mr. smith: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition? mr. smith: could we get the yeas and nays? the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are now requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess subject to the call of the chair.

mr. smith: follow-up question? mr. hilliard: yes. president carter, i would like to repeat the same follow-up to you. blacks and other non-whites are increasing in numbers in our cities. many of them feel that they are facing a hostility from whites that prevents them from joining the economic mainstream of our society. there is racial confrontation in the schools, on jobs, and in housing, as non-whites seek to reap the benefits of a free society. what is your assessment of the nation's future as a multi-racial society? pres. carter: ours is a nation of refugees, a nation of immigrants. almost all of our citizens came here from other lands and now have hopes, which are being realized, for a better life, preserving their ethnic commitments, their family structures, their religious beliefs, preserving their relationships with their relatives in foreign countries, but still holding themselves together in a very coherent society, which gives our nation its strength. in the past, those minority groups have often been excluded from partici

mr. smith of nebraska. mr. lahood of illinois. mr. dunn of florida. mr. fitzpatrick of pennsylvania. mr. hern of oklahoma. ms. tenney of new york. mrs. luna of florida. mr. scott franklin of florida. mr. steil of wisconsin. and mr. kelly of pennsylvania. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces the speaker's appointment, pursuant to section 4 of the united states semiquincentennial commission act of 2016, public law 114-196, and the order of the house of january 3, 2025, of the following members on the part of the house to the united states semiquincentennial commission. the clerk: mr. aderholt of alabama. ms. salazar of florida. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces the speaker's appointment of the following members on the part of the house to the united states group of the nato parliamentary assembly. the clerk: mr. turner of ohio, chair. mr. dunn of florida. mrs. wagner of missouri. mr. fitzpatrick of pennsylvania. mr. guthrie of kentucky. ms. van duyne of texas. mr. connolly of virginia. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces the spea

mr. smith: governor? mr. reagan: when i opposed medicare, there was another piece of legislation meeting the same problem before the congress. i happened to favor the other piece of legislation and thought that it would be better for the senior citizens and provide better care than the one that was finally passed. i was not opposing the principle of providing care for them. i was opposing one piece of legislation versus another. there is something else about social security. of course, it doesn't come out of the payroll tax. it comes out of a general fund, but something should be done about it. i think it is disgraceful that the disability insurance fund in social security finds checks going every month to tens of thousands of people who are locked up in our institutions for crime or for mental illness, and they are receiving disability checks from social security every month while a state institution provides for all of their needs and their care. mr. smith: president carter, you have the last word on this q

mr. smith: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition? mr. smith: could we get the yeas and nays? the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are now requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess subject to the call of the chair. >> we had president biden one year. but i want at this time that this country, to deal with the reality of where we are and how we go forward, in 1972, as hakeem jeffries referred to this morning, our chair of the congressional black caucussia vest clark -- caucus, yvette clarke, i started at 17 years old for shirley chisholm and people thought she was out of place and i remember going with her as she ran for president. in 1984 i

there are rules about when they have been insuring mrs. smith and don't want to insure her any more they have to give her 75 days notice and be fair in applying underwriting guidelines which are the internal criteria of what customers they want and don't want and then what they are going to charge customers based on their rick -- risk profile are

mrs. hyde smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king cop. ms. klobuchar mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. alumnus. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. marino. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of souths. carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. she he. miss slotkin. mrs. smith. mr. thune mr. tillis. mr. turberville. mr. vane. hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. >> a quorum is present. a quorum is a president present. how to preserve the leadership time is reserve the senate will be in the period of morning businesspe with the senators permitted to speak and they're in for up to 10 minutes each. the majority leader will then calling up. i'm not going to read. [laughter] majority leader. >> not a present

mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. 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. 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. rubio. 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. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. the clerk: mr. young. the vice president: a quorum is present. the vice president: a quorum is present. under the previous order, the leadership is reserved. the senate will be in a period offed morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the majority leader will then begin calling up -- the majority leader. mr. thune: mad

but mr smith has been a thorn in the president—elect�*s side for a long time now. times and he also vowed to fire him as soon as he went into the oval office, and he even suggested he might go after him in some form of political retribution. either way, even though mr trump may have won the legal battles, there still may be a final momentous clash as to whether the public gets to read any of mr smith's findings. for more on smith's resignation and his legacy, i've been speaking with former federal prosecutor annemarie mcavoy. jack smith stepping down really not a surprise, that was expected, but what do you make of the way he did it? this was buried in a footnote in some court documents. yes, everybody knew he was going to resign anyway but it was an odd way to do it. i guess he kind of wanted to quietly get out of the office, or as quietly hit as he could. but it is surprising to see it done in an actual footnote. now might be as good a time as any to look back at these last couple of years and jack smith's legacy. what kind of legacy do you think this will be? in

there are rules about when they have been insuring mrs. smith and don't want to insure her any more they have to give her 75 days notice and be fair in applying underwriting guidelines which are the internal criteria of what customers they want and don't want and then what they are going to charge customers based on their rick -- risk profile are they a good risk or somebody that is likely to file claims. we are learning the hard way we didn't treat utilities that they can pick and choose customers within some very narrow grounds. we have a few exceptions. in california we have the insurance commissioner >> we take you now to the signing of an executive order by president trump in the oval office just a short while ago. pres. trump: we will go through the first one place. >> mr. president, this is an executive order on crypto -- sorry, on ai. we are basically announcing the administration's's policy to make america the world capital in artificial intelligence and to dominate and lead world in ai. pres. trump: you want to say your name? >> david

mr. husted. plaza hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. p the clerk: 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. the clerk: senators voting in the affirmative -- barrasso, budd, cornyn, crapo, daines, graham, hassan, hyde-smith, johnson, kaine, kim, lee, lummis, marshall, mcconnell, mccormick, moody, moreno, paul, rounds, scott of florida, tillis. senators voting in the negative -- alsobrooks, duckworth, gillibrand, klobuchar, lujan, murray, p

chair smith: mr. gomez the only person the republicans are beholden to our the people that sent them to washington and elon musk is not a constituent. rep. gomez: ok. call me skeptical but what i saw in december was dastardly. if you guys are wanting to negotiate a real bipartisan test cut let's do it and get something that helps lower costs for american people. i yield back. chair smith: mr. miller. rep. miller: i'm glad mr. gomez used his five minutes for a twitter clip. thank you to our witnesses for their time and testimony. i'm honored to be joined ways and means committee to drive forward an economic agenda that ensures the united states remains the global economic leader. today we are here to discuss the need to make the trump tax cuts for working families permanent, ensuring prosperity for families and businesses across the nation. the tax cuts and jobs act championed by president trump was a transformative bill that provided much-needed relief to businesses and spurred investment across the c

chair smith: mr. kelly. rep. kelly: thank you all for being here and taking a day out of your lives to talk to people who have never really been in the private sector. i'm a second-generation, my son is running the store, my father started it in 1933 with nothing but a show room six service bays and work their tails off to make it profitable. i love people who have to make payroll. we were doing tcja to begin with and chairman brady was talking about it. i said actually there are two times in my life where i paid absolutely no tax. how did you get away with that? i said we lost money that year. isn't it bizarre that we talked about where would the revenue come from? we take a certain percentage other people's profits. with the exception that you can lose money and still be held responsible for real estate taxes come every other tax that every other american pays every single day. we come here today and talk about the benefits of tcja, was it really true? yes, it was because be garnered more revenue th

we heard from mr. smith in new jersey they were flying over coast guard vessels last night. how is this possible? what do we need to do and what actions need to be taken? dr. schwennesen: that is difficult to answer. i have a suspicion that people are frozen with fear of what would happen in an administrative situation. they took action and were punished for doing so. they shot down a drone, god forbid, and the debris hit someone's house and now all of a sudden they are on front page. people are acting out of a sense of self-restraint, which is being promoted by our policy environment. rep. pfluger: when it comes to technology, we need to focus on our offensive technology, lessons and ukrainian conflict where they are leveraging uas systems. we need to focus on counter uas technology to counter it and give authorities that we need while protecting the privacy of citizens here? dr. schwennesen: i would say so. absolutely. mr. baumgartner, what is the most catastrophic event the energy industry article infrastructure that we need to be thinking about and planning for to preven

the report was written by jack smith, the lawyer appointed to investigate the case, and it says mr trumpen convicted if he hadn't won re—election. the incoming president has responded by calling mr smith deranged and desperate, describing the findings as "fake". scott lucas, who is professor of international politics at university college dublin's clinton institute, says he's pleased the report has been released. i think it was essential that this report was released, and thank goodness the trump appointed judge finally lifted the ban on its being released. and that is because we accept that donald trump is going to be president onjanuary the 20th, jack smith, the special counsel, says you cannot put a sitting president on trial, but given what donald trump did after the 2020 election, in their view of the special counsel's office, there are issues of accountability, of the law, of us democracy in the entire system, because what smith sets out on this 174 page report is that donald trump and his co—conspirators carried out, a direct quote from the report, unprecedented criminal acts to t

we heard from mr. smith that they were flying over coast guard vessels last night. how is this possible? why are we not responding? what do we need to do and what actions need to be taken? >> that's a difficult one to answer. of course, i can't speak for them, but i have a suspicion that people are -- are frozen with fear of what would happen in an administrative situation which they took action and they were punished for doing so. that they shot down a drone, god forbid and the debris hit somebody's house and all of a sudden they're on front-page news. so boom are acting out of a sort of sense of self-restraint here which is being promoted by our policy environment. >> when it comes to technology we need to focus on lessons learned in the ukrainian conflict and we need to focus on the the counter uas technology and give it to the authorities while ro protecting the privacy of citizens. >> absolutely. >> what's the most catastrophic event in the energy, critical infrastructure that we need to be thinking about and planning for to prevent? >> i mean, luckily, we have

mr. chairman. chair smith: miss van dyck, you are now recognized. >> mr. duke, i am perplexed by a lot of your testimony today. you have had a lot of criticism over the deduction, so what do you consider a small business? mr. duke: i don't have a particular definition of it. i don't think i have said the word small business deduction. rep. van duyne: the 199a? mr. duke: that is passed throughs. rep. van duyne: you think the 33 million small businesses we have, and 99.9% of all businesses in the u.s. that are able to take advantage of this, do you think that the 199a helps them? mr. duke: he gives them a tax cut, increases deficits. rep. van duyne: so you are concerned about the deficit? as a democrat i was surprised, as a democrat rick -- democrat witness, that some of the ideas you held, that we should be concerned about the debt and concerned about how much of that is owned by china. i'm curious, as a volunteer in the biden-harris transition team and a person who was part of the build back better and american rescue plan has the white house national econ

mr smith denies any claims of political motivation be behind investigation and confirms that the caseecution of a sitting president. donald trump swift to respond, accusing jack smith of being arranged and dismissing his report was not findings is fake. in dismissing his report was not findings is fake.— findings is fake. in this 137 .ae. findings is fake. in this 137 page report _ findings is fake. in this 137 page report that _ findings is fake. in this 137 page report that had - findings is fake. in this 137 page report that had been| findings is fake. in this 137 - page report that had been long awaited, it came outjust around 1am eastern time here in the united states. it largely recounts the previously released information but does detail allegations trump knew the claims that he lost the election were false back in 2020 but spread those anyway. the special counseljack smith in this report calling deceit, the pru line ofjon�*s alleged criminal efforts. the case was delayed repeatedly because of the number of appeals on the part of the trump legal team. they asked to drop the cas

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 -- banks, barasso, blackburn, budd, daines, ernst, fischer, graham, hagerty, hyde-smith, johnson, justice, kennedy, lee, lummis, marshall, mccormick, moreno, mullin, ricketts, rounds, scott of florida, sullivan, thune, tuberville, wicker, and young. ms. hassan, no. mr. blumenthal -- ms. slotkin. senators voting in

caller: yes, i have a comment and a question for mr. smith. first about, the comment is that the abraham accords were by negotiations with the palestinians. and my question is donald trump on the campaign trail that he could end the war in ukraine with a phone call. do you think when he made that statement that he could actually do that? thank you. guest: thank you for the question. i wish it was the case that president trump could end the war in ukraine with a phone call, but i suspect that is not the case. i would actually love to get your thoughts on this, too. there's going to be a lot to negotiate with respect to what those security obligations look like, what territory swaps look like, what prisoner swap's look like. what the contours of this dealer going to look like, that is anybody's guess at this point in time. i can reflect upon the eisenhower administration in its negotiations to end the korean war. if i recall correctly, that took about two years and more americans in this case died in the latter two years than in the preceding ti

mr. smith's nomination. these women represent diverse viewpoints from a retired colonel with over 25 years of service to an active duty navy surface warfare commander, to a senior airman, they support mr. hegseth and comment on his focus on merit, warfighting readiness, military training status, and the warrior ethos. so without objection, it will be entered into the record. and now i'm honored to recognize senator cotton for seven minutes. >> mr. hegseth, let's continue on this line of questioning about what sometimes referred to as women in combat. i think that phrase is something of a misnomer. many members of this committee have served in combat in the last 25 years to include women and men. i'm sure all those men served with women, whether they were military police officers or they were pilots, or whether they were intelligence analysts or medics or what have you, you served, i assume you served with women who were on the front lines as well, is that correct? yes, sir. and were those women anything other

myself, would i have done the same thing that mr. smith did? no doubt in my mind. mind. it seemed like a big box of puzzle pieces. kate snow: prosecutors pete orput and brent wartner were in charge of evaluating the case against byron. and they knew it was controversial from the start. pete orput: when brent and i got involved in it, the emails started, the phone calls, castigating us for taking this. after all, doesn't a homeowner have a right to defend his dwelling? you know, i didn't argue with people. i just said, well, just stay open and let the evidence come out, and then let's see if you hold that same view. kate snow: after looking at all the evidence, the prosecutors believed there was a strong case. the moment nick broke the window and entered into that house, didn't byron smith then have the right to defend himself? yes. yes, he did. but that's not what he did. he went way, way beyond defending himself. kate snow: that grand jury in minnesota agreed. in april of 2013, five months after the shootings, byron smith was indicted on two counts of first-degree

and yet donald trump has spoken openly and repeatedly about people like mr. smithgresswoman cheney going to jail. and so here was this exchange with a newly elected democratic senator, adam schiff. >> will you investigate jack smith? >> senator, i haven't seen the file. >> are you aware of any factual predicate to investigate jack smith sitting here today? yes or no? >> senator, i will look at the facts and the circumstances. >> you can't answer that question. >> why can't you say i commit to this committee? >> we will never destroy the evidence in the january 6th investigation. i can't believe. why do you have difficulty? why do you have difficulty promising to preserve evidence that the department of justice. why is that a difficult question? >> i will follow the law. >> so unlike the enemies list question where she said yep. patel, i know what you're talking about. nope, i'm not doing that. i'm not tracking with that. this seemed to get a very different type of answer. why? and what do you see here? >> yeah, you know, it's hard to know what's going on inside her

mr. chairman. chair crapo: next is senator smith. sen. smith: thank you very much, mr. chair and ranking member, great to be part of this committee, i appreciate it very much, and welcome, mr. bessent, it's nice to see you again. i want to follow up a bit on the conversation that we had yesterday, and just get into a little more detail and some of the issues that senator sanders is raising. i'm focused on how we can lower costs for americans and how we can make the economy work better for regular people in this country. when we spoke yesterday, we talked generally about this. you have said you think our biggest challenge is to get after the deficit, and you have also said your first priority is to extend the republican trump tax cuts, which would add $4.6 trillion to the federal deficit. you have set the trump republican tax cuts have generated economic growth and those benefits are going to have trickle -- going to trickle down to everyone else. but what i see is these republican tax cuts have delivered massive consolidation of wealth at the top. almost half of those b

and thinking about legislating, it's really true, mr. smith goes to washington and this the place is a special place. all the big ideas to get those done but to see that wasn't valued by anybody. it was about being a congressperson. i think that from my background and i appreciate you. there's interesting that you should bring that up. that's what has always gotten me during this time especially this very difficult time. we were dealing that were coming from a passionate side that was not in my opinion helping anyone, it was designed to, get into it later get out a president that you didn't like, why are we here? if you're a legislator and never have legislated, are you -- are we missing the point? i believe that you came to do something and not be something. and so you've got this group, what were you thoughts when you heard about the hillary clinton e-mails? >> well, it goes to things that started in this discussion, being in the military, here is the rules, if you don't want rules you can change the rules but as long as those are in place,

mr. smith's team said many of the dismissals appeared to target career lawyers and most likely violated civil protections for nonpolitical employees. in the letters to the prosecutors, which were transmitted electronically on monday afternoon, mr. mchenry claimed that mr. trump had constitutional authority over personnel matters under article two of the constitution to fire career staff members. the email said given your significant role in prosecuting the president, i do not believe that the leadership of the department can trust you to assist in implementing the president's agenda faithfully, the firing memo said. joining our discussion now is former federal prosecutor brendan belew, who worked on the prosecutions of 6th january sixth defendants. he resigned from the justice department last week. also with us, andrew weissmann, former fbi general counsel and msnbc legal analyst. andrew, i want to begin with you on these these firings and saying in an email, a justice department email to a career justice department official, we don't trust you with the president's agenda in a department that

we have come a long way from jimmy stewart, besties mr. smith goes to washington, or 24, 25 hour debate he had in the filibuster in the 1950s. some have said, it is a relic of the past, others say, it protects the minority. should it stay, should it be next? what is your view? >> my view was made pretty well known when i signed a letter after-- i forget, it was maybe after harry changed the rules on court nominations that we signed a letter saying, on substantive bills, we were not going to change the filibuster. that quickly-- a lot of people signed that letter. they did not stay with that position. i am a big believer that on final passage in particular, a 60 vote majority, it hasn't been necessary across history. the filibuster now has been but denies by a lot of people to try to have their say, or just try and stop things. that should not happen. that is a norm that has been violated. at the end of the day, when you pass a bill with 60 votes, it has a lot more staying power. one of the things that you are going to see, i think, especially si

the chair now recognizes the gentleman from new jersey, mr. smith. >> thank you so very much, mr.chairman, chairmen, both of you for allowing me to sit this on this hearing. i've been in congress 44 years, and i've lost track of the number of times which we seemingly did not adequately assess a threat. i had one of my service members from the marines in the bar ax in lebanon when that terrible, horrible deed was committed by iran. i actually, after we got hit in anyway roby in 1998 by al qaeda, i chaired all the hearings. we had the chairman of the joint chief of staffs come and testify. they kept saying everyone. no one thought that al qaeda would hit there. maybe in the middle east, but not there. i wrote a bill called the embassy security act, it was signed into law. i added it into an appropriations bill. billing, thick bill, it was all about a lot of good things, and it did mitigate some of the concerns there. but we always seem to miss something, and i'm very concerned that we're missing something here. are missing something here. i've raised the issue, as have my colleagues

mr. smith's actions, which led to a four-count indictment by the former president. mr. smith would drop the charges following donald trump's victory in the 2024 election, citing the long-standing policy of not prosecuting a sitting president. you can see the conclusions outlined in his report if you go to our website, c-span.org. witness democracy unfiltered with c-span. experience history as it unfolds with c-span's live coverage this month as republicans take control of both chambers of congress and a new chapter begins with the swearing in of the 47th president of the united states. on monday, january 20, tune in for our all-day coverage of the presidential inauguration as donald trump takes the oath of office, becoming president of the united states. stay with c-span this month for comprehensive live, unfiltered coverage of the 119th congress and the presidential inauguration. c-span, democracy unfiltered. c-span's coverage of confirmation hearings for president-elect trump's nominees wi

there are rules about when they have been insuring mrs. smithon't want to insure her any more they have to give her 75 days notice and be fair in applying underwriting guidelines which are the internal criteria of what customers they want and don't want and then what they are going to charge customers based on their rick -- risk profile are they a good risk or somebody that is likely to file claims. we are learning the hard way we didn't treat utilities that they can pick and choose customers within some very narrow grounds. we have a few exceptions. in california we have the insurance commissioner has the authority that is the regulator who keeps an eye on the insurance industry has the authority to if the governor declares a state of emergency which he has had a lot of opportunities to do the last year and going into this year, once he declares that emergency that allows the commissioner to put a unanimous renewal and puts pause on insurance companies dropping policies in the zip code of that moratorium but other than that we don't have a lot

there are rules about when they have been insuring mrs. smithon't want to insure her any more they have to give her 75 days notice and be fair in applying underwriting guidelines which are the internal criteria of what customers they want and don't want and then what they are going to charge customers based on their rick -- risk profile are they a good risk or somebody that is likely to file claims. we are learning the hard way we didn't treat utilities that they can pick and choose customers within some very narrow grounds. we have a few exceptions. in california we have the insurance commissioner has the authority that is the regulator who keeps an eye on the insurance industry has the authority to if the governor declares a state of emergency which he has had a lot of opportunities to do the last year and going into this year, once he declares that emergency that allows the commissioner to put a unanimous renewal and puts pause on insurance companies dropping policies in the zip code of that moratorium but other than that we don't have a lot

mr. smith's case is against mr.rump and were dismissed, the special counsel resigned from his post, she is moving. my with an election subversion case against 11 so-called fake electors. today, my office is one of the only remaining cases that includes charges against national actors, she wrote. i have held steadfast of prosecuting the grand jury's indictment, because those who try to subvert democracy in 2020 must be held accountable. those are the comments from the attorney general of arizona concerning the special counsel's report. when it comes to pete hegseth, this is a guy texting us in lahoma. pete is a great pic, twice decorated warrior.iis known that most generals and high-ranking officers are ambitious and war hawks. and to the viewer who said he is not an elder statesman, that is why he should get the job. if you want to do that, (202) 748-8003. let's go to bernie in nevada on the democrats line. -- earnie in nevada on the democrats line. caller: thank you for your job and your service. i would like to sa

mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. the presiding officer: mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. the clerk: 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. the clerk: mr. young. the presiding officer: a quorum is present. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of pete peter hegseth of tennessee to be secretary of defense shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will now c

mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms.lobuchar. 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 -- banks, barasso, blackburn, budd, daines, ernst, fischer, graham, hagerty, hyde-smith, johnson, justice, kennedy, lee, lummis, marshall, mccormick, moreno, mullin, ricketts, rounds, scott of florida, sullivan, thune, tuberville, wicker, and young. ms. hassan, no. mr. blumenthal -- ms. slotkin. senators voting in t

mr. smith: thank you so much. thank you and the march for life committee.an amazing march, you're doing it with such, just power and all of you here today thank you so much. i met my dear wife, marie, 52 years ago in the pro-life movement. so to you young people, it can become a dating service. and we've been working the pro-life issue ever since. from that perspective, both marie and i had never been more hope-filled than who are today. thank you, all of you, for being here. today's march for life in our opinion is an engraved invitation to each and every one of us to seriously recommit and rededicate ourselves to the defense of the weakest and the most vulnerable. to recommit with love and compassion, even for our opponents. who don't wish us well to tangibly assist women, especially through the extraordinary work of pregnancy care centers in order to protect their precious babies, but also to protect their lives. thank you knights of columbus for getting so many ultra sounds into those pregnancy care centers. their marist poll just found 83% of americans

mr. smith: i want to thank mrs. wagner for her leadership and courage in authoring this important bill. mr. speaker, in a florida abortion clinic, a female delivered a perfectly healthy live baby girl at 23 weeks. the clinic owner took the baby who was gasping for air, cut her umbilical cord, threw her into a biohazard bag, and put it into the trash like so much garbage. heartbroken, ms. williams later had a funeral for her baby girl who she named. mr. speaker, why are these live births so little known? we are talking with with in -- about in most cases perfectly healthy babies were killed but they your-u survived. the "philadelphia enquirer" did a cover story years ago called the treaded complication. in it the abortionists were complaining that so many children were surviving late-term abortions and they didn't know what to do. the partial-birthabortion ban where the baby's brains are sucked out, which we did, the ban, but the procedure, was in part a response to that. they wanted to ensure that the baby was dead.

mr. smith. >> thank you very much mr. chair and ranking member. i'm grateful to be a part of this committee and i appreciate it very much. welcome, mr. bessent, it's nice to see you again. i want to follow up a bit on the conversation that we had yesterday and just get into a little more detail and some of the issues that senator sanders is raising. i'm focused on how we can lower costs for americans and how we can make this economy work better for regular people in this country and when we spoke yesterday. we talked generally about this. and you have said that you think our biggest challenge is to get after the deficit and your first priority is to extend the republican trump tax cuts. which would add 4.6 trillion to the deficit and you've said that the tax cuts have generated economic growth and that those benefits are going to have trickle down to everyone else, but what i see is that these republican tax cuts have delivered massive consolidation of wealth at the top. half of the benefits went to the top 5%. top 1% got a tax cut that was 852 ti

it is really true, the "mr. smith goes to washington," this is a special place. those of us succumb to sent to washington, d.c. have a trust with those who went before. all the way from starting our country until now. we are called in legislatures. and one of the things that we did, criminal justice reform. the interesting on how we deal with computing and law enforcement, the big ideas to get those done. but to see that was not valued by everybody. it was not about legislating it was about being a congressperson . i think that for my background, and i appreciate you it's interesting that you should bring that up. it's always got me during this time especially this very difficult time. we were dealing from a passionate side that was not in my opinion helping anyone. it was designed, will get into it later get out of a president that they didn't like but also looking around. if you are a legislator and never have legislated, are we missing the point? from my perspective, that is the background. i believe you came to do something, not be something. that is where i

mr. smith's actions during the investigation which first began in november 2022 and lead to a four count indictment against the former by edc grand jury. mr. smith would later drop the charges following donald trump's victory in the 2024 president election, citing the justice department's long-standing policy of not prosecuting a sitting president. you can read all of the findings and conclusions outlined in his report if you go to our website, c-span.org. announcer: c-span, democracy unfiltered. we are funded by these television companies and more. including buckeye broadband. ♪ buckeye broadband supports c-span as a puic service, along with these other televisionroviders, giving you a front row seat to democracy. announcer: next, the first public hearing of the afghanistan war commission examines the origins of the afghanistan war and lessons learned. this is about four hours and 20 minutes.

mr. larson: thank you, speaker smith. that kind of has a nice ring to it, you know? i rise today to address critical issue for all of america. social security. mr. speaker, as you know, there are more than 70 million social security recipients in the united states of america. what most americans don't realize is that it's been more than 50 years since congress last enhanced social security. richard nixon was president of the united states the last time congress voted to enhance benefits. now, some will say, well, wait a minute, didn't we just recently vote on social security in terms of making sure that teachers and firefighters and municipal employees and police officers would be able to get social security insurance? and the answer is yes, we did. except it wasn't paid for. which means that when we say it hasn't been enhanced, in fact, what that did is cut the social security trust fund. so, mr. speaker, i rise today to say that it's long overdue that we have a vote on social security. that doesn't seem to ask too much of the new congress. and after all, the incomin

i'm sorry that this did not result in a trial, but mr. smith is right.ceed with a prosecution under the rules. and but at least this information is out and will be part of history and hopefully will help in avoiding a recurrence of that kind of activity in future years. >> what does it say? i just asked officer fanone this question, but what does it say about the country that the people who need protecting are the people who brought these facts and this information to the country? and if you're offered protection in the form of a pardon, would you take it? >> well, i haven't talked to the white house. i haven't sought a pardon, but whatever president biden decides is wise, i'll respect. i mean, we did nothing wrong. in fact, we did the first act of righteousness, which was to uncover this wide ranging plot with trump at the center of it. you know, the president could decide that even though what we did was righteous, he wants to prevent harassment, not just of the committee, which were fully protected under the speech or debate clause, but also the witne