of his senator, his senate colleague, lamar alexander. they sat down for a conversation here on c-span about his book, and he talked about his first election in the senate in 1984. you were you were. well. well, i think all of us in the united states senate are political accident. not all of us will admit it, but we all are. and you surely were. yeah, it was 30 points behind in july and july. election year. so the bloodhound ad, what was that? well, it was a desperate situation. roger ailes, who's now pretty well known of it, could you find roger ailes that? well, he in those days, he was doing a political consulting, doing commercials. so he was willing to take on somebody in a democratic state who was 30 points behind. well, he had a couple of clients he thought were going to win that year. and me and me and i appreciated the fact he was willing to take me on. but i mean, this is a tough competitor. you can see how he started cnbc for nbc and started fox for rupert murdoch. here's the situation. and it was it was july of the election. i

senator. markley. >> on day one the president issued a executive order to pause funds that were authorized as part of the inflation reduction act. there is a legal mechanism for changing the past law called a rescission. there is an illegal way called an impoundment. will you send a rescission message to congress or use the illegal impoundment strategy? >> senator, thank you for the question. those eos were again, pauses to insure that the funding that's in place is consistent and moves in a direction along the lines of what the president ran on. unleashing american energy away from the green new deal? >> insection or impoundments. >> there is a section that says that the office of legislature affairs will work with the office of budget. they might put forward rescissions. again, the language of the eo said required by law. it's meant to do a delay to figure out what are the best ways -- >> okay, very good. thank you, i'll just note you are not willing to say you will not willing to say you wi

senator wyden and i have agreed that senator warnock will now speak. following senator warnock, we will proceed to the vote, and anyone else who wants to make for march will be allowed to make remarks. senator warnock. sen. warnock: thank you so very much, mr. chairman. at a rally a few months ago, donald trump said he was going to allow mr. robert kennedy to "go wild on health." go wild. of all the things i can think of that i would like to see a secretary of health and human services do, go wild is not on the list. mr. robert kennedy is manifestly unqualified for the job he seeks. and in both my live and written questions for the record, he failed to commit to protecting access to affordable health care, failed to commit to protecting the people who are protecting us. the problem the cdc has is that every day these noble civil servants and workers protect us from dangers you don't see, and often don't get credit for protecting people from things they don't see. i sadly do not trust him --i simply do not trust him to oversee the cdc. he's unqualified,

senator. i can think maybe 1 or 2 times in the 15 years i've covered capitol hill, where it's been like that. what was the sense of things. >> on tulsi gabbard? >> yeah, it was unclear. i mean, look what it was. so perhaps for one reason, one a telling sign of how the serious republican leadership was taking this moment. john thune, the senate majority leader, came to witness what was happening inside the room himself. he would have to make a decision on how to proceed if ultimately, cassidy broke ranks and voted against this nomination, he had said that he would be unlikely to try to advance a nomination if a committee decides to vote against any cabinet nominee from going to the floor. so there was a keen interest among top republican leaders about what ultimately would go down here. but no question about it. a lot of drama in this room. typically, you're right. we know how members will come down. but bill cassidy was struggling. i mean, even as last night, i asked him repeatedly about how h

senate. and i have appreciated the opportunity to meet with nearly every member of this distinguished committee in recent weeks. i am especially grateful to president trump for entrusting me with the privilege and responsibility of serving america's 33 million small -- 34 million small businesses. there is no stronger advocate for these job creators than our president. i share his commitment, and if confirmed, will work tirelessly with him to make small business great again. finally, i want to thank my incredible husband, jeff, and my wonderful family and friends who have joined us here today in-person and via broadcast. most importantly, i give all thanks and glory to god. as someone who has spent my life either working in small businesses, starting them, growing them, or helping them succeed -- i know that small business is big business for america. they comprise 99% of all businesses. they create two out of every three new jobs, and employ nearly half of the private sector workforce. they

>> senator fetterman: i have.time to really understand his background and to learn more about the man, and i sat down with him twice in my office to have a conversation. so whatever the vote comes down on, that's going to come with an informed view. i approached with an open mind, and i watched the hearing, and that is how the process works. >> shannon: so have you made a decision? >> senator fetterman: well, i've been following it, and i talked to my colleagues on both sides. i've said this on the record, it has been challenging, for sure. absolutely. it is certainly not a slam-dunk for the nomination. >> shannon: will you reveal your vote before you get to the floor, or is this going to be a game-time decision for you? sweet tea right before stick my thumb it's just part of an ongoing dialogue on where we are with this. but i have made an investment to really understand and talk to all the nominees, and i've treated everyone with respect, and i took the time to listen. and that has been my commitment. >> shannon

patel: thanks, senator. chair grassley: senator moody. sen. merkley: i am the most junior senator so i go last. ever since i got here, and it has been a whole week, i get told two things when i rush up to my fellow senators. number one,, are you senator britt? [laughter] and number two, you know the senate is a body that is deliberative and calm, and i am anything but. i don't know how the next couple of years will look but i hope they bear with me. i have been a lot of things that are these agencies i thought we would never see out of the united states. i know my fellow attorneys general who would agree with me in fact, some of them are here to support you. i would love to introduce them, the attorney general from south carolina, former utah attorney general as well, and little son and the louisiana ag. they joined me. thank you for being here. they joined me in signing onto a letter supporting your nomination. we did that while i was still attorney general over a week ago. they came here today to support you. mr. chairman, i know you have be

senator marshall, senator warnock, senator smith, senator young and senator welch. i indicated i would give another five minutes to senator wyden. i understand he has distributed that five minutes to a few other senators so we will have a few quick questions and then we will proceed. i would like to thank the audience. we had some outbursts earlier but i would like to thank the audience for being respectful and encourage the audience to continue being respectful as we conclude the hearing. sen. marshall: thank you, chairman. obesity, d is heart disease, obesity, diabetes, heart disease account for probably. 80% of of health challenges in america. you many times i heard my friends across the aisle mention any three of those. i don't know if we've lost the forest for the trees. your vaccine is a critical issue. i understand that. i don't see how mr. kennedy's position could be any more clear that he's going to support the vaccine and he's going to support the science and empowerment to parents and their doctors to make these choices. 60% of americans have a chronic di

senator kelly from the senate. the representatives from the house. they've been working with maritime stakeholders on these larger bills. mr. chairman, if this committee does not embrace the larger agenda it will get decided in the finance committee. i hope we can get some of these issues and show this committee is the committee for maritime jurisdiction. a build up requires a comprehensive strategy to rebuild america supply chain supremacy, sea lift capacity we need to defend our interests in the south china sea and the indo pacific come into revitalize our nation's ports and shipbuilding capacity. a revitalized maritime strategy will not only be good for our economy but critical for national security. at the same time we face cyber threats from our foreign adversaries and panama is a perfect example, which brings us to the hearing today. i am concerned about chinese owned ports in panama and the proximity to the canal. i am also deeply concerned about the installation of equipment from chinese companies near the canal. this is why this committee wo

senator hagerty introduced legislation. of that bill was closer to the original proposal patrick mchenry put in place early in the 118 congress and you will see the house expose a draft for stable coins which would be similar to the approach taken by senator hagerty. let me ask for comment. >> this year i established a digital asset subcommittee so we could take a deep dive into market structure and stable coins. the good news is stable coins led by bill hagerty on the senate side is out today already. market structure is a place where you have left and right leaning in, members jell-o brand and gloom is working together in the past and future coming together to create the framework for that for the senate so we can harmonize fit 21, the parts we see as a path forward to a signature to law. the good news is, from my perspective, having the digital asset subcommittee working on the market structure at the same time, simultaneously having bill hagerty lead the conversation around stable coins, having to build out for us to ta

senator thune is there. john, you are with us as well and of course you can help me as we sort of peer in here waiting for senator cassidy. senator from louisiana. not sure how he is going to vote. this is a critical vote for rfk, jr. he gets out of committee he can go to the floor and try to fight for it there. if you don't get out of committee, then i guess you revert to plan f. >> john: you see the chairman talking with the ranking member as we wait for this to get underway. there are a few republican senators with collins leading the charge there who were unsure about rfk's stance on vaccine, shifting stance on abortion. susan collins has been satisfied by some of what he was talking about, i believe, joni ernst as well. if it comes to a full vote in the senate they would seem to be on board with it. but as you pointed out the big question is whether or not it gets out of committee. if he doesn't, he doesn't go to a full vote. >> dana: maybe you heard more than i have. there is a possibility that he coul

and the senator introduced a bill today. stable coins really have the potential to ensure american dollar dominance internationally to increase the usage of the u.s. dollar digitally as the world's reserve currency, and in the process create potentially trillions of dollars of demand for u.s. treasuries, which could lower long-term interest rates. let me stop there and i want to thank the chairman here today, chairman scott, chairman bozeman , chairman thompson and i look forward to working with them as part of the administration to help turn president trumps policy into reality. this was a week one priority for the administration and we are excited that our counterparts in congress are equally committed to ensuring american dominance in digital assets. i look forward to working with each of you. with that, i would say work with each and you -- each of you in creating a golden age in digital assets. i will turn it over to chairman scott. >> i think it represents promises made, promises kept. i love the campaign trail when pr

here's senator roger wicker, here's senator bill cassidy, here's senator jerry moran saying, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, wait a second. you can't stop all this foreign aid. that's american food aid that's going to rot in the ports, says jerry moran. that's that's an hiv treatment program that needs to be restarted immediately, says physician and louisiana republican senator bill cassidy. i mean, the pushback is real. it's emboldened in part by the stupidity and palpable incompetence of the administration that's trying to push everybody around. the pushback is real. it is emboldened, and it is coming from every direction. the protests we saw yesterday at the usaid building to stick up for usaid and foreign aid, that was a big deal, an impromptu demonstration that attracted tons of members of congress, tons of people, tons of media. there's going to be another demonstration for that same cause tomorrow, again with members of congress. this time it's going to be 11:30 a.m. 11:30 a.m. at upper senate park, which is on constitution avenue in washington, d.c, standing up for usaid, standing up

in 24, you started have guys like senator brown, senator tester voting for these and putting them in campaign ads and there was a sudden drop off in how many of these wound up getting to the floor. the you see the kind of thing that could wind up happening in the next administration? it will depend politically how comfortable republicans are voting against the president and a priority of his but a double-edged sword, you can bring the message to the forefront and potentially give him a tough vote if it's unpopular but a get well vote if they are up for reelection. >> interesting, the democrats who you mentioned going along with some of these resolutions of disapproval and you would expect in the trump administration the republicans who might be interested in going along with symbolic messaging resolutions of disapproval that will surely come after the window closes it will be the more moderate republicans who will use that as a free vote to demonstrate independence from the administration or the party so i would expect a similar thing on the other side of the aisle so for sure. that'

in 2024 you had senator brown and senator tester with campaign ads. there was a drop in how many were getting to the floor. do you see this as the kind of thing that could wind up happening in the next administration? i think it would depend politically on how comfortable republicans are inputting the president up against your -- a priority of his. you can get them to get well vote if they are up for reelection. mr. balla: it's interesting, the democrats that you mentioned, going along with some of these resolutions of disapproval. you would expect in the trump administration the republicans who might be interested in going along with these symbolic messaging resolutions of disapproval, it would surely come after that window closes. it will be the more moderate republicans who will use that as a free vote to demonstrate independence from the administration or from the party . so, i would certainly expect a similar thing on the other side of the aisle. that's one of the interesting things about the cra, there are all of these uses that i don't know wer

shut down the senate! shut down the senate! shut down the senate! shut down the senate! shut down the senate! hey! all right, here you go. >> i appreciate you all. all right, i was just elected to represent the 47th district in california. i succeeded katie porter, and like katie, like senator warren, before going into politics, i was a law professor. and we are here because we are in a constitutional crisis, the likes of which we have never seen in this country. we are here because elon musk, an unelected billionaire, is repeatedly and break -- blatantly breaking the law, including by usurping all authorities expressly reserved to congress. the constitution is simple. we appropriate the money and treasury delivers it. but elon musk taking it over threatens all that. he has time powers that even the president does not hold, including the power to close agencies he does not like, agencies that congress created an funded. who the hell gave elon musk this authority? no one. until yesterday elon musk had no official role with the administration. now, all of us up here today,

senate.i am a 9/11 baby, as they say it was recruited after 9/11 and completed three tours in iraq armed by the military and worked proudly for both democrat and republican administrations. i am also a democrat that just got elected on the same ballot as donald trump. i understand that mr. trump has the right to nominate his own people and have policies that differ than my own beliefs. i think what i care about the most is just making sure that our veterans get the care that they need and we do not strip essential programs for the sake of cutting the workforce. i worked very hard and that bill on the house veterans affairs committee. the potential to expand care to 3 million 9/11 era veterans who lived near burn pits and then elizabeth dole act that a number of folks in this committee worked on as well which really does amazing things for mental health and expanding programs on long-term care so can you just give me assurances that while i know it is a mandate from president trump to cut the

so kash patel has now lied in front of the senate. it's up to senators to decide whether to hold him accountable. frankly, they have a constitutional duty to engage in advice and consent, whether they'll bend the knee to donald trump or not is something i think we all have opinions on at this point, but it will be up to them in these upcoming votes to do their job. >> kim, there are you've written a lot about this, whether it's the intelligence community, the fbi. no question that there are conversations to be had about reforming these and every other government agency. well, we should be we should be having these conversations in a democracy. that's not what this is about. this is not the normal shifting of political leadership at the top of the doj or the fbi, fbi agents, where they've asked for this list of everybody involved in these prosecutions. fbi agents are like reporters. they do not assign themselves their jobs. they are told to investigate something, and they do what they're they're asked to do. >> we're witnessing the. de

chair cotton: thank you senator moran. senator king? sen. king: i want to applaud and express my admiration for your service in the military and congress, very challenging jobs. i want to thank you for that. i noted that edwards noted was in the hawaii of all places for year and a half before he fled to hong kong. did you ever meet him or have any contact with him during that period or subsequently with telephone calls, emails, zooms, contact with lawyers? ms. gabbard: not at any time have i had contact with edwards noted. sen. king: you introduced a bill in 2020 that was essentially a parted, it basically said all charges should be dropped. you had a lot of whereas in that bill. where did the factual basis for those clauses come from? ms. gabbard: if i recall it came from publicly available information. sen. king: were you aware there was a bipartisan committee report from the house intelligence committee in 2016 on snowden's activities? ms. gabbard: i don't recall specifically at that time but i am aware of that committee's report and exec

>> senator thank you senator round is great to meet and visit with you. for most americans their home is their largest investment that they have and that's how they begin to build generational wealth i know what that was like for me and my family growing up and even now. so yes, i believe having equity in their home should be made available to that homeowner. that is help most families begin to grow wealth and achieve the american dream. quickset is one of the reasons why president trump was elected was to bring down that cost of interest on a home so that more people can get into that. and i think another important part is once you get the equity in the home, now you have other opportunities. it's a whole lot easier if that individual has the opportunity in the first place. i think it's a step in the right direction. at the same time we have areas like hundred native american reservations in south dakota the tribal trust land. 15% of our population is native american. for them to be able to have a home in a rural area that we have got to have access to p

>> yes, senator. that is -- there is an issue with precursor chemicals transiting. >> as i understand some of the announcement relating to the tariffs that president trump has announced his administration has said this isn't so much a trade policy as it is an anti-fentanyl policy to finally get the chinese government's attention to do something about the precursors that emanate from that country. but then as you point out, they make their way to mexico where the cartels are putting them into pill presses and making them look like relatively and have fentanyl in them and taking people's lives. do you believe with improved border security we can begin to stop some of the flow of the illicit drugs coming across the border including fentanyl? >> yes, senator. what you describe is a very complex system. almost a supply chain that starts in china using transit going to mexico, to pill presses. it is not doing any one thing. it is doing 12 things at the same time. addressing this issue is much more complicat

chair cotton: thank you senator moran. senator king? sen. king: i want to applaud and express my admiration for your service in the military and congress, very challenging jobs. i want to thank you for that. i noted that edwards noted was in the hawaii of all places for year and a half before he fled to hong kong. did you ever meet him or have any contact with him during that period or subsequently with telephone calls, emails, zooms, contact with lawyers? ms. gabbard: not at any time have i had contact with edwards noted. sen. king: you introduced a bill in 2020 that was essentially a parted, it basically said all charges should be dropped. you had a lot of whereas in that bill. where did the factual basis for those clauses come from? ms. gabbard: if i recall it came from publicly available information. sen. king: were you aware there was a bipartisan committee report from the house intelligence committee in 2016 on snowden's activities? ms. gabbard: i don't recall specifically at that time but i am aware of that committee's report and exec

senator murray. sen. murray: well, we're two weeks in and it is already painfully clear this is the most corrupt administration in our history, and it's putting our economy, our government, and our most at-risk communities in serious jeopardy. in particular, we learned that elon musk now has access to the treasury department's most sensitive payment system, handling $6 trillion every year and managing nearly all federal disbursements. it's a system that contains extremely sensitive personal and commercial information, and i've been hearing from people across my state who are truly alarmed about what musk and his associates having access to this system could mean for their data and for funding that they count on. let's not mince words here. an unelected, unaccountable billionaire with expansive conflicts of interest, deep ties to china, and an indiscreet ax to grind against perceived enemies is hijacking our nation's most sensitive financial data systems and its checkbook so that he can illegally block fun

good morning to you, senator. >> good morning, margaret. >> do you have any sense yet what the cost of these tariffs could be for virginia, which does have a wine industry, for example? >> yeah. first of all, i think we might want to call this the donald trump super bowl tax, with the big game coming next week, if you -- avocados, tomatoes, beer from mexico, prices going to go up. the question around cars, i read already about $3,000 of an additional price on cars, up to 10,000 on trucks, because we've actually integrated very well our auto production with canada and mexico. i think as well about the fact for years we've been encouraging businesses to leave china and near shore to a place like mexico, and now that is going to end up costing consumers more. for industries like ours like the wine industry, where we are growing rapidly in virginia, those folks are going to get socked as well. this is -- remember donald trump got hired trying to lower -- saying he was going to lower grocery prices. two weeks in he's d

senator warner, senator moran, our condolences and prayers are with you and all your constituents.t's a honor to be here before you today and i appreciated the opportunity to meet with so many of you and address your questions and concerns before today's hearing. i know they're gone but thankful to senators burr and ernst in their confidence in taking time to join us here today. to my husband, abraham, fellow friends, fellow patriots, and friends, thank you for your love and support. i'm honored and grateful to president trump for his trust and confidence in nominating me to serve our country as director of national intelligence at a time when trust in the intelligence community, unfortunately, is at an all time low. chuck schumer admitted a few years ago, quote, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from sunday at getting back at you. for too long, faulty or weaponized intelligence has led to costly failures and the undermining of our national security and god given freedoms enshrined in the constitution. the most obvious example of one of these failures is ou

one of the senate's key checks on the executive branch was back on display this week, as senators grilled some of president trump's more vulnerable cabinet nominees, like robert kennedy jr. back in 1961, robert f. kennedy sr. joined "meet the press" with this defense of congress' role in reining in the administration. >> i think it's terribly important to ensure that the executive branch of the government is not corrupt and that they are efficient, that the legislative branch of the government has this ability to check on what we're doing in the executive branch of the government. so in every instance that has been brought to our attention at the department of justice so far, by various departments of the executive branch where this question has been raised, we have suggested and recommended that they make the information available to congress. we will continue to do so that. i don't say that there might not be an instance where executive privilege might not have to be used, but i think it's terribly important that with the executive branch of the government as powerful and strong as it i

that was senator bill cassidy. doctor bill cassidy, explaining why he just a few hours ago, was the deciding vote in order to get robert f. kennedy over the line in the key committee that he voted on to be the next secretary of health and human services. as i mentioned, he's a medical doctor. he was very concerned, openly concerned, including during the confirmation hearings that he attended and that he questioned mr. kennedy during about kennedy's anti-vaccine rhetoric and history of just to sort of summarize some of what senator kennedy just said, peddling in some conspiracy theories from senator, senator cassidy's point of view. now, just to recap, what happened this morning is that the senate finance committee voted to advance kennedy's nomination. he won by just one vote, which is why senator cassidy. doctor cassidy was so critical. i want to go to cnn's manu raju, who was outside. that hearing has been working his sources on this. we're going to talk about some of the sort of the medical points that he made,

i am back with senate majority whip, senator john barrasso.riffs because we are expecting canada and mexico to retaliate dollar for dollar. are you with worried that this tariff plan of president trump is going to undermine the other policies that are very positive out of this administration? >> no, i don't, maria, because the president has such a pro-growth group of policies in terms of cutting government spending and government waste and the bureaucratic, bloat that we have in our federal government in terms of keeping taxes low, in terms of also getting rid of regulations, unleashing american energy. all of these things are pro-growth, going to help the economy, so i'm not concerned with the tariff component. look, in wyoming, i'm in wyoming now, our number one trading partner is canada, so people are clearly looking at that. we're keeping a close eye on it. maria: exactly. so do you expect that they're going to retaliate tomorrow? >> well, i would expect so, but the president has that every right to hold others accountable who do not treat

we will turn to other senators who like to make a statement. i'll go to the republican side. >> thank you. i voted by today and i want to briefly explain why. i believe in my five years, mr. kennedy will be one of the first people coming before. he is the lens of an attorney and has brought many lawsuits on vaccine safety and of the things. i think senator warnock said the president said he would go wild the department of health and human services. i hope he does the hope he finds a way to reduce the cost healthcare. i hope he goes wild and instead of the discussion we've had for the ten years in the senate making medicaid work making people healthier, i hope he figures out how because of this quote is not much of the way, i hope he goes wild on safety so we can improve safety supply and goes wild on the healthcare supply chain and tries to make sure drug prices go down instead of budgeting pharmaceutical companies get everybody in the room and make sure we do this right. bring vaccine to market and therapeutics the market. look at the full sup

thank you very much. >> thank you senator graham. senior to meet senator graham. lot can be done besides just allowing people to sue. we as the federal government can enact laws to stop this from happening in our country. it is a born that more has not been done. and i wanted to touch on a few things i was confused by and hope we can get some enlightenment on that. i'm the wife of a law-enforcement officer, a federal prosecutor myself going after transnational criminal organizations and drug traffickers. it was not uncommon that those wishing to push poison into our united states were not u.s. citizens. in fact, many actions taken against cartel members or otherwise were against foreign nationals. in fact, it was confusing to me i heard a question about dea participating in trying to help and assist with removing those here illegally committing crimes , especially those committing drug trafficking crimes while we are in the middle of a drug crisis. why that would be confusing or even a waste of resource when in my experience, my husband's experience, many of his c

senator cornyn, senator ricketts and new to the senate, senator marin, welcome.he senate budget committee is going to be deeply engaged in the policies with reconciliation playing a central role, and reconciliation begins right here in this room. we will consider trump's budget requests. and i must say my deepest concern about the reconciliation bills is that they are going to betray working americans. working americans who president trump appealed to in his campaign come up working best campaign, working americans -- appealed to in his campaign, working americans who listened to the strategies that he laid out, that he proposed. but certainly the actual plan isn't to help working people. the actual plan is to help the few healthy get wealthier with -- the wealthy get wealthier with massive tax giveaways, with working families paying the bill. now how are these massive , giveaways, to the wealthiest families going to be paid for? well, by slashing services to working families and struggling families trying to get on their feet so they can thrive and get to the mi

good morning to you, senator.uickly, to you have a sense of the impact of these tariffs on your state? >> well, it's going to be very severe. but this is not the only thing that worries me. margaret, we are living in an unprecedented moment in american history. we are looking at a rapid growth of oligarchy. we are looking at a rapid growth of authoritarianism. i fear we are looking at kleptocracy as well. and i am going to do everything i can to work with my supporters all over this country to stand up and fight back to make sure we have an economy that works for everybody, not just elon musk, and that we maintain american democracy. >> senator, i am have to ask you what you mean on the other side of this commercial break because i have to take it. stay with us. we hope all of you will as well. >> cbs sports celebrates black history month if. >> the pbr returns to california's capital for a teams clash that will determine who gets to lay down the law inside the golden one center. the missouri thunder always bring

shut down the senate! shut down the senate! shut down the senate! shut down the senate! shut down the senate! hey! all right, here you go. >> i appreciate you all. all right, i was just elected to represent the 47th district in california. i succeeded katie porter, and like katie, like senator warren, before going into politics, i was a law professor. and we are here because we are in a constitutional crisis, the likes of which we have never seen in this country. we are here because elon musk, an unelected billionaire, is repeatedly and break -- blatantly breaking the law, including by usurping all authorities expressly reserved to congress. the constitution is simple. we appropriate the money and treasury delivers it. but elon musk taking it over threatens all that. he has time powers that even the president does not hold, including the power to close agencies he does not like, agencies that congress created an funded. who the hell gave elon musk this authority? no one. until yesterday elon musk had no official role with the administration. now, all of us up here today,

president, the senate will also soon vote on the nomination of -- the senate will also vote on scott turner to be secretary of housing and urban development. this is a big role. this affects cities, rural, tribal lands, every part of our country. higher construction costs and burdensome regulations made home-building challenging. what homes are on the market are too pricey for many americans. many parts of the country have homelessness challenges. too many distressed communities are struggling to turn their fortunes around. despite a windfall of additional funding for hud, these problems are, in many cases, getting worse. fortunately, mr. president, president trump has nominated someone to lead housing and urban development who knows a thing or two about overcoming adversity. scott turner grew up in plano, in richardson, texas, in challenging circumstances, but he was determined to achieve the american dream. at 10, he told his mother he would play professional football. with a lot of determination and hard work, he graduated from the university of illinois and was drafted to play in

per day welcome to the committee senator britt, senator schmitz, senator crapo and senator schiff.elcome. [applause] before we get started i would like to set out a couple ground rules. i want to handle this hearing using a similar structure to house senator durbin handled the nomination hearing of attorney general garland. i want everyone here to be able to watch the hearing without obstruction. if people set up and block the view of those behind them, or speak out of turn it is not fair or considerate to others. so officers will immediately remove those individuals. and now, before i turn to my tuy opening statement, let me explain how we are going to proceed today. i am going to give my opening remarks and then i will invite ranking member durbin to give his opening remarks. then i will call and senator scott and schmidt toen introduce this. nominee. public those introductions and ms. monty's statement, we will begin the first round of questioning. a seven minute round for question after the first round will do a second four-minute round of questioning. members should do the ver