mr. secretary. mr. neal, you are recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, the overall budget framework which sinks the nation into deficits which are near $1 trillion a year or recently estimated, $7 trillion over the next ten years. certainly republicans have moved away from what they used to say about balanced budgets. in addition, they decide that they are going to make cuts to very important initiatives that many people here in america have come to rely upon and they are, despite what is being said, making cuts to medicare. overall, the budget proposes more than a half trillion dollars, $532 billion in cuts to medicare over ten years. $200 billion alone to our hospitals. these hospitals are the cornerstones of many of our communities and cuts of this magnitude will result in hospitals closing and losing jobs. a reminder for virtually every member of this committee as well as members of congress, the hospitals have now become the biggest employers. as i noted earlier, in massachusetts, first class health care. the budget proposes another $80 bi

mr. secretary? we look forward to working with you, mr. secretary, with the administration and my friends on the other side of the aisle in hopes we can find america a truly, truly sustainable housing finance system. one that helps put people into homes that they can actually afford to keep. different question, mr. secretary. today fsoc designated four nonbank financial companies as sifis. today only prudential remains designated. as you know, under statute, fsoc is required to re-evaluate the designations annually. can you tell me the last time prudential's dez ig nation was last re-evaluate sfld. >> i believe it will be coming up. but it has not been evaluated recently. >> is there a specific time frame for its re-evaluation, mr. secretary? >> my expectation is that it will be in the near future this year. >> okay. we know that a couple weeks ago the administration chose not to -- to drop the government appeal of the metlife litigation. so essentially they have been designated. we know that an article 3 court found the designation process

mr. secretary? >> that is correct. >> and isn't it true that as conservator, the fhfa director has broad sweeping powers, for example, i believe, is it not true that if congress fails to act, the fhfa director could discontinue the gse's harp or home affordable refinance program? isn't that true. >> that is correct, mr. chairman. >> and isn't it also true that the fhfa director could suspend all gse contributions to the housing trust fund if they found that they would "contribute to the financial instability of fannie and freddie, isn't that true. >> that is correct. >> isn't it also true, mr. secretary that stunned 12usc4566, that the fhfa director can essentially choose not terrify enforce the statutory housing goals of the gses if he finds that "the achievement of the housing goal was or is not feasible"? isn't that correct, mr. >> that is correct. >> so i would hope that all within ear shot have listened carefully at what might happen if we choose not to engage in gse reform. and again, we look

mr. secretary. >> thank you, mr. neal. so 45 years ago colonel sam johnson returned to america after seven years as pow in vietnam. every year we honor what we call the return-versary of sam johnson. sam before i recognize you on behalf of our committee, welcome home yet again. thank you for your service. [applause] >> god bless y'all. all i can say hell of a lot better being in the united states than in korea. [laughter]. mr. secretary, welcome. i'm sure you know obamacare included an effective ban on the expansion of physician-owned hospitals. as well as a ban on the construction of new hospitals. what this means is that obamacare prevents some of our best hospitals from expanding, to bert serve our communities such as those in my fast-growing district. i believe that's wrong. mr. secretary, would you agree this ban limits competition in the hospital sector, yes or no. >> yes, congressman, johnson i do believe physician-owned hospitals can provide effective competition for other hospital. >> would you agree also, some of

mr. secretary, thanks for being here. mr. secretary, the recently enacted ndaa, the national defense bill, included an amendment i authored to require a comprehensive strategy from all the agencies. that includes treasury, within 90 days of enactment to address the threat posed by north korea. that was enacted in late november. this is due by march 15th. have you had any discussions about treasury's reporting requirements in regards to this north korean strategy? >> i probably spend more time on north korea than almost any other subject. so the report will be part of this, but we spend a lot of time at treasury discussing these issues. >> i appreciate the fact that you discuss those issues. will you be meeting the required reporting date of march 15th with treasury strategy regarding north korea? >> i have no reason to think that we won't meet that deadline. so i anticipate we will. >> okay. thank you. this has been mentioned before. i'll mention it again. it's absolutely critical to my state as well, and it is in regards to t

mr. secretary. beginning with chairman dave, years ago it now through the leadership of chairman brady i've been on this committee a think my tenth year. the process of meetings and hearings and proposals and we finally achieve something historic, tax reform to benefit american families and businesses. with each week we see positive impacts across the country. businesses have announced bonuses, pay increases in investments and workforce development and increases an employee match give programs. i want to expand on a question chairman brady have. you have the withholding tables and the calculator, what are the regulatory efforts are you putting forward to spread the good news to citizens across this country. how are you sharing information and how can we help you? >> we have a massive effort to implement the new tax bill touches everything from forms rotating to customer service to technology. were putting out guidance every week to help taxpayers understand. were focused on the. >> thank you. we loo

mr. secretary. her people added to the list? >> i did not add anybody. >> were there people added to the list? a very sustained and clear question. were there people added to the list? >> i don't know what you are talking about. >> the oligarch people of corruption in russia and people who ought to be sanctioned. >> there are people that are on that list and will be sanctione sanctioned. >> were there additional people added to the list? here is the allegation mr. secretary. people were added to the list so as to expand the list to call the oligarchs, the criminals to be associated with persons who legitimately made money by solidifying those who have fortunes in russia with president clinton thereby why buy what we wanted to see happen those sanctions imposed by those who were achieving power and fame and recognition and renting by virtue of corruption. were there people added to the list? >> your time has expired. >> please reflect i did not get an answer. >> majority with. >> thanks for this hear

mr. secretary, for your excellent testimony. given that the last folks a week are scheduled around 11:30 to make sure as many members have an opportunity to question the secretary, we will put question time at three minutes, and i'll lead off with a previous question. one of the key pillars of tracks reform, letting americans keep more of their earned dollars. once tax reform was enacted the administration updated the withholding tables which means this month, over 90% of americans will see a reduction in their taxes in bigger paychecks and takehome pay. can you briefly talk about the treasury's development of the released became withholding guidance in your plans for putting out additional information that allows families to fine tune further their withholding. >> thank you, mr. chairman. so, we're very pleased both the work at the office of tax policy within treasury is working very closely with the irs, and they have successfully updated the withholding tables, so, as you mentioned, over 90% of americans will see tax cuts wome

mr. secretary. let's go to five minutes for questions. mr. etary, the economic growth assumptions in the budget show fourth quarter-over-fourth quarter gdp growth or above at 3% for a number of years, eventually fading to 2.8%. as i understand it, those assumptions follow from anticipated positive growth effects from policies put forward in the budget including tax reform, regulatory reform, health care reforms, boosting domestic energy production, and others. if i recall correctly, several budgets put forward by the obama administration similarly incorporated growth assumptions. sometimes above 4.0%, in anticipation of results it would obtain if the relative budget proposal were to be enacted. the relevant budget proposal, i should say. secretary mnuchin, are you comfortable with the growth assumptions contained in the budget, and do you believe that the policies proposed by the administration will lead to strengthened growth in the economy? yes, mr. chairman, i am comfortable with them, and i do believe in them. now the president's budget wh

mr. secretary, welcome. the budget includes a proposal to stop individuals who are not authorized to work from claiming the child tax credit. i long have had a proposal requiring a social security member for the child tax credit is especially relevant now giving the ongoing debate with immigration. can an individual claim with the individual taxpayer dedication? yes or no? but those who aren't allowed to work can get this? yes or no? but i just want to modify my last statement to be clear. the irs has allowed but that is the issue we are looking at those legal issues. we are looking at those legal issues. >> thank you. by the way i just had a joint tax core on my bill that saves $13.3 billion so to address another issue from 2016 included significant retirement reforms that due to the inadvertent era and cannot get the match and then to cap that they can save so mr. secretary state and local government workers to contribute the maximum to both government and civilian retirement accounts. don't you think our

mr. secretary for being here. i'll be quick. if you could expand quickly on the opportunities for assisted living, particularly with the aging veterans so they could stay at their hopes and secondly, extending you an invitation, we're opening a new veteran's home in reno later this year and it would be an honor if you could attend. >> great. thank you for that. this moon shot of trying to help veterans and frankly all americans be able to remain in their home if that's their choice to do, which, i don't have too many patients who say do doc, help me find a nursing home. i think we're at a breaking point right now that we can do this. so with remote monitoring capabilities, with telehealth into people's homes, sometimes or more often on their mobile phones or i pads, with home care visits like va does, home specially care, aid and attendance subpoenas and care givers, remember, the v.a. supports 27,000 care givers that have stay with veterans in their homes. even animals, dogs are super important for mobility and now emotional su

mr. secretary. the next question i have is the people of guam are proud to host the continued bomber presence and one leg of the nuclear triad with recent addition of the b 2 and b 52 bombers. considering the bomber presence and as the western most territory of the united states, guam holds vital strategic bases and i am happy to see the department place a thad system to aid in its defense. however, in your strategy you call for investment on layered missile defense from north korean threats. considering strategic importance, is guam adequately defended from theater missile threats and how do you intend to bolster these defense systems in the future? >> we will continue to bolster them to keep pace with the threat out of north korea. we also keep the ballistic missile defense war ship in the waters out there, can always reinforce that. we also have several ships in japanese waters right now and they can move back and forth to include coverage of guam in the mobile way that comes to our navy but we a

mr. secretary, thanks for being here. mr. secretary, the recently enacted ndaa, the national defense bill, clifford an amendment i offered to require a comprehensive strategy from all the agencies that includes treasury within 90 days of enactment to address the threat posed by north korea. that was enacted in late november. this is due by march 15. have you had any discussions about treasury's reporting requirements in regards to this north korean strategy? >> i probably spend more time on north korea that almost any other subject, so the report will be part of this but we spend a lot of time at treasury discussing these issues. participants in more than 140 multi employer pension fans plans and we must sure the system before it grows even worse. i know you've met some of these retirees in the past and we could really use your support to get the legislation across the finish line. i'm also a sponsor of the butch lewis act. are you willing to support the butch lewis legislation in order to ensure the safety of these men? >> ag

mr. secretary, thank you for your strong statements here today. i have two thank yous and a question and i will yield the remainder of my time to mr. gallagher. the chairman is in tough time constraints so everybody can ask a question. thank you for your strong statements on the budget. i voted against the budget control act because i believe sequestration would be damaging to our military and it would happen. certainly, everyone on this committee has fought ever since it's been implemented to try to lift that burden on our military. your strong words are important to let people know the real effects of you. it's real sad you have sections of congressional inaction. the house has not really been inactive. we passed a budget and appropriation bills three times and will do it again. we really are dealing with a handful of those in the senate causing inaction and i call on democratic leadership in the senate to dislodge the defense funding for the military because of the various reasons you're giving us of damage occurring by connecting defense fundin

mr. secretary. i'm going to change focus put requested a major construction increase of $1.13 billion, the largest element of that is a 4-million seismic correction fund. >> yes. >> so your suggested appropriations language stipulates that the fund be available regardless of the estimated cost of the project. that's regardless. so what >> yeah, i think you're right in asking that question. i'm not sure what that means. are you familiar with that? because $400 million should be $400 million. you don't want to have it go -- >> i mean, i'm reading that and i'm thinking slush fund. >> right. >> i don't think that was the intent but frankly, it's a good question. i would have to come back to you with an answer. >> let's visit that again before the final. in the past, the gao has raised concerns about the va employees gaming the capital projects ranking system to skip by improperly coding projects as "seismic corrections." i would like to be assured that these requested seismic fund projects are truly to

mr. secretary.he next question i have is that the people of walmart proud to host there proud to continued bomber presence. with the recent addition of the b-2 and b-52 commerce. considering the bomber presence westernmost territory, guam holds vital strategic aces. i am happy to see that the army aid in its defense. however, in your strategy, you call for investment on layered missile defense from north koreans threats. considering our strategic importance, is guam adequately defended from theater missile threats and how do you intend to bolster these defense systems in the future? sec. mattis: we will continue bolstering them to keep pace with the threat out of north korea as you know. besides that system we keep the ballistic missile defense u.s. navy warship in the waters out there and we can always reinforce that. we also have several of those ships in japanese waters. they can move back and forth to include coverage of one. way ofuam in the mobile our navy. we are looking at all the systems to

mr. secretary. is it just purely the number of -- [inaudible] sanctions -- the heaviest -- >> i think we think it's both the largest in number we've ever done against them as well as impactful. i would just say that this brings up the total to over 450 sanctions that we have on north korea. i would say approximately half of those have been done in the last year. so we've had sanctions since 2005 under president trump's leadership we've done half of those in the last year. >> some of those sanctions -- banks have done hundreds of millions of dollars --- -- [inaudible] you're arguing that these are more impactful? >> again, i'm not going to make any specifics. -- >> again, i'm not going to make any specifics. chinese entities. we'll continue to look at them like everyone else. we expect people to follow through on the obligations of the u.n. sanctions and our sanctions programs. reporter: to what extent is russia helping north korea evade sanctions? sec. mnuchin: i'm not going to make any comments spe

mr. secretary, you mentioned -- mosty the v.a. people in the country don't realize how extensive the v.a. is. we work in all the facets of medical care, the benefits process, which we know has gotten slow down. we talked about that yesterday, concerned people, i'm that hiring people who don't have the skills to do it will actually slow the process down. you get someone who's a good claims adjudicated, they may be able to look at that claim and get it off their desk in a timely fashion, where someone is brand-new will kick it into the appeals process, where it gets really slow down. i would encourage you -- slowed down. i would encourage you to ensure 605e 6005 people a -- people are trained. these records are an end of the -- these are all huge projects, under one umbrella of the v.a.. i want to get in my short period of time a look at the cemeteries. one thing the cemetery demonstration does is, i have a national cemetery within one mile and a half of where i live. it's a park like setting, an irreverent setting. i want to thank

mr. secretary. i appreciate your comments at the top. i think it is important to restore confidence in our executive officials. i hope in the coming days you will be forthcoming with the american people. i want to turn to the issue of coordination of care and collaboration. we will be introducing a bipartisan bill today that is a pilot project for integrating veteran character in our federally qualified health centers. in the rural, northern parts of the state, in the fqac, people can get access to care without traveling long distances. can you comment on that venture or other -- or other collaborations the veterans administration is getting into? sec. shulkin: i am not sure people realize how important the qualified health care centers are. they do amazing work for a vulnerable population. as a large provider of federal health care services, i believe these organizations should look for the chance to collaborate more and to integrate in ways that we really haven't in the past. i think the pilot program in that aria -- area would be prod

mr. secretary. as we proceed, we'll be under a five-minute rule so we have as much opportunity as we can. margaret dean, who, herself, is a very valued member of the navy reserve. the first question -- forward the deployed naval sources have critical operational demands that took the "u.s.s. fitzgerald" and "u.s.s. john s. mccain" away from training and certification periods. which steps have the navy taken to ensure this is not continuing to occur with the remaining forward deployed naval forces? is the navy reviewing current sourcing requirements? additionally, has the navy coordinated with the combat and commanders to review current mandatory sourcing requirements? how is the navy leadership communicating an inability to resource or risk associated with resourcing the cocom requirements and for each of you? >> sir, i'll begin on this. the simple answer is that particularly the forward deployed naval forces in japan have taken a look at the force generation process. the process by which they maint

mr. secretary. while we were on the subject of taxes, where is the administration on the idea of a to percent -- of a 25% rise in the gas tax that the president has suggested meetings with members of congress? >> i will tell you something that is being considered. there is no decision on that. as some of you noted in my testimony the president is focused on the idea of an internet sales tax. let me say this is not a new tax. this is most states have a sales or use tax, and the president wants to make sure that the states are getting the money that they deserve and that they can spent on infrastructure. again, mr. secretary, hubley who -- secretary, do you believe it would be in any way harmful to raise -- on an inflation-adjusted basis as some have suggested? >> i would comment we haven't had any worrisome in the gas tax and a lot of typing is one of the things were looking it's one of the issues we haven't made any decisions. >> you haven't made any determinations on whether or not it would be econ

mr. secretary. i want to before i do that, i want to mention despite efforts of administration to, i'd say to undermine even sabotage our insurance marketplaces almost nine million americans, over 95% of the enrolled population in 2007 signed up for insurance plans for 2018. americans support, want to keep the affordable care act in contrast. president's budget proposes to repeal the aca. replace it with proposal for subsidies that make insurance more affordable and cuts $1.4 trillion out of medicaid. you were not in the administration when the committee reviewed this proposal last year. nearly every patient group, nearly every physician group, every hospital group, health insurance group, strongly oppose the president's proposal. more than 2/3 of governors urged congress not to pass that proposal. brookings institute found more than 20 million americans could lose insurance if we go that path. individual with preexisting conditions could lose, would lose guarranty of affordable health insurance. wi

mr. secretary.et me ask you to respond in writing to the following specific questions. as you know, last year, president trump said big pharma was essentially committing murder. he also said we have to create new bidding procedures for the drug industry because they are getting away with murder. we are the largest buyer of drugs in the world yet we do not bid properly. ofare going to save billions dollars. of course the administration has not begun any bidding. it has done nothing to bring down the spiraling cost of prescription drugs. i would ask you the same questions that i asked her predecessor and your staff. i would turn to his answers is an excellent example of avoiding a real answer. can you confirm that the administration has abandoned president trump promise to have medicare price negotiation and to support the safe drug importation to allow a little competition to bring down prices? two questions i'll put in the same words that i sent to mr. price that he was through -- refused to directl

mr. secretary. >> senator brown started his remarks speaking of a swiss ski resort. where the president addressed the economic form. resort,er swiss ski they exercise great authority without accountability at the financial stability board. let's address what happens in that ski resort. sent theently administration of a letter which raised concerns about the operation of the financial stability board. we are worried it is in a more regulatory body using its peer-reviewed mechanism is an enforcement tool to pressure u.s. companies into adopting standards. intoconcerned about that u.s. jurisdiction, especially considering how dissimilar our financial markets are too many foreign markets. we have thousands of small lenders, independent asset managers, and an insurance industry regulated by our states. our fsd roles voluntary or binding? >> they are voluntary. >> are they suitable to be used as presidents and u.s. courts by regulatory agencies? >> i am going to defer to the lawyers on that. my view is no

mr. secretary. s it just purely the number of -- [inaudible] sanctions -- the heaviest -- it's both we think the largest in number we've ever one against them as well as impactful. would just say that this brings up the total to over 450 north ns that we have on korea. i would say approximately half of those have been done in the last year. so we've had sanctions since 005 under president trump's leadership we've done half of those in the last year. >> some of those sanctions -- have done hundreds of --- -- of dollars [inaudible] ou're arguing that these are more impactful? >> again, i'm not going to make any specifics. chinese entities. at them tinue to look like everyone else. we expect people to follow of ugh on the obligations the u.n. sanctions and our sanctions programs. is russia extent helping north korea evade sanctions? >> i'm not going to make any omments specifically on that other than to say, that obviously, russia and china are that have traded with them and we're working those.ly with

mr. secretary, what indicators were used to measure whether or not the sanctions are successful? >> we have both classified and unclassified indicators that we monitor as to the success, and i will tell you we believe that the economic sanctions are beginning to have a significant impact on their ability to fund their programs. >> the unclassified indicators that you use. >> again, in the said annette prepared to go to the difference in classified and unclassified but we will follow up. >> i follow up on steve. why not blacklist russian ships? >> again, we're prepared to blacklist russian ships to the extent there are russian ships. so let me be clear, whether russian ships, chinese ships, we don't care whose ships they are. if we have intelligence that people are doing things we will put sanctions on the and we will go forward with that. >> second question entirely. the time when the olympics closing ceremonies are happening on the korean peninsula. the president daughter just right in south korea. is that time in more than a coincidence or you're trying to send a coordinated me

mr. secretary-general, for being with us today. we are meeting today in a forum that is very familiar to all of us. this session on the middle east has been taking place each month for many, many years. its focus has been almost entirely on issues facing israelis and palestinians, and we have heard many of the same arguments and ideas over and over again. we have already heard them again this morning. it is as if saying the same things repeatedly without actually doing the hard work and making the necessary compromises .ill achieve anything

mr. secretary, and to all of us keeping us safe. before i do that, you are part of what the government is trying to do to discover these new technologies before l3 or before wall street. how's about your process. >> thank you for this well opportunity to be here as the department of defense representative. it's great to be on the wall street panel. the nature of warfare is changing. it is being driven by technologies being led in the pilot sector. the pentagon used to be a monopoly buyer in buying stuff for ourselves. that world is changing and it has a lot of implications for us. one, these companies are gonna build these technologies whether we participate or not. i think about artificial intelligence and our economy, how it's disrupting the financial market and technology companies, it's embedded in all the phones that you have in your pocket now, you real-time translation of any language that didn't exist five years ago. the world of self driving cars are on the way. all these things have military implications. because two thing

mr. secretary. cnn is reporting that robert mueller's investigation into jared kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser has expanded into kushner's efforts into getting chinese and qatari funding for his businesses during the presidential transition. do you believe this is someone who should have access to classified information? he doesn't have permanent security clearances. should have access, for example, to the presidential daily brief? the white house said, sarah huckabee sanders, said she's going to continue his job and it won't change even though he doesn't have full time permanent security clearances. >> i think if john kelly as chief of staff is serious about trying to rectify what has happened here with regards to these security clearances and the fact that there have been so many interim security clearances granted and are hanging on. the bottom line is that someone with that kind of interim clearance who has not gotten a full security clearance should not have access to hig

mr. secretary, welcome. in new jersey one in the one children are diagnosed as having autism spectrum disorder, much higher than the national average of 168. is it true that the fiscal year 19 budget zeros out a program that has been of great interest to those in the autism community care zack program? >> i do not know that graham in particular, senator. i'm 14 days into this and so i know we have several programs that is part of just prioritizing direct care delivery direct service delivery and underserved care there are programs that simply we had to not recommend funding because -- >> let me help you out because you've been on the opportunities but i've been longer. it is zero in the budget. in fy 18 the congressional justification was that the department believe the same services could be provided to the states the maternal and child health block grant and you know that's the same reasoning today. >> as i said, the challenges we have is we are part resizing direct service care -- >> i'm asking a specific

mr. secretary, good morning to you. ainsley: good morning. >> good morning to you all. steve: great to have you. we will play a sound bite for you because having lived down in texas your whole life, you are very concerned with immigration. here's the president yesterday talking about if california is going to be a sanctuary state, maybe the federal government should pull the ice guys out. listen to this. >> frankly, it's a disgrace. the sanctuary city situation, the protection of these horrible criminals, you know because you are working on it the protection of these horrible criminals in california in and other places. if we ever pulled our ice out. let california alone, let them figure it out for themselves, in two months they would be begging for us to come back. they would be begging. and you know what? i'm thinking about doing it. steve: governor, what do you think? >> well, i think that this whole issue of immigration has always been incredibly difficult one. if it wasn't, it would have been done a long time ago. the president is a first rate negotiator. is he cle

mr. chairman. thank you for being a secretary.i am enormously proud of what we have accomplished with this partnership with the administration and the president of the leadership, this committee over the past 14 months. we've done a lot of great work for veterans that we should be proud of. i appreciate the seriousness they taken the report and addressing it. and i look forward to continuing to see you do that. to dive a little deeper, to the question, i know you agree veterans deserve a scheduling system that gives them immediate access to care, short wait times, the ability to track and manage information and progress through the care continuum. i want to make sure that we passed budgets that the money we provide to the va is effectively utilized. which is the reason you are here today. we have seen this past year that with the electronic health records roll out, that there is trouble. seeing a delayed implementation even further. my question is with a readily available cut solution and appointment scheduling system, the program

mr. secretary? >> the national association of insurance commission was in the past very supportive of these efforts to create these affordable options for people. we are trying to make options available for folks who have been shut out of the marketplace. we need to keep working to build a different system than obamacare, but while we have it, we need more affordable options for people to get the insurance they want, not what i tell them they should have. >> laura: why should a 55-year-old man who is unmarried have to pay for birth control in his policy? why is that something? >> we want to make a system where people can buy the insurance that they want. we need to work with congress to be able to do that. >> laura: this is rule-making. this is rule-making to get 60 days and then it goes into effect. >> then we would review the comments and go to find a role and that can be effective perhaps later this year. these are things we can do while obamacare is still in place. things we can do to help make

mr. secretary. >> okay. folks -- >> you have a copy of the vba guidelines in front of you. [ inaudible ] if you have any questions on the guidelines, we're here, and we can address them. >> we've had vba before as a b sub manager, basically. >> this was approved at another meeting. >> so basically. [ inaudible ] >> just going where we're going direct. >> these guidelines. >> approve guidelines for any of the managers [ inaudible ] hired. this is something that has to be adopted. >> yeah. just a direct relationship. >> questions, commissioner driscoll? >> i think we approved that, 200 million. where will the funds come for that? >> there's a little over 60 million from bibian, and then we'll take the rest from the u.s. investment small growth value. >> that leaves bibian with 16. >> we're taking bibian to zero. >> so where? to what? >> to zero. >> zero? >> zero? that's the plan. >> yes. >> that's been approved, or are you doing it -- you don't have to ask us for that one. >> i think staff has the authority to

mr. secretary. >> thank you. well, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for taking time out of your schedules to be here today. i've spent the last day and a half on capitol hill briefing the members of congress on our 2018 national defense strategy. i'm heartened that congress recognizes the sobering effect of budgetary uncertainty on america's military and on the men and women who provide for our nation's defense. two days from now, i will visit our nation's first security force assistance brigade at for the bengal as they prepare to deploy to afghanistan. to advance the security of our nation these troops putting themselves in harms way signing a blank check to the american people with their lives. our military has been operating under debilitating continuing resolutions for more than 1,000 days during the last decade. during last week's state of the union address, president trump said weakness is the surest path to conflict. in a world of change with increasing threats there is no