people making sure it's perfect at all times. my wife will accuse me of taking better care of my chickens than my ch

mr. grassley: i rise to support the budget resolution that's before the united states senate. speaking to that, i want to remind people of some history. these famous words came from rahm emanuel, president obama's chief of staff. it dates from about 2008. he famously said, quote, you never want a serious crisis to go away, end of quote. there's no statement that better encapsulates the mindset of the previous administration. we all know americans are struggling to cope with economic and social disruption, still carrying on from the pandemic. the biden administration saw a real opportunity, an opportunity to permanently increase the size and scope of government. they said that they wanted to transform america. i hope everybody on my side of the aisle wants to preserve america. in my view, it makes sense in times of national emergency for government to take steps to help individuals, families, and small businesses weather that storm. but once the crisis subsides, so should the programs and spending enacted in response. yet here we are in 2025. federal spending as a share of the

mr. grassley: soon we'll be voting on the nomination of kash patel to serve as director of the fbi. i have spoken with my colleagues on this nomination within the last couple days, but i want to spend a few more minutes urging my colleagues to vote for mr. patel's confirmation. mr. patel's career shows that he's a man who will fight to defend the constitution and fight to expose corruption. this is exactly the kind of experience the fbi director needs. for almost a decade now, mr. patel served as a public defender, defending the constitutional rights of least popular people in america. after serving as public defender, mr. patel joined the department of justice under democrat president obama as counterterrorism prosecutor in national security division. in this role, he investigated and he prosecuted many important cases, including the world cup bombing in uganda in 2010, for which he received the award of excellence. in 2017, representative devon nunes asked mr. patel to join the house permanent select committee on intelligence to uncover the truth about russiagate, and mr. patel di

grassley: so, you will be watching that regulatory process to make sure it is followed? mr. vought: yes. sen. grassley: another thing that irritates me about -- by the way, these problems i am talking about not just are democrat problems, they are republican and democrat problems we have to deal with. another one would be not answering our letters. i don't know if i got a lot of f letters. when pam bondi was in my office, i gave her her stack of 158 letters that the justice department and the last four years have not answered. it was the same someone over obama and trump previously. we have a constitutional responsibility to make sure the executive branch faithfully execute our laws. so, we want to make sure that these letters are answered. on september 15, 2023, i sent president biden's omb director asking a simple question -- where is the implementation guidance for the open government data act? just one example. at that point, omb was five years late in issuing the guidance. the guidance was intended to make government information more open and available. in the final days