democracies. >> american democracy is bigger than any one person. >> freedom and democracy must be constantly guarded and protected. >> we are still, at our core, a democracy. >> this is also a massive victory for democracy and for freedom. announcer: homeland secretary kristi noem testified on mass deportations, due process, and the federal emergency management agency which is controlled by her department. the house appropriations committee from capitol hill runs nearly two hours and 40 minutes. [crowd talking] chair amodei: the

on homeland security will come to order. i am pleased to be joined by the subcommittee's distinguished member, when she gets here.

[laughter] welcome, secretary noem. lcome s. last week the office of management and budget budget skinny best of their 2026 budget request. while we await the details of the request the purpose of the hearing, this year will be a discussion of the departments priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. first i want to address a few housekeeping items. members will have differences of opinions and how the government should be run in what policy should be in place pretty special as it relates to border security and immigration enforcement. however i am going to ask members on both sides a teat keep today's discussion civil and focus of the work we need to do as appropriate to fund a department on security. i guess i would be remiss if i did not welcome the chair of the full committee who is here. but now i like to turn to my colleague mrs. underwood for her opening remarks. >> thank you, mr. chairman for holding this year end to conduct

oversight of homeland security welcome secretary noem to your first hearing here. on the subcommittee are jobs and keep the country safe and sacredvalues as americans. last year, working together we secured consistent increases for border operation funding help to bring encounters at the southern border down in seizures of narcotics including fentanyl up through critical investments at our ports of entry, cbp officers and increases homeland security investigation. normally i would focus my questions for the secretary on the details of the president's budget. but i would be remiss if i did not mention we are holding today's hearing without an actual budget for fiscal year 2026 to review the skinny budget released last friday is filled with politics and facts. so it let me begin with some facts i think are important for the american people to hear about what you are doing with

their money. three months into this administration america's more vulnerable than has ever been. our homeland is not secure. in the first 100 days of the trump administration, you have/arst nations cyber defenses letting russia, china and iran still our top secrets and america's personal data. you have wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on illegal deportation including some people quote the legal way within our broken immigration system. despite data permits own admission southern border encounters already at record lows. sent e-mails to u.s. citizens please the united states immediately. remove u.s. citizen children including those with terminal illnesses raise the price tag of the disasters by cutting out

billions from projects across the country to make our infrastructure more resilient part including a bipartisan program enacted into law by president trump himself. and taking millions of dollars away from dhs workforce and operations for what appears to be taxpayer funded political advertisement. during our member day hearing last month there is the unacceptable unconstitutional decision this administration has been making with the funds provided to the department of df this committee. including the sudden determination dhs grants to states and nonprofit organizations. the cancellation of the disaster relief funds brick program enshrined in the constitution on reduction in force parts of the department office of civil rights and civil liberties

multi- office of immigration detention. i also have serious concerns that the administration decision to revoke the bargaining rights for dhs personnel with an exception made to unions who have vocally supported the president and the name of efficiency in combating waste, fraud and abuse without any evidence to back those claims. congress debated and ultimately funded. our role as appropriators is to write the law and responsibly fund the government for the executive role is to execute that funding pursuant to the law. it is no secret the administrations ramped up immigration detention beyond what congress funded. increases to ice initiatives that members on both sides of the aisle voted for undermines our court work and congressional intent. dhs is cashing checks it simply

does not have an helps reconciliation passes will cover their short fall. that is an incredibly risky strategy and only sets up national security agencies and for a failure for violation of antideficiency act. how does that secure the homeland? there been bipartisan discussions the organizational structure of the department of homeland security. whether it's making fema an independent agency, or transferring components like u.s. coast guard or the secret t service to other departments. we will never shy away from discussions about how we can improve the department. absent an active law from congress making changes to the department's organizational structure, this is subcommitteee will continue to conduct oversight over all existing dhs components and provide for their continued funding and the homeland security bill. i know that there are many areas

in this bill that share bipartisan support and i am so proud of the relationship the chairman and i have built. i know even in this highly partisan environment, he and i ideas how to improve the department and better manage the department. but the trump administration's actions have pushed us to unprecedented into a sobering moment. america is a democracy not a dictatorship. in a democracy we are organized on the rule of law. those laws are based on a course of constitutional rights. you may be familiar and includes the fourth amendment which forbids unreasonable searches and seizures. the fifth amendment guarantees the right to due process. in the sixth amendment which protects the right to a fair trial and legal counsel. we endeavor to secure the homeland we must continue to

protect and defend the constitution of the united states. that is not a secondary mission. let me conclude and take a moment to recognize the dedication and commitment to the women and men of the department of homeland security to carry out the departments vital mission that will protect the american people from a wide range of threats. i get i wanted to thank the chairman for holden this year end i look forward to working with you that reflects those priorities. keep the country safe upholds our shared values as americans. i yield back. >> thank you ranking member. the chair recognizes the chairman of the full appropriation committee for his opening comment. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. before i go to my prepared remarks i went to state what a pleasure it is to see our former calling here. how proud we are of you. but yoursuccess as a governor. your success in this

administration i don't know anyone who has been more effective and less time then you have and the men and women you lead so effectively. i just want to thank you so much. honestly as a friend and a colleague someone who really appreciates public service you have already rendered this country and multiple multiple ways. we are proud of you. thank you again madam secretary we really appreciate you being here today. let me begin by commending the brave when and women of this department was sent on the front line each day to protect the homeland under new leadership will be empowered to fully carry out their fundamental duty. on day one the trump administration has made clear protecting america is not negotiating the white house is taken immediate action to strengthen security of our nation's borders and existing innovation. contrasted by demonstration could not be clearer. policies allowed open and

lawless border have ended the message is clear. illegal migrants including violent offenders will no longer have an open invitation. criminal cartels and traffickers will no longer and the safety of our citizens will no longer be put last. in less than 100 days to watch our southern border go from chaos to close the decisive action and commonsense measures of the trump administration have led to historic turnaround illegal crossings to record lows and removal of dangerous criminals. prickly you madam secretary our nation is safer as a result. it is imperative investments for border security are strong. i'm dedicated to work with the members on this committee and across the capitol.

does not end here living in tornado alley oklahomans are no stranger to devastation caused by natural disaster. responsible for significant flooding in my state that the order resulted in the loss of life. this emergency declaration of our governor. state and local resources are exhausted we do rely on fema to bring additional capabilities and help our fellow citizens rebuild. this is not a partisan issue and swung it regardless of politics i look forward to a discussion on ways to reform fema include federal response capability while eliminating inefficiencies and wasteful spending. many commutes of the memes to mitigate the next disaster before it strikes. potentially saving taxpayers more money.

including those in rural oklahoma resources to prevent further destruction. madam secretary, across our nation thank you again for being here today. look forward to your testimony more important thank you for the job are doing for the american people the results have been spectacular and beyond what any of us could have expected. we are grateful for your service. with that mr. chairman i yield back. quick thinking mr. chairman. the chair wishes to put on the record ives received no request from anyone in the administration from the minority or majority that i do an opening statement. accordingly i will not be doing one. not unusual. madam secretary without

objection your full written statement be entered into the record with that waistcoat or summarize your opening statement within five minutes the gently from south dakota, the floor is yours pickwick thank you, mr. chairman thank you ranking member underwood members of this committee for the honor of being with you today are as a former colleague of the house of representatives i recognize the important role you play in oversight over the federal government and their agencies i am grateful for the chance to come here and talk about the good work the department on security has done the employees and those who walk along size each and every day to follow through it what president trump is committed to the american people and that is to make america safe again. today i'm very proud of the accomplishments. we have delivered them a secure border in american history. we've obtained near total control with daily encounters now over 93% margin saw the lowest numbers in recorded

history in the history of the united states of america at just under 7200. the days of lesson 200 encounters which is the lowest recorded history. under the previous administration was at times encountering over 15000 people a day which means efforts were diverted into processing and facilitating an invasion of our country instead of doing their jobs. this astonishing turnaround is a testament to the resolve and leadership for comps with incredible work of the people of the department secure border have allowed border patrol to zero in on cartels and their illicit activity president trump is designate six different cartels and criminal gangs foreign terrorist organizations. the whole of government approach to go after drug traffickers, human traffickers in march

functional traffic up to border fell by 54% compared to the previous year where enforcing immigration laws to identify, to arrest, detain remove dangerous illegal criminals of our country. aliens are a threat to public safety into our national security. especially those with terrorist organizations this includes those final orders of removal and place are a priority for this administration. we work with president trump on america first trade agenda for the ritual actions and enforcement the biden administration hollowed out industrial base to shifter jobs overseas. president trump is changing all of them. companies are reassuring jobs

here in america every single day. rethinking federal improvement our involvement in emergency response and management as well. president trump announced new members of fema without kosher with the secretary of defense. charged with fixing a broken system to system return for our power to state emergency management directors to make america safe again. taking steps to defend the transportation systems which are vulnerable to targets and attacks. transportation security administration is responsible for ensuring the security of all those of travel. in a single day is over 45000 flights nearly 2.9 people travel on our airlines and passengers in the united states where fulfilling our obligation to enforce and to launch real id in order to follow federal law that was enacted nearly 20 years ago.

validated ids will secure travel safeguard elections and make sure never experience and work to prevent 911 attack again. as technology advances so to the threats to our nation and that is why cybersecurity is so crucial to our future. countries like communist china both the capability and the intent to infiltrate and potentially disrupt our critical infrastructure system. homeland security is responsible for 10 of the 16 different infrastructures despite these threats the biden administration uses to play politics in holy speech. we've been working to get back on mission and to make sure they are focused on cyber security. the coast guard is the only branch of our military u.s. armed forces under the umbrella of the department of homeland security. and as many different missions with specialized needs going forward. as we secure the southern border cartels have shifted to the

maritime borders the coast guard has already surpassed fiscal year 2020 for the amount of drug interdiction numbers they have encountered have also excelled at search and rescue an illegal introduction. the greatest readiness crisis right now since world war ii would need to act to make sure they have the tools, training and equipment they need from a national security response. we have a plan it's a critical component of the homeland security mission force design 2028 some of you may have heard about will transform the coast guard into more agile capable and responsive force. since i took office one of the responsibilities i have is reforming the secret service and the wake on president trump. we have a racist to secret services needs we have a reit focus recruitment with what the

by demonstration was that align with the agency's mission. these accomplishments are a portion of what the department has achieved in just 100 days. with the support of this committee will be able to make the parts department more efficient and effective. i want to thank the chairman for his kind words truly been one of my greatest honors with his advocate seat for the people in the district but not just the people in his district but the history to a cheese represented the people of the united states. the works across the aisle to come up with solutions. i am so grateful for all of you but i'm grateful for the people that work every day and the department of finance security. they are examples of bravery and dedication. patriotism and persevere it is our responsibility as a great deal of challenges of the data given the training and equipment they rely on to be successful

for the american people we also have to remain accountable to the american taxpayer and make sure were spending money appropriately and where it shouldn't be to serve them the best. thank you for the opportunity to be here today with that mr. chairman i look forward to your questions. >> it. >> thank you madam secretary. going to hold off on my questions. and so pick. >> thank you, mr. chairman. this weekend the president made the remarkable same he quote does not know whether he has to uphold the constitution. you however of taken a different position. in your confirmation hearing and when he took the oath of office. you said you were committed with the constitution do you still stand by that statement? absolutely. i believe in president trump at lessor's article one gives congress and only congress the power of the person. note many shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law.

this administration is freezing, terminating client back federal grants and awards that were already. these are taxpayer dollars that were appropriated by congress with the specific purposes that we laid out. so secretary, let me ask you do you believe the administration has the authority to subvert appropriation law to freeze and terminate congressional funding? >> the administration and the department of homeland security used our authorities that we have to evaluate every grant that was in front of us and statutory requirements but also financially being spent appropriate. >> is within his authority. thank you so much the present is within his authority within the bounds of federal law on the constitution. but that's not what you've been doing. what am asking is if whether you believe you have the authority to ignore appropriation law? do you believe the constitution gives the executive branch

unilateral authority to appropriate by the legislative branch question. >> we have evaluated grants actually being spent appropriately. other grants that have not been started and have not been authorized we have reevaluated. we are talking specifically about grants potentially within fema there were not disaster related grant. >> article two the executive authority to hold more funds multiple courts avoid into agree multiple courts have rules and agreements. congress controls the power of the purse. that's not a question, that is a fact. the president disagrees with certain spending congress passed the empowerment act to seek rescission we expect him to follow the law. this administration is not just ignoring the constitutional power of the people elected representatives. it's also violating the fundamental right of

individuals. do you believe the constitution grants everyone in our country the right to due process including noncitizens question. >> they have the authority packets ma'am i'm looking for yes or no question. yes or no. ma'am ma'am i am reclaiming my time. secretary i'm looking for yes no do you believe. >> due process is exactly what this congress too. >> yes or no okay ma'am i'll take that as a no. >> i am trying to ascertain your understanding of the law as it applies to this department you as the leader should be able to give us a yes or no answer. judge after judge has ruled the laws not being followed. do you believe the u.s. government has the authority to deport american citizens? >> no. we are not deporting u.s. citizens. >> i'm happy you agree the lot is not giving that authority because the federal government

has no authority under u.s. laws to deport any american citizen. and as i know everyone during this hearing today know several american citizens have been deported to date. that was not a question. secretary noem that was to protect and defend the constitution of the united states not the president, not a political party, the constitution. and that's what we're going to keep doing here at the appropriations committee thank you i yield back. cooks a chair now recognize a gentleman from oklahoma chairman of the appropriations committee for questions. the floor is yours. look thank you very much mr. chairman and madam secretary it's great to have you here. in your service you have prioritized attaining and removing the worst of the worst in our country. including one with violent crimes and fellow americans.

they're all in support of that effort. can you tell us, and you may not have this information. i'm curious how do commit serious offenses? >> tens of thousands of illegal aliens ambience individuals in this country. the been over 160,000 with legal action because of that appears with overwhelmingly the american people have supported this. one of the things i would say is it's unfortunate invite administration close in office with an ice that help us better track criminal activities by illegal aliens to let them be

informed of the perpetrator of their crime was going to be released. if they were in custody. the office was open under the first administration. president biden close that office i believed to cover up exactly how many crimes were committed. again people in the country by illegal aliens. we reopen that office we believe that doubt it will be helpful they are continuing to work with people who have been victims of illegal crimes and illegal alien activity in this country. the data and information nothing will ever truly know how much crime was committed and how many were committed against american citizens because invite administration refused to track those victims and crimes that were perpetuated. >> there is an art this not readily available. i'm curious if he knows how many illegal aliens currently have

just have not had an opportunity to go pick her accent is a challenge that we have. we have literally millions of illegal aliens that have overstayed or are here illegally that need to have a final order issued. we have hundreds of thousands that are going out, targeted and being removed from this country that ice is working every area of our government to get them removed from our country. but we do have a backlog because it was not a priority under the last administration. we have up to a million cases backlog that needs to be needs d by an immigration judge. >> i want to commend you, you mentioned in your segment pushing on the real id act very notice on easy thing to do.

i'm sure when that day comes do not have that document. amongst the things you have to consider what kinds of ids are acceptable? i would encourage you as you do that it tribal eddies in a serving south dakota they need to meet the standards we lay out. whatever you can do in that regard to keep those folks informed. >> tomorrow is the date the real id will finally be enforced. it's been in place for over 20 years. 81% of the travelers that travel by air light in the united states today are already compliance. they have ids. they will be able to use like they normally always have been. we will be honoring passports, other federally recognized ids, it tribal eddies will be recognized so thank you, mr. chairman for that.

what will happen tomorrow as people come to the line and show him some complaint that may be diverted to a different life, have an extra step that people will be allowed to fly. we recognize this is a security issue. congress has said many, many years to reevaluated and decide if they want to change the law or to stop at the biden administration shows it should go into place on may 7 and we intend to follow the law. we want to make sure it's as seamless as possible and travels will get to stay on their itinerary we are telling people this lot will be enforced it will allow us to know individuals who they are there authoress of travel. >> and probably submitted for the record i'm very interested with president trump was there. i would love to be updated and

figure out higher going to perform those. they can be used correctly only problem with evaluating things particularly a lot of soft flips through you wish had in retrospect. the strong bipartisan support for that program as there was when it's introduced and signed into law back in 2019. i would love to know more about the plan and hopefully keep them. thank you very much. quick thinking mr. chairman madam secretary good very much. quick thinking mr. chairman madam secretary good to see you. i was going to show you but it won't allow me too show you something i just want to talk about basics.

hoping we can sit down later and show you what i am referring to. i want to talk about some of the basics. i live at the border, i've lived all my life there. i want to talk to you acknowledging that's needed is needed for border security. my area that's bigger than l.a. bigger than any other place in the country 18000 trailers a day we are about to expand trade is very important to us. but we talk about political proxies are still up there. i think right now the latest numbers 30 people may be 40 people coming to my area thank you for that.

that river roads i wish i could show you, let's say the river is here. so border patrol could go here but they cannot go cross people we are asking is for river roads to follow the river itself. i think that be a negative investment, a good investment that we need. the other thing i know you've got some from people who will grow almost the size of this. and it's not good for border patrol. i think tony gonzalez from the border understands of got to get rid of that on our river. but get the mexicans to do that. i was sure the maps and a know you've been out there. it shows you it's on both sides. if we can clear that up, get the mexicans to do that that will be good for border patrol.

so that river roads, acknowledging in my area only one third of the cameras are working. if you add some the other border patrol working basically using rvs which is an old model that it's better to use or whatever technology. it's like going to a car and you fix it and they keep coming for the same thing they're doing right now they're bringing folks coming in. one third of the cameras are working. two thirds are working that's not right. they thought it needs to be better so they can move faster. apparently their dead spots. even now the there are certain areas they do not have the radio that's working.

the military has a lot of surplus. in the past administrations, they have hired contractors homeland was paying too much money. we need to look at those that are available. border patrol i think right now we got 27. we funded 22000 and we need to hire more. the men and women in blue were 26000 which is still below. we need to hire those officers. those are some of the things i know i gave you hobos should think. to go to border patrol. that last point is we try to hire new border patrol i note that reconciliation had something that will affect them that has a do social security. i've talked to a lot of agents

that right now are crunching the numbers. or retire at the age of 52 are going to 57. what's going to happen with the supplemental? they are human beings and focus on. i know that's another committee. but those are the basics, i know i do not have enough time by love to follow up with you and your folks on. >> aptly will certainly do that congressman i would to thank you for talk about the technology need and the investments that we need at the border in order for these agents who truly do their job and do it with excellence. i will take it recruitment tellt is up over 50%. as we have allow them to go back in to do their job, we've had more interest in people and more adaptations are coming and that's a fantastic trend. people talk how discouraging it was over the last several years by not having their hands tied they could to secure the board and work for the american people they are recruiting more and more help to be assisting along the way. thank you.

i will follow more upon this conversation. thank you precooked a gentleman from florida the floor is yours. will follow more upon this conversation. thank you progressive gentleman from florida the floor is yours. secretary noem i have to say, it's been mention a couple times the amazing speed with which you turned around the southern border. i know a big piece of that was your endorsement of the 287g program. i spoke with the secretary mayorkas' your predecessor to try to expand that program. he refused to do it even though his own acting ice secretary said in a hearing before this committee it was the best thing since sliced bread. because it protected officers and the community. and so i want to thank you for that. you came in overnight it seems added 300 agencies to the 287g

program. that's an amazing accomplishment. i think that's a reason for the success that you have seen there. in fact in my own agency asserted 287g back 15 years ago great successes with the churche chiefs coming together. 63% of which had criminal arrests and convictions. two questions about 287g. number one, what can we do to help you get more agencies involved? and number two, what do you need from the standpoint of technology? what can we do to help you get those agencies trained in the

technology they need to get into those databases. it's better than sliced bread. >> thank you, congressman for talking about the program. it's incredibly important strategy of having enforcement we need to address the criminal activity. 287g is a partnership between our officers, isa brings everybody to the table to the agreement of local law enforcement or state law enforcement. it allows us to operate in a task force go out and make sure were having more bodies and backup of the operations on the ground going after dangerous criminals. we have up-to-date five and 98 agreements out there across the country. over 6200 different officers that has brought along side of us, worked alongside of us to

protect our communities and present an incredible work. workup.he referenced was that in florida. those 1120 dangerous criminals are off the streets now. they are people that were here illegally, they broke our laws. now they had the opportunity to face consequences and go home to their home countries it. i would say we are looking for more agreements and will continue to build on it like florida did by having the whole state approach which is what one can build out a model. every other state as well. we've had partnerships in the dea, atf, state highway patrol, we have had ice, u.s. marshal, , cbp local law enforcement cities, county sheriff people who committed their whole life to upholding the law and having the scales of justice apply easily to everybody are part of this team. it has been wonderful to see people jump in to be a part of it and make sure we have not

just cities we need to go out there and work but also have the local knowledge and the people in their community that wants to be a part of the solution. >> we look forward to continuing that. i want to ask very quickly. i do not have much time left. i want to ask about these recalcitrant countries. we have one point to million deportation orders out there. that are waiting for these countries to take them back. i was shocked under the biden administration they claim because they wouldn't take them. but now i understand now that you are in charge of dhs and the trump administration and the state department there has beenn some change in that. he tells how that's going? >> stated the entity that

negotiates travel documents and the ability to repay to people back to the home country. they had that phenomenal work giving us the opportunity to do that. there are some countries refusing to take their own citizens. i would reiterate every single country has a responsibility to take their citizens backup. there will be an international common sense agreement that has existed. many countries are not taking their citizens home very quickly. they may limit as to one or two claims a week. mexico had a limitation on this for quite a period of time even a limitation of the type of aircraft we could use. work with those countries is diplomatic job that consistently needs to be stayed on top of it. many times well we have people who are brought into our facilities and ready to be returned home for getting this travel documents to return them

to their countries incredible work. >> thank you very much i yield back. >> onset recognize a jump to and from hawaii. the florida issue floor shores. books thank you mr. chair. madam secretary, i appreciate your report on the department home and security. i've a different view on where the department is today and where you come over to the president, the administration and the secretary are taking it as actions and budget. not just in your word. it's important to start by some agreement. first of i would hope you would agree to an 70 or so thousand of dhs workforce, that's what the figure is would like to find out the figures up at some point spread across the department but all deserve the dedication these are also sectional respect.

paschal bees across the border paying a lot. i agree with you on those things. overall however, or focusing on the budget this is the appropriations committee. what little you have shown us and thus far fy 2026 budget looks like you're definitely over finding some efforts mainly for messaging purposes of the expense of some other efforts at a really critical such as cybersecurity, disaster prevention and mitigation, transportation security. you raising budget gimmicks to misdirect. on your budget gimmicks you claim 65% increase in dhs overall budget. but, all of that increase or more is loaded into your separate reconciliation. you have essentially for this purpose of this committee.

all of the extra money into reconciliation. now first of all, aside from completely sidetracking this particular committee that supposed to be doing that funding, you should know if you don't already this is an appropriate use. it's an tainted team maintain responsible governing is certainly needed dhs increases which many of us would support with others hostage in the overall reconciliation plan of continuing tax cuts for billionaires and slashes and critical programs like medicaid. so the question i have and it is a rhetorical question is why don't you come into this committee and set straight 65% or more increase in dhs to actually protect national security. the increase is heavily skewed to the border and specifically some 20 billion towards

reconciliation. i've been to the board at threee times myself. i've spent time with agents in certainly the personal equipment costs are necessary. the question i have for an oversight perspective if you are claiming such success at the border without spending all this extra money that you are therefore you are now asking for do we need to do that at the expense of other programs? i mean the nonpersonal stuff. half of years reconciliation increase into the u.s. coast guard $21 billion and everyone agrees the coast guard needs help produce critical in the pacific where you withdrawn from the indo pacific which is a tremendous mistake. why don't you ask for that rather than trying to hide and extort the reconciliation? your budget also ignores and attacks other critical functions of dhs and infrastructure security.

which i think we would all agree is critical to direct national offensive. but also civilian infrastructure which is the most exposed right now. and the reliance of a foreign countries to help with their cybersecurity and yet they reduced by 20% your base budget. fema, another example of budgeting in my view, you first of all collectively have directed very incorrect and outright mean criticism of fema. which is just undeserved. it's time to put the political campaign behind us. i sat with them on malate when they were trying their very best and did their very best with a presence criticizing their work. we do not need this in further they tried to find quickly.

social security administration saying basically observation a critical agency which you have not adequately funded. fundamentally my time is running short. office is a critical agency deserves to be led responsibly and transparently. to be budgeted for an responsibly until we get there i do not feel leadership in dhs. >> based on quickly. thank you for your comment and i would like to respond to you but but ido have time today will in writing. we have focused on making sure we are going forward with a department of homeland security and said what our mission is a. is to secure america's homeland. we want to be accountable to taxpayers. every component i have 23 different department's have gone back to the mission statement i what they were intended to do and put them back.

so instead of misinformation, disinformation critical infrastructure. all we are doing there and the reduction is reducing empty spe that were never filled or do not have in them now. asking for tsa officials to do work they were intended to do and not to unskilled technical work by monitoring. so i could go through all of them that you mention fema as well the process indicating wants to eliminate states have more control of their emergency management. they want to empower local government and how they respond to their people so thank you for identifying what you are concerned about i look forward to having conversations with you that i can answer questions that you have and reassure this department of homeland security is accountable but it's also going to fulfill the mission for which it was created after the horrific event. thank you. >> thank you the floor belongs the judgment from washington for

your question. >> and temperament from nevada thank you secretary noem for being here. this is our agency the homeland security. i want to focus on a couple of things. i've spent a lot of time working out when you were in the house you did too and i thank you for that. that has to do with agricultural labor. i was very delighted in early april made several that were very important comments about the agricultural labor force as well as what you call hotel entertainment workers whose current workforce certainly lack of legal status he proposed a plan to allow undocumented agricultural workers an opportunity to touch back with the ability to come back to the

united states achieving legal status. i wondered if you could provide an update you could share with us on the discussions there? also in the process or in are inwashington and idaho, recy shared their concerns is called the termination of process for currently workforce up to 15% of their workforce is made up of people from those countries. i wanted to give you an opportunity to either speak with us about that. >> thank you so much for talking about the importance programs that we have two facilitate a

workforce in this country that have contributed so much in certain interests in different areas going forward. president trump is been very clear he believes the people here illegally and back that up with his policies you do not get to come into this country and have the law applied to some people and not others. the scales of justice should apply equally to everyone and individuals who are here illegally need to face consequences for that and go home. i think one of the reasons you've recently heard us talk about self deportation is because our preferences the individuals who are here illegally self department will facilitate purchasing their plane ticket and a statement once they return to their home country. they have the opportunity to do exactly what you talked about they have the opportunity to come back to america and do it the right way. they will face the consequences for breaking our laws originally but we want everybody to have the opportunity to be part of the american dream.

if individuals who are here individually or waits until we have to go find them, arrest them, deport them spend up to $17000 to getting them back comes the home country. we encourage everyone in this country who's in these industries to proactively tell the story for this wave seen us aggressively carrying the message to people that the united states is now following the law. we are now securing our borders we are getting people out of our country if you do work with us we have the opportunity to come back. those programs are ones that continue to have discussions with the administration you on. the latitude given to the department of homeland security how many are issued and if they are issued into the future. we will always follow that as that goes forward.

and, as you talk about the importance of what we do at the department of homeland security, i know working with these folks that are in these different industries that we will continue to have those conversations with all of you. we talk about different policies the department's following comment many times this congress, the house of representatives and senate that says the policies we are filing gives us the authority to do but we are. >> think you look forward to work with you on that. and just the short amount of time that i have left, the harbor maintenance tax. a lot of countries are essentially bypassing that importing them to the united states through either canada or mexico. certainly we have a lot of illicit drugs coming through we need to get a handle on that as well. in your testimonial highlighted the importance of the cbp enforcing tariffs on imports.

this seems to be an appropriate place to put a lot of time and energy. i have some legislation shortly of addressing this kind of stuff. i want to draw your attention to a lot of efforts that other countries are going through to avoid paying that tax. >> thank you for pointing that out and for talking about in this committee hearing. i think a lot of people do not realize that's one of the factors we are dealing with at the federal level is having other countries unfairly manipulate the process to avoid paying what is due to the american people. since president trump is been in office cbp has made 21 different enforcement actions on tariffs. they put in place that many adjustments and changes and have done it with excellence. i will remind everybody cbp is the oldest law enforcement agency in the country and has collected tariffs for many, many, many years.

and so they have adjusted and done well negotiating with these countries to finally treat our consumers in our country fairly. we have been so mistreated in trade agreements in the past. but that is a part of the discussion the president continues to have with these other entities that have manipulated that. >> very much appreciated, thank you, mr. chairman. oxygen 20 from texas the foragers for questions for. >> thank you, mr. chairman and ranking member. secretary noem thank you for being here. i appreciate it. i'm proud to represent my border community of el paso, texas. born and raised their third generation border resident i have a lot of questions and i structured them in a way they should be simple yes or no. i'm going to ask that you please respond as simply as possible so i can get through as many of my questions as possible.

the department of homeland security it makes a mistake, will you assure this committee and congress at dhs that you acknowledge that mistake, take accountability for it and rectify it most importantly? >> yes. >> thank you. i will follow back up with that question. i want to first with the topics i want to talk about is what donald trump president trump said recently home grown next i went to enter into the record npr story home grown start next trump hopes to deport in jail jl u.s. citizens abroad. i was happy to hear your acknowledgment that is not legal. i am curious about the reconciliation bill and the appropriations that you will make. will any of the funding either through appropriations or reconciliation be used to execute this policy idea which

is deporting u.s. citizens abroad. >> we have not deported in the . citizens. that falls media narrative you hard out there simply is not true. >> yes or no. will you give reconciliation at. [inaudible] >> reconciliation dollars we've asked for $175 billion that will be focused and is reflected. >> yes or no, will he be used for those purposes with donald trump acknowledged. [inaudible] >> will continue and follow the constitution. >> okay, reclaiming my time. i would like to now focus on u.s. citizens who are deported. in fact three children so far, likely more children. one of those children with cancer who was deported without the medication necessary to address that child's cancer.

again, a u.s. citizen. the lawyers have said they were not given -- make the family was not given an opportunity to make plans for the kids. and so they were deported essentially again u.s. citizens. one of those forms is ice form 71-078, or the caregiver designation at arrest form. were any of the individuals who were deported who had u.s. citizen children given an opportunity to sign that form? sec. noem: the specific cases you are referencing with these children, it was the parent's choice. rep. escobar: did ice follow

through on the policy -- ma'am, reclaiming my time. i told you at the top of this -- i said the questions are really simple, yes or no. was that form used in any of those cases? sec. noem: i will get back to you on that specific form. rep. escobar: ok, thank you. ma'am, reclaiming my time. please. ma'am, reclaiming my time. i'd like you to avoid the filibuster so i can get to all my questions. so, the second ice form i would like to ask you about is form 78-76, which is also -- it's pre-removal parental interests election form. approval interest election form and can you get back to me on that, all of the parents allowed to sign that the parents allowed to speak to the lawyers before the reported or to speak into the u.s. citizen spouses before they were

deported. >> they are given the opportunity. >> and so you can guarantee that every one of those parents so that we followed all of the normal policies and procedures. >> so they were allowed to talk to a lawyer. >> authorize payment is not yet. >> is another yes. >> is that esp not her thing was handles payment but did they get to talk to a lawyer okay reclaiming my time. mr. chairman and fortunately i am at a time and have a number of other questions will be two in next round and thank you. >> gentlemen from arizona the forager. >> thank you mr. chairman and you give secretary for being with us here today and for your testimony and your leadership your leadership that all the men and women that you serve with as well department of homeland security and iq come i come from border state another northern and southern borders are vastly different, i know you understand percent of the challenges that

our communities at the border face as well as the value that they bring also to our states and into our region the this administration has been able to deliver to our southern borders such a period of time is it is astounding is so well appreciated by those living organ these communities i know i hear it all the time run for brother to get my constituents regarding the results that we have seen from this administration leadership played a key role there so thank you. district i represent which is much of the tucson sector, border patrol be of historically seen high numbers of while there hundred and 65000 this fiscal year and resources for my resource investments for both the technology and infrastructure are you planning to make and how this will be reduced in the numbers for the future. they're traveling we heard a lot of reported numbers come down and you always and i know it is

a key issue for you as well and the focus on self on that coming in particular could you speak unto the technology that will be using in these areas like southern arizona which is so different from other border areas including my friends in texas when you get arizona, had just brought terrain and rough in some areas are leaving any kind of a variable so does he plays big role here and he speak to that. >> thank you so much for talking about the fact that as we pursue interest current the border and address the challenges in the areas of the southern border and northern border, where we saw a lot of folks crossing illegally, and we put more resources in those areas is necessary if keep the american safe to follow the laws we have seen some of the traffic is push the other areas may be areas that were not well-traveled before, i know of the cutaways are trying to take advantage of that and they also have pushed heavily towards the maritime borders and into the waters and the coast guard is

being much more traffic and also sing the cartel activity other thinking of drugs and human beings and technologies that they're having a difficult time keeping up with. they been neglected for many many years and they do not have the airframe they do not have the cutters to keep up into manage maintain the means they have to catch and enter just some of the activities going on. new reference of the rough terrain we need to do as far as the investment on this border quite frankly come avoid use the latest and greatest technology that would be available to us as far as surveillance equipment, cameras, satellite cannot images when possible. it also the lead congressman was talking about, some of those technologies in the earliest to help those vulnerable areas and more eyesight come to truly know what is causing there so we can interdict it before he comes into our country and i would talk exclusively also about how

we been able to diplomatically work with the country of mexico would president trump strong leadership has helped mexico meet be more proactive than they ever were before and some coming in conversations with government officials, they've indicated to me there could be as many as 500 — 600,000 illegals the never reached our border because when i got into mexico that are border was closely turnaround and went back. and so the combination of solutions is need that in the absolutely have to have a president cares about keeping a safe and we now have that in president trump but also making sure that we have the people in the equipment necessary for ice to do their jobs so then technology which you reference, which is needed, we have scanners of any reports of injury. we can scan our shipments in our rail and even our airfreight and much of that we do not necessarily know what is coming in containers in small packages. those technologies are critically important and why is

a request an increase in funding, to address the challenges that to simply were neglected for too long under the biden administration. >> excellent i think is much for letting you know you mentioned diplomatic compensations as well and the contents of the powers from the leadership of the white house know the reaction meddling mexico but mayor, i think that is key and one of the partnered countries on this. with a little time that i have left him with you mind speaking of the morale of the agents and you reference in recruiting and retention of think it goes hand-in-hand with technology pieces wealth. >> the morale of the department of homeland security agencies and departments and employees at work there is fantastic we incredible numbers and recruitment of people want to be a part of the agency. they are signing up and submitting applications i referenced earlier the cdp, they have 54 percent increase in recruitment ice as well maintaining and expelling added

say recruitment efforts in getting ice officers and people to be a part of the team or coming out of retirement. we have the coast guard at 108 percent increase of the recruitment people to understand the mission and want to be a part of many different skill sets the coast guard can bring to partnering with the military, the department's but also going other helping of the border and continuing on the search and rescue missions pretty you look the secret service and because of the recruitment efforts that we have had including the agents back on focusing hiring expertise, hiring experience, miss the dei programs, the secret service would permit is up almost 200 percent in the application that we have has been contesting him by telling our story and they can be an agency be can be protect most powerful the world is truly been in special is reginald i believe some of the impressive use to attack the department of homeland's gritty, just lovely is not true and the people

wanting to come and work for us are inspirational and true americans. >> thank you for that and i yield back. >> denman from texas mr. gonzales the floor is yours requesting. >> thank you and madame secretary for being here and i hope you know how committed this committee has to working alongside you in the president to get this done and here we have the full committee sitting throughout the entire duration is the first of many things and i want to thank you for making your first official trip as secretary you into the board right del rio my district and he saw firsthand, new to this as governor from your very active along that and so on that note, i want to get your opinion on states being reimbursed for some of the poignant particular texas 20th outside texas getting reimbursed for the funding would have to pay for the. >> is been incredible new partnership attacks is a put

together with federal government how they stepped up so many times when the biden administration did not secure the borders of texas fill the gap. and when i was governor, i deployed my national guard there and think the philip and help as well as that other governors in the country. it will be good to get by until we had a new president truly cared about keeping america safe. there has not been any decided to decisions on reimbursing states but no many of the governors have asked for it and we appreciated their help and so that is an ongoing conversation with every you know new agreement or new asked that we have in the state of her asking them to committed to the 28070 programs, seeing what we can do to help meet their financial needs is incredibly department and national guard have upper even happening that they've encouraged another president trump is appreciated of the efforts and partnerships they want to continue the conversation. >> and you know representing half of the nearly half of the southern border, we been around zero in texas is not just texas

but you mentioned home state, everyone is really pitched in and a big white and is not fair for the last four years that a lot of our states have been on our own had to pay out-of-pocket things a great opportunity for the federal government to reverse some of the states and i'm certainly committed to making sure that texas gets reimbursed for some of the funding that we've done along the border. nothing but is very difficult to get anything out of your predecessor, every time we came be for this committee and other than flying to assessing the border was secure doing when you know that was on one thing we did get out and last year, i submitted a letter to the ice directory asking him how many convicted criminals illegal aliens were in our country is what i got back, but is literally part of his response from your letter requested number of noncitizens that ices docket indicator charge with a crime and as of july 21st, 2024, the work 662,566, noncitizens with criminal histories on ices national

docket and that was nearly a year ago. given updated #criminal aliens we still have losing the country. >> we believe that we have more than that are continuing to do an assessment and precipitate we continue to see crime is country that are perpetuated by individuals that we did not necessarily know what here and what i will tell you is that the president under his leadership has already arrested and is prosecuting and healthy capitol over 250 known terrorist people around the known terrorist watchlist. we have over 65000 individuals for just ice along has arrested that are criminal aliens, that are being held accountable for their crimes in their communities. we also talked extensively about different governors we been able to work with, many of them are have people within the facilities that have committed crimes and they been arrested there holding and detaining

them. and if they are illegal, many times facing their consequences in the jail and prison time before they can be returned to their countries. so you know, these five virtual being in this country illegally you are breaking the law. your criminal the previous ministration manipulated data and information to get less numbers that do not necessarily square with the facts are on the ground. because many many more criminals in this country were going to continue to target and go after them to make sure that we are protecting families. >> under the last things the last administration was terrible was that transparency i think is a great opportunity for president trump along with her himself and other secretaries to just be transparent to the public and show them who were dealing with it once when we have a number back, it was well jaw-dropping to see this but my last point and i only have 26 limited time left, you know myself and michael might go to collect from mississippi, but also the home of authorizing

side and we been working very hard for reconciliation. one of think that without for you you to talk about many things, ms. infrastructure and particularly checkpoints. checkpoints unnecessarily along the border but enough interior, both of the seven in the northern border i think there very very important please do not lose sight of that pretty needle pass in particular, that your point is way off the date in the amount of traffic is been in there and look forward to working together and chatting more and how we focus on the. >> thank you and with that he yelled back. >> she recognizes mr. guest from mississippi. >> thank you mr. chairman and secretary, for someone to thank you and the men that you serve with four the incredible success you have been able to accomplish just a short period of time. i just looking statistics and i believe that is the greatest measure when we are looking whether or not agencies success in comparing statistics from one

agency to the other when you're to the other, we know that last month, the vp recorded 11070 encounters with across the southwest border. so march of 2024, under the biden harris administration 189,000 in march of 23, 193 in march of 2022, 2,202,000, so looking is a set of metrics what you and your men and women who served with you have been able to accomplish and again i believe it's incredible braided so when you leave here, lease return to those men and women and thank them on behalf of all numbers of congress but all of the people from across this great nation who were in gratitude for their continued service. as representative gonzalez said authorizing committee and last week we were able to mockup

legislation that included roughly $46 million for additional laws and barriers along the southwest border. i know that is something in particular between republicans and democrats, we have had fundamental disagreement. and i would ask if you just can't take a moment, to talk about the importance of the investment in the walls and the borders and barriers along the southwest border and help not only does that make our nation safest the importance that it is providing to the men and women is are as making sure that they can better perform at the duties that we tax them with. >> will thank you for talking about the importance of having not just for saying about this country but also infrastructure and security procedures that give us a ball them may look different based on what the topography is geographical location in this country are so

the borders but also on our northern border. when you talk about maritime borders as well we cannot neglect the fact we have made their. the infrastructure that would help us make sure that we know what is coming in this country in his community this country and it is appropriate and since president trump is been in office we have been 77.8 miles borders has been installed and that includes fencing but it also includes temporary mortar and some water border as well we have 11 contracts they been awarded to put in over 40 miles borders well we still have five contracts that are pending i want to thank you for focusing resources to continue to make sure that we are building infrastructure putting in walls making sure we are having what we need for each area to address the concerns that are there. well will be built ceiling areas that is appropriate but the

other areas may require us to well if we do have no waterborne areas such as you know the rio grande in places like that, that it is required in having technology and cameras on the ability to see distances where we may not have the ability to put it fencing and even tina while in panels to be putting into her at least right now as well. so the diversity it would happen as we see fit going to forward because it does, and it sends a message and it gives our vp officers opportunity to truly address the security concerns that we have had in the past and in the last roughly minute that i have come i want to address an issue near and dear to my state march 15th, we had a series of tornadoes they came through mississippi.

have a dozen individuals lost their lives that day and it impacted roughly counties roughly one quarter percent was impacted and storms find other elected officials, we when we did those areas visited theories and impacted i'll tell you some of the damage has been extreme. the governor they quickly requested disaster assistance but at this point, the review the process is still pending and i understand that takes time. i don't want to rush anything but it would ask you if you make sure that you could do everything to expedite that request. it is impacting my local jurisdictions and self debris cleanup and is impacting people is a sleep to recover so i just asked you personally safe anything to be done to expedite that request and with that mr. chairman i would yield back. >> yes, i will certainly get

back to your follow-up and i'm not sure that decision is still with us or the white house but i will follow-up with you and i want to thank you for talking about the fact that you're sitting here waiting for the federal government to respond. present from sardis with the market people they recognize that we have ability to get resource do say so they can respond, more timely manner into a better job with the federal government has health, the entirely appropriate and thank you and i will follow up with you. >> thank you. >> turnout recognizes the gentle lady from iowa. >> thank you mr. chairman, good morning secretary think you so much for joining us and really appreciate your commitment to getting homeland security back to mission and we saw such a strain from that the previous administration president trump border security promises were really delivered on day one executed and i just want to say thank you for that and under your leadership illegal encounters at our southern border are dropping down to

historic lows in our immigration laws are finally being enforcement portable is back under construction be adjusted finally working again protecting the homeland freighted and we have a new president and a new secretary so i want to say thank you braided last year, be for this committee secretary marcus of the time came before us pushing the biden administration for my seven southwest border all of us decided to bypass congress make rose field policies and things were cities doing their bidding predict any claim as to manage server surges that the red entering single to illegal traffickers and cartels that the border was open for business for them that wasn't important that actual chaos at or seven border by the taxpayers time i see that many attempts for secretary marcus of the time president of biden to misuse those taxpayer dollars entering intentionally without accountability but again under president trump and your

leadership and we reversed course there printed programs like the shelters and programs that enable that the views have been gutted funding itself going to real border enforcement so i would like to drilled out a bit madam secretary in the misuse of those dollars under the last administration and can you walk us through some of the specific programs activities under the biden administration that enable this crisis and how you would work to find the program. >> is a shelter program she referenced his specific of the stalls were taken in the manipulated to facilitate illegal activity and housing for illegal aliens and criminals number in this country and give them a place to set up shop and to conduct trafficking and other drugs dealing also no crimes against their communities they live in a prime example is a hotel in new york city. hundreds and hundreds of illegal aliens of many of them criminals part of foreign terrorist organizations such as pda and in

fact, they can riley killer figure. and paid for by the american taxpayer courtesy of joe biden and as for supporting him in his leadership in this country and that's what were working to address coming to make sure that those dollars no longer continued to be used in such a manner and their programs like that that have been misused, there used for ways that secure this country and really follow through on what the mission of the department of homeland security is has to keep the american homeland safe and secure to protect our communities we have many of those grandson different dollars that we have out there, being reevaluated and also utilizing several different programs and working with other different cabinet secretaries to make sure that her housing programs in a food assistant programs, our shelter services program some of that even programs within other agencies. the people are illegals and it was not the radiant congress,

never be determining decision by congress can make them be people who took advantage of those programs are to have access to them, that was ended. no longer was his presidency going to allow money to be diverted different than what was authorized be utilized it for people in this country illegally breaking outlaws. >> imagine the number in the terror watch list held a candle 250 and we know that there are more and i think that americans need to understand you are doing over to help keep us safe and apprehend the engagement with people that we just let it to mom for our country. and i certainly been with mom, like you, understand we need to prioritize that to make sure that you have the resources necessary for detention beds as well as the enforcement died so as we work through fiscal year 26 on the considerations that we need to be taking a look at and wrecking reconciliation as well what additional authorities are potential congressional actions do you see as necessary to making sure you can execute on your mission. >> i would say department of homeland security is one of the

largest agencies in the federal government that's on the smallest budgets pretty really is about when you look at what you doing fiscal year 26, what you're looking at the reconciliation package, is really to determine where your priorities are pretty were congress' priorities are, the responsibility the federal government why did offenders task us with as far as ensuring for the american people and what rights did you remain with the people of the state. in every decision is made here to be facilitated through that lens to make sure that we are spending money appropriately. i was saying i have said for many many years, no matter what topic comes up, what programs, but agencies with there's always going be lobbyists to show up and there's very few people show up in the room to be for the american taxpayer printed job that you do an oversight is incredibly important i come to this role today, not only as a wife and a mom and grandma, but also the business owner and

employee for many different people and served in our legislature, but also as governor and people need leadership that recognizes what the priorities are so every different component that i have under my responsibility, we are putting back on mission prayed were making sure that they are fulfilling the duties to which they were created. so thank you for considering the reconciliation package and it will be considering the amount of people in this country illegally many of them perpetuating crimes many of the resources to continue to do a president trump is promising american people to get these individuals out of our country and make sure that they come into our country if they self department to come back, they do so the right way as they can be a part of the american dream in the future expect thank you again for redirecting resources were there intended to go with appreciate that with that i yield back. >> second round making member from illinois, ms. underwood.

>> thank you mr. chairman, secretary continued as needed the only 250th braided washington dc on june 14th as a national special security event bidding dhs taxpayer funding to help with and have security and support and june 14, is also president trump's 79th birthday and at the same time for this administration is canceling critical cybersecurity and disaster recovery funding, under the disguise of waste and abuse, is been publicly reported that this event will evolve a full military presence, crossing the potomac from the pentagon to constitution avenue pretty we recently received a fiscal year 2025-cent plan, for the secret service but the cost of this event was not included what u.s. maintenance and how you plan to pay for it. >> i can get those details and get back to you and i don't have with me today but i think that is questions met how could you

plan to designate money for the birthdays of other branches of the armed services that do not show the birthday with the present but also have a happy to be celebrating the 250th anniversary. >> i will look and work with the administration and it with the different departments and agencies to identify what would be appropriate for all of those will continue to keep you updated on that as well. >> you know i want to focus on this among america's underclass and going threats to cyber criminals in foreign adversaries. last week you said we should just wait for the presidency ran cyber plan. and you have not waited until the department seven defense capabilities by removing resources and personnel from says that another components meanwhile actors are rarely further the critical info structure of this country. i wouldn't can we expect to receive the president plan where you moving forward and now reports productions how the changes to velvet dhs

components. >> is a mission is to hunt hard and work with her sated local entities and critical infrastructure and so to support cybersecurity and infiltration that would happen from enemies and bad actors when it comes to i could but with, water systems, for the states in the small and medium-sized businesses they cannot afford that kind of defense system themselves into going walk alongside them and i think one of the most alarming things that i heard one of us was nominated for this position but before i was sworn in, i got briefings from sosa from the leadership team and the people who were there other things he shared with me was that they were aware assault-and they did not know necessarily how they'd happen you or how to stop them into the future and that was alarming to me was alarming to me that we had the nations top leading cybersecurity agency that did not know how to stop the piercing our enemies and coming in hacking into our system we think of the pandemic was scary, wait until piercing

china comes in the shut down our electricity. obviously that's what the focusing on and making sure were approaching cybersecurity in the importance that it is. >> do you know when the cyber plan will be summa coming up shortly that is presence prerogative and i've been advising him on what that will look like summa thank you your budget cuts really have a billion dollars billion dollars from the main agency charged to protect our federal networking so much more so you are so outraged, by this threat of the vrc federal network, why are you cutting half a billion dollars when you recently spoke at the conference you said that we needed to put this back on mission and let's be clear, the mission is designated for you and we in the congress told you in the department and issa had asked you to the mission and you all have been living many away

from that does not help achieve that mission and lastly, sec. is a nurse i have always prioritize tinker of the health of our dhs workforce and giving them the tools they need to do the job and not just physically but mentally braided dhs made great strides in recent years here popular programs that provide personnel and families the resources they need and support the mental health of our agents and officers of that these programs can continue for fiscal year 26 and i'm curious if you agree that this a priority for the department and we see continued funding for budget request to make absolutely we will continue to focus on the priorities healthcare needs of all of our employees sent great although we disagreed many other issues to my hope that that taking care of the hard-working men and women dhs meeting area shared valleys of bipartisan success and i to working on them together and i yield back. >> thank you adam ranking member, the four is now

belonging to the gentle lady from connecticut, the making member of the appropriations committee, who got here as quickly she couldn't think you for sure. >> thank you so much mr. chairman. it's great to see you. we are hopping here so think is much i don't think the ranking amber underwood for hundred for holding hearing today and will continue madam secretary thank you for appearing before the subcommittee today. i just want to begin the message to you workforce if i might and that is i'm grateful very grateful for the work they do. from search and rescue efforts of the coast guard first responders on the ground and after natural disasters and is keeping the safe in the air and on the ground. and at sea. i don't want to start with some big picture question because i think we know very little other

details about where the 646 million-dollar cuts within famous grant program for come from and it is no secret, there are numerous reports of devastating that you want to eliminate fema within the department of homeland security. i'm concerned about the direction for the administration is taking. with regard to fema and canceling programs like rick in a program into law by president trump in the first turn with any evidence of voice and fraud and abuse alongside freezing of grants and now 2026 budget requests and targeting even more females resources and just right now in terms of looking at

cancellation on the science and technology director, excellence in office of university programs. as mentioned, the fema administered grant program frozen virtually all grant obligations extending your review will determine whether will try to joe about funding for acceptable political reasons pretty resources for chasing communities to respond to disasters here firefighting equipment, decking is terrorism to secure the ports much more is being out and is amended the cancellations delivery program, honey hazard mitigation future disaster save lives, the monies going on the research so negation efforts like brigade and even a minimum of $6 for every dollar invested, and save more than double include mitigation of economic impacts,

and federal disaster relief should be readily available pretty regardless of relive natural disasters of a company everywhere, should not to be concerned about the federal government turning back on them and the need to help the most. we need to get constituents what they need in their facing tragedy printed that he will not be stranded due to political discourse in my ask of you guess what is your plan with regards to fema and are you planning to eliminate fema any testimony that you are to eliminate dysfunction of the current agency. i'm unclear i know my colleagues are clear and what you mean i dysfunction and i'm concerned that your causing more dysfunction within the workforce they should be preparing a self of the pending hurricane season. sample think you for the question in the discussion on this topic today president trump is been very clear since the beginning that he believes the

fema need and the response of any circumstances have failed of the american people fema has it exist today should be in emanated and empowering stays to respond to the disasters with federal government. >> with all due respect, evidence of the failures of fema. i do not know everybody else on this but think it was very very hard in my state super storm sandy predict every community simile or another has been hit by that and fema on the ground people commit over the families, deal with getting the funding out and where is the evidence of the failure the famous mccombs woman, we saw planes open from hurricane katrina went fire claims that are still in paid two people said they were due them, seven — eight — ten years old for that have never been painted by fema has won the the worst things the federal government can do this is headed in front of the american say

that we will be there we will walk alongside you with a must time of your in the never follow through on it. when the president has that if he sick and tired of federal agencies, we can choose who wins and who loses pretty he wants to make sure the federal government to limit makes a commitment that it follows through so in the federal government. >> the federal government is advocating the commitment to the american people to make joe biden's administration. [inaudible]. >> the responsibility the opposite professional well i knew you were going together you know fema opposite professional responsibility under the biden administration, there was no evidence in a direction the agency field leadership to discriminate based on political affiliation and charged in a call follow up with you. >> and i will follow up i will follow-up with my colleagues quite frankly really listen to people whose states and communities have been devastated

and what role fema has plate. i know how many millions and millions of dollars went out in louisiana, actually have myself calculate that when katrina had in the response was overwhelming. in response has been overwhelming. if you want corrections, that is fine we all agree with that. >> yes we can point to thousands and thousands of these. >> if you were in my position. >> to 19. >> if you would not mind. >> the information in the evidence where you talk about the dysfunction of the agency and where it is really failed that would be important to those of us who are appropriating dollars and would appear the administration overall has a way in which they are at dismantling the federal government, the states will never have the amount of money get the federal government is not going to pass that money to the state to be

able to deal with what happened pretty is when the federal government comes in and be able to give a hand to do that and i think it's very clear much of said that you the present really want to dismantle the federal government and the agency that have provided service to the american people for decades. i think the chair for your time and kneel back. >> thank you met him and ranking member floors yours program to thank you mr. chairman, secretary, as a sheriff, and first responder in the state of florida for we've had many hurricanes, and fema estimated and assisted and i can tell you the state of florida we pretty much handled the event through our domestic security taskforces. and we needed to talk about it how do we get fema to pay bills

that are due and instead of cities and states having to pay the interest on all that money for years. so those are some the areas where i know the frustration levels are off the charts. and so that's one of the things that i would love to work with across the aisle on. let's address these things. and is not fema shows up in every thing is okay. is quite the contrary actually read but i do want to ask about this, any written statement, mentioned the designation and administration big designation of the six cartels and through transnational's. as terrorist organizations that. now these fto's foreign terrorist organizations, the

designation is critically important to know a lot of discussion has been had sissa and can you talk just a little bit about the things of these of how is it that this designation i'm sorry about that pretty how this designation actually helps with the administration been able to work entering information between civilian and the military to actually go after these folks are killing our citizens with a drug that it was 43 we had over 107,000 americans die poisoning across the southern border also womanizing the drones to be used

against our law enforcement officers that a seven border. once the financing all of this mass migration. then designation i think is critically important. i don't think that people appreciated enough and can you talk about that. >> yes certainly cosman and think you for the question because it is critically important to a president trump by designing exactly these people are these organizations still and what they are trying to do to the united states of america. by designating these gangs and cartel members as one terrorist winterization allows them to partner law enforcement activities and consequences in partnership cabinet areas federal government including the department of defense, all military branches underneath that coronation sharing of information and how full of government oppression how we

conduct enforcement operations. it also gives us an opportunity to access information criminals records that we need and we can share internationally as well. clearly when you look at the cartels and their activities, their partnership and facilitation of other countries and their software the technology, the money for the chinese in the prc businesses that are out there that are seeking to destroy the united states of america the partnership they have built of the years and the sophistication to which they operate, we have to be prepared for. we have to recognize that what they are at the level that they are adding continuing to recruit members and affiliates more and more dangerous they get to be in the longer they operate in the united states without consequences in south partnership we have the department of defense, the military branches also bringing all of the authorities of the united states to go after these criminal organizations.

really recognizes them for what they are, they are terrorists and perpetuating here and fear in our communities we had to make sure billy take them out now. >> son just to some of these organizations. >> correct their laundering money and trafficking and stealing our children. i've said this for many years about china, they don't just fill ip manipulative currency bill of the military, to sunday conflict with united states of america, this is medically telling our next generation of americans and using point poison yes infiltrating a country and in americans gives us far into the future. >> thank you. five minutes first thing around. >> and thank you mr. chairman. madam secretary to go back to the basics but i think are needed. we talked about river oaks,

there is also in the middle of the river, there are islands. i have them in different counties. bad guys will come in and use those islands and then jump over i would talk to the international mission in just one area that focuses on those islanders. and folks in the river water can go down there to the places and so island in the areas anything here is actually use the border patrol but i said calling to the international boundary water commission so they can be okay in the state of texas has warned that it was like one quarter of a mile the river is 1000 or 200l field pretty to look at every. they will be necessary i never use that as long as the

international body of water commission is involved and i will go back is another committee is looking at this, the retirement there will be to give back. twenty-five border patrol agents eligible and they are looking at that change depending upon what they do on the committee we could lose a lot at the end of the year. so we have to make sure the committees are working with you. i would say also that you said recruitment is up 50 percent but we need to close the deal and that is actually higher the border agent is one of the big problems is the polygraph, it is the biggest problem to hiring border patrol agents on that in follow-up on that particular issue. and technology not only in between but of course 86 percent

of the people that are caught the checkpoints and the ports of entry not illegals, there actually u.s. citizens according to the u.s. census commissioner so we need to put technology also at the port of entry slip again move legitimate trade and commerce. playing defense on the 20-yard line and not been talking about this and you all are doing some of that i would rather play defense 20 online mexico and guatemala and the other places 1 yard line. the language we have proposed with all due respect the biden administration is not interested in this but language aching servitude avoid this that you can play more on the 20-yard line which is again because more people we stop over there, less people who will come to our border itself. technology i know we talked about technology but that threat is very real in effect, just to

let you know a couple of weeks ago border patrol drum in the right of sector was taken out down by the cartel operatives means that cartels now technology that can take down law-enforcement drums and they do the surveillance and they know what we're doing when the time we get to our process to get our drones, you know, they don't have any coming no rules only go to best buy and then by everything they just use off-the-shelf things pretty senile i hope we can look at that and technology also. the other thing is again and sorry, and communicating with the border patrol union's on this. the things we talked about, that is a real problem, it is a real problem and there are areas where we can not even talk and communicate the dead zones are important. and unlike those brought up from

the infrastructure some forget about the basic infrastructure them talking about checkpoints you pass, laredo and another we've already put $15 million to sign into the laredo one, the checkpoint because laredo is the largest airline formative that checkpoint was a port of entry, d the fourth largest port in the whole country reason we had a problem to migrants died this reason is because border patrol the face of the miles long just wave them that guys who know they have an idea what it with them so they waved of that traitor with migrants a died incentive tony is so

the bottom line is that if there's a country that is going to make it impossible for you to build a new factory or mr. a new building -- build a new building or make a pipeline, then that's a country that you're going to be reluctant to invest in. but if there's a country that has a federal government that is 100% committed to making sure that you're not abused with old regulations, not straitjacketed with new regulations, a country that is about to have the most friendly tax climate on earth, then that's the country you should invest in. one of the metrics i think the president just mentioned that i think is a sign that there's a race, a new race to invest in america, is just how much capital spending there was in the first quarter in the u.s. so think about it. and also, it's one of my

favorite stories about the president. in his state of the union address, he announced there was a race to invest in america by saying the following. he said, we're going to have a big beautiful tax bill and that big beautiful tax bill is going to have one of the lowest tax rates on earth for people who invest in america and we're going to let people expense whatever equipment they purchase and this is the thing that was very nerdy that he said in the state of the union. we'ring if to allow the expensing to be retroactive to today, the day of the speech. and we're also going to allow expensing for factories. and so what this means is that there's no tax climate on earth anywhere that's going to be more attractive for investors. and then the other thing you might think about is, well, where am i going to get the workers? where are the workers going to come from? as president trump mentioned, we've got just about half a million new jobs already created this year and the interesting thing is that when we get the jobs data, you can look and see like where are the people coming from?

and 95% of the people that have been -- are newly hired in the last quarter were people who were native born. one of the things people said is, oh, well, you know, if we don't have illegal workers, that you wouldn't have enough workers but as soon as we started onshoring jobs, onshoring production, increasing the demand for labor, driving up wages, then people came off the sidelines and came back to work. so those are all reasons that you probably can simply understand about why we should be investing in america and i know we've got some really well known governors coming out to talk about why you should pick their state versus the others and you should listen to their arguments but there's another reason why you need to be in america right now. and it's the other thing that i wanted to talk about tonight and that's the art physical intelligence revolution. so when i was a kid i used to play tournament chess and then i got tired of playing tournament chess because it was too stressful for me and i hadn't played chess for a long time but

then all of a sudden there was this app called chess.com and i could play against computers. it wasn't stressful at all to lose. one of the things, though, is that just the simple chess.com running on your computer is better than magnus carlson, the best chess champion on earth. think about that. and if i were to cheat and some people in tournaments have been accused of this, if i used the computer's a.i. to make me a better chess player, then i'd get way better, right? i'd be a more productive chess player. i could even win tournaments and make money. not that i would do that. if magnus carlson, this is the amazing thing, the best chess player on earth, if he were to cheat, then he also would be a way better chess player. and so the thing that i want to put before you right now is that if you think about america's workers as being lies chess players, there are -- as being like chess players, there are

people who have complicated formulas to manage in their heads and inventory to move this way or that way and so on. so this incredible amount of skill that it takes for all of to you run a business and then imagine if the person who's coaching your business is like the person coaching me or magnus at chess and making your business better every day. well, the fact is that because the best chips, the largest data centers are here, the best a.i., they're here in the u.s., then what we're basically doing is we're creating this golden age where we've got regulation under control, we've got tax policy under control. we've got trade policy encouraging people to bring stuff here and we've got the best artificial intelligence on earth. and so there's a fellow who is a colleague, former colleague who has been looking at case studies of america's businesses and what happens to their productivity when they bring artificial intelligence into their business

and get a good coach just like i have or magnus have if we're playing chess and the results are astonishing. astopishing -- astonishing. the art physical intelligence looks at your business -- artificial intelligence looks at your business, finds better ways to run it, has been kriensing productivity -- has been increasing productivity in america by 20% within the first month or two. we're in the midst of a product tivity explosion based on artificial intelligence and this artificial intelligence is going to be better in the u.s. by far because we've got the best nvidia chips, we have the best a.i. companies than in any other country on earth. and so if you're thinking about why do i want to be here, then you want to be here because of the old-fashioned reasons. but you also need to be here in the united states because of the new feigningled reason -- fangled reason. one concern people have is what's going to happen to america's workers with the art physical intelligence, the way to think about it is that

america's workers are getting more productive and so just like if i were cheating in a chess tournament with an a.i., i could get more prize money, then america's workers who have a coach, a really, really good coach beside them while they're doing whatever task your business challenges them to do, then they get more productive which makes it easier for you to pay a higher wage. and by the way, the last thing is that if you think about a golden age, then one of the things that you worry about in a golden age is, well, who benefits the most from all this? and the bottom line is, who benefits the most is the person whose performance improves the most because of the a.i. and so imagine if magnus carlson were to cheat with an a.i., how much more money would he make? probably not much. but if i were to cheat with an a.i., then i'd make a lot more money because i've never won any money nor would i ever win in a tournament. so we've seen in the literature is that the lower skilled workers in america are empowered

through artificial intelligence in a way that makes them way, way more productive and in fact it's quite likely as get this golden age boom that we're talking about, that we're actually going to reduce income inequality because the less abled people are the people who benefit the most from artificial intelligence. and so against that back drop, i would say there should be a race to get to the united states right now. there should be a race almost like a first mover race and the reason is that the big beautiful tax bill, it's going to be retroactive to january and it's going to pass. as one of the challenges the president gave me when i came in as director of national economic council, we've been coordinating along with secretary scott bessent a big beautiful bill and i can tell you when we speak to the speaker of the house and the majority leader, the other members of congress, there's unanimity about the president's tax plan. it's going to pass. and so when the president's tax plan passes, there's going to be an investment boom. think about it.

an investment boom unlike anything we've ever seen. people say, wait a minute, wait a minute, i understand the trade policy creates uncertainty and there's going to be maybe a little bit of growing pain before the trade policy is finalized, you're not going to have that much investment because people are waiting to see what happens with the tariffs, and then -- but, sure, people can see a year from now, yeah, the golden age argument seems really like it's probably going to be true. the tax cuts are permanent. we have all these great tax programs to get -- stimulate people to work and so on. but think about it. amidst the uncertainty that's now resolving every day in a favorable way, look at markets today, amidst all that uncertainty we had a 20% increase in equipment investment in the first quarter of this year before president trump's policies were in place and while the uncertainty was before us. and so against that back drop you can sort of say, if you think about it in your mind, that there's never been a better time to invest in the u.s. there's never been a more urgent time to invest in the u.s. because if you get in here, you

get in here now, you'll be ahead of the competition, and you'll have an advantage through a.i. when you're using a.i. to coach your workers that's vastly greater than the advantage for people that are in countries that don't have access to the latest technology. and with that i thank you so much for coming to washington, d.c., welcome to washington. we're very friendly natives. we're glad to see you and i hope you have a wonderful conference and come back and make that seven, eight, $10 trillion number the president talked about go up and up and up. let's try to double it this week. thank you very much. [applause] >> it's not what's next. it's where. we're startups and global players in biosierches,

aerospace, tech and energy co-exist in a vast and vibrant ecosystem and the most competitive tax incentives in the u.s. fast track success. if you believe your business can go anywhere, this is the place to bring it. puerto rico. it's not what's next. it's where. announcer: ladies and gentlemen, a discussion on investing in american technological competitiveness with governor mike dunleavy of alaska, governor wes moore of maryland. governor whitmer of michigan. governor youngkin.

>> good afternoon, everyone. my name is jay tim ins and i do run the national association of manufacturers and the basic idea behind the n.a.m. is that manufacturers power the economic prosperity of the united states. jay: we believe that when manufacturing succeeds in every state of every size across every sector, that means more shovel notice dirt, more people put to work, more goods on our shelves, more innovation in the market, more opportunities for our children and more prosperity for communities, our nation and the world. at the n.a.m. we advocate for the 13 million people who make things in america and for the companies that they help power. because when manufacturing wins, america wins. next to me on this stage are four exceptional leaders in our country. four people who understand not

just how important manufacturing is in their states but also how to put the wind at the backs of manufacturers of every size and stripe. in alaska, maryland, michigan and virginia. as you might note, that's alpha by state, but it's also alpha by last name. i don't know how that worked out but it worked out pretty well. [laughter] so governors dunleavy, moore, whitmer and youngkin, i want to thank you for your leadership on behalf of manufacturers everywhere. and thank you also for lend your time to this -- for lending your tine to this great group today. you've got an important perspective, serving on the state house and the front lines, to tell us how manufacturing is evolving and also the opportunities that a.i. presents as well as emerging technology. now, by harnessing these technologies it becomes clear that the united states is the best place to invest the next dollar in manufacturing.

so it's if it's ok with you, we'll dive right in. i'm going to ask all of you a couple of questions and then we'll get to individual questions. our member companies at the n.a.m., they tell me what i'm sure manufacturers in your state tell you. a.i. and emerging technologies are radically changing how we live, how we work, how we build things in america. so when it comes to a.i., what developments are you seeing from manufacturers in your state and is there a project or investment that you'd like to highlight and let's go alphabetically by state this time. >> i thought it was going to be by size. gov. youngkin: in a demographic, leveling out in decline here in the united states and across the

world, a.i. couldn't have come at a better time in order for businesses to be title of the bill take the next leap forward. alaska is generally unlike some of the other states that these governors represent, we're basically a resource state. we're a logistics state. for us, our oil and gas industries are huge. our mining industries are huge. our fishing industries are huge. and those industries are capitalizing on a.i. for a whole host of reasons and methods. i know in the oil industry it's making drilling a lot more efficient. it's looking at seismic in a different manner. and so these efficiencies are going to result in better approaches, better products, better services and we see that, like i said, occurring in alaska. alaska is a big energy state. and so this is going to bode well and it is boding well right now for alaska again to capitalize. we've got and we'll probably talk about this in a little while, we are an oil supergiant. we have a renaissance in our north slope in terms of oil.

more oil production as a result of changes in technology and a.i. but also we're on the verge of consummating a massive gas project, an alaska l.n.g. project that would serve our asian allies in the pacific. so in all aspects of our lives, a.i.'s having an impact and in government efficiencies as well. and so we are deploying a number of a.i. approaches and we'll be doing much of that this summer going into the fall to modernize our government, to make it more efficient, to find out where there may be some waste and opportunities and so i think just about everybody in the audience has used a.i. at one time or another in terms of chat or other gronk applications. but in alaska it's having an impact just like it is in the rest of the states. jay: how about you, governor moore?

gov. moore: for all of you here, welcome. we don't plan on you leaving ever. so you should just stay in the state of maryland. but i think about the reason a.i. has become so important in the way that we do our work. a lot of it does come to what are the natural assets that the state of maryland has? and also i think from my background, before i ran for office i was a military officer and i was in the business world. and you think about the way you have to invest and think through growth in a really smart way, about how when we first -- our administration first came onboard, one of the first hires we made was a chief modernization officer to make sure we could streamline and speed up the way that government actually worked, be able to address how are you cutting waste out of a budget and really thinking how you are streamlining your work. one of the first hires we made

was a senior advisor to a.i. who comes in and reports directly into our office. one of the few in the country. because while i believe that you have to think about a.i. in terms of, you know, the guardrails around it, i also believe that you -- and i know we're very bullish on what are the opportunities that a.i. can actually provide to be able to enhance the human experience? and so there were some specific lighthouse industries that we really tailored and focused on for the state of maryland. one was life sciences. the second was i.t. and the third was aerospace and defense. and amongst that i.t. bucket was a.i. and if you think about the assets that the state of maryland has, the reason that a.i. was so important is that we believe that maryland has such uniquely tethered assets to our state that made a.i. desirable there. in the state of maryland you have the johns hopkins data center and a.i. initiative. that in the state of maryland

you have the university of maryland a.i. center. and you also have the university of maryland serving as a capital of quantum. and so we believe that a.i. is something that cannot just serve as a way of making government more efficient, but also when you're able to leverage your private sector partners, when you're able to leverage your institutions of higher education, when you're able to leverage all the various platforms and investment vehicles that are looking towards a.i., we think it's important for our states to be on the front edge of this instead of waiting for consequences on this. and so i just believe strongly that when we're having these conversations about alternative intelligence and generative a.i., that we cannot look at it exclusively from a defensive measure. we do have to look at it from an offensive perspective about the things that we can uniquely benefit from, just make sure we're bringing the communities along with us so they understand what exactly the long-term benefits and how can they -- how can their lives be enhanced by it as well.

jay: governor whitmer. gov. whitmer: always glad to share a panel stage with someone who is in that business. michigan is known for advanced manufacturing and unfortunately there are sometimes still old notions what have manufacturing looks like, that it's hot and hard and dirty work but it is cutting edge technology. and we know that all of our mobility jobs really are very different than what they used to be. they are high-tech. this is an industry that is moving fast. as we've positioned michigan and we look to the future, we know that some of our natural assets like having the most engineers in the country per capita, like institutions like the university of michigan or wayne state or michigan state university or michigan tech in the upper peninsula that churns out lots

of engineers every year, we know that these strength give us an opportunity when it comes to a.i. as we just created a collaboration between the university of michigan, the a.i. work that they are doing, and los alamos labs, we are focused on how do we apply this technology to improve people's lives, but also to ensure that we lead the way when it comes to advanced manufacturing. as we think about all the needs in order for us to realize the opportunity in this moment, we're also working very hard to ensure we've got the energy to power it. michigan will be the first state in the nation, perhaps the first place in north america, to restart a nuclear facility. that's something that we decided we were going to do because there's no question if we are going to meet our clean energy goals and power the technology that is going to drive not just manufacturing but almost every facet of our life, we've got to have the clean energy to do that. and so we are looking at it from

a wide array of avenues to ensure that we don't just apply a.i. to make our lives better, although that's a very important goal, but that we are also leading when it comes to developing, to innovating, what does the next iteration look like as we see the whole world moving so quickly. jay:take us to the silicon dominion, governor. gov. youngkin: we're all very proud governors of our states and we will be advocating for you to invest in each one of our states. let me just begin with why we're here which is select u.s.a. and the choice to invest in the united states is the most important decision that you will make. this economy is going to thrive and i'm a firm believer that the trade deals that are being

negotiated, that the budget deal that will come and the investment which is at a record level already, is going to really pave the way for an extraordinary opportunity for all companies in the united states. and of course once you select u.s.a., i hope you'll select virginia. a.i. is a big part of our future. so virginia was recently named by cnbc as the top state in america for business. and the reason was really straightforward. one, we have invested heavily in getting sites ready and so we've allocated $500 million to have sites ready. we have progressed an all-american, all-of-the-above energy platform and one of the things that i'm excited about as well was nuclear. and we're really planning on being the first state to commercially deploy small modular reactors but on top of that, we are the first state to be awarded the construction of the first fusion power plant

which is really exciting. thirdly, we believe talent is the key to everything. and when you have a talent pipeline that is truly differentiated, then you can in fact lead and then finally you have to have a government that understands what it means to be pro-business. and what i'm excited about is that we have deregulated in virginia. we've had a chance over the last three years to streamline 70,000 regulations to make it easier to get permits and to go faster, to operate at the speed of business. now all of that translates into one of our core sectors which is the data center in a.i. world. virginia's the leading state in the world of data centers by a factor of four. it's estimated that 70% of the internet traffic of the world goes through virginia. and that gives us a great opportunity to not just lead the nation, but lead the world in the advancement of a.i.

and we've seen huge investment across the state. what that also requires is collaboration with our university and high school education system which cnbc rated top in the nation. and that allows us to really develop a unique pipeline of talent. talent of engineers, talent of developers, talent with technicians and in fact understand the application and the opportunities that a.i. presents itself. and then i agree with governor whitmer. a.i. is not just technology. it is advanced manufacturing. and at the heart of the application of a.i. is how it translates into driving efficiencies and opportunities and new capabilities in manufacturing. and that's why i've been so pleased that virginia has been able to attract some of the leading manufacturing companies in the world. we've just crested over $100 billion of committed investment from companies expanding in virginia or coming new to

virginia and those are businesses from all over the world. it's fun when you have companies that have come from all over the world like steel from germany that just celebrated their 50th anniversary in virginia or cannon from japan that just celebrated their 40th anniversary or new companies like leggo who just -- lego who just committed to invest another $350 million in virginia after establishing their very first u.s. manufacturing facility and we just broke down on a cable manufacturing business from korea. the opportunities that a.i. presents of course are really going to transform the way that we do business but they're going to transform the way we build things. .we want manufacturing to be the

envy of the world here in the united states. jay: as you all know from your leadership and experience, even the best manufacturing companies don't succeed in a vacuum. it also comes down to whether leaders in washington and in state houses are investing in manufacturers in the form of smart public policy. particularly through a comprehensive manufacturing strategy. something that we talk about at the n.a.m. on a national level. our members tell us every day that the right policy choices around taxes, trade, rebalanced regulations, energy, permitting reform, labor and training our workforce, can help manufacturers compete and succeed on the world stage. making the case along the way that an investment in american companies is a smart investment every time. now, this may be a little bit repetitious from your previous answer, so let's kind of shorten it to one policy that's on your mind to help manufacturers in your state get ahead, i'm going

to start with governor whitmer and, governor, our state affiliate is the michigan manufacturers association. john walsh gives you a lot of praise for your focus on high school manufacturing programs, i wanted to make sure you knew that. what's one policy would you really like to focus on to enhance manufacturing in your state? gov. whitmer: i can't help but go to workforce immediately. as we think about how manufacturing has changed and how high-tech it is, making sure that our residents have got the skills necessary to get into these advanced manufacturing projects we've been landing in michigan is really first and foremost. all the right tax policy in the world won't make up for lack of workforce. and that's why i don't say it's one or the other, we got to do both. but our focus on skilling up our population. so they've got skills that translate. i gave a speech not long ago here in washington about american competitiveness. you know, we've got a wonderful

history in michigan when world war ii -- we claiminged the whole auto industry into the arsenal of democracy and we built bombers instead of trucks. it was men and it was mostly women showing up because men were fighting in europe and in japan and i would say that that moment of time showed what american ingenuity can be, what american manufacturing is ideally. problem solving and nimble and ready to move. and that's why i think as we think about whether or not it's america building ships or airplanes or chips, having that kind of mindset and a strategy that really is focused and ensuring that we are leading in these spaces instead of catching up or relying on others. so the workforce is always going to be central to our notion of whether or not we can be successful there. bringing down the cost of a four-year degree in michigan is

something that we've done for michiganders. making community college free for all michiganders. a michigan maritime and manufacturing undertaking with our community colleges in mccomb county. just -- macomb county. we want to create -- we want to make sure that america's building ships again, we've got to have the scilts to do it. that's what our focus has been, building an ecosystem that supports and thrives in the manufacturing sector. jay: governor youngkin, you work with brett bassey who is the head of the americans association, our state affiliate in virginia. he gives you high praise for your work on workforce and your energy strategy that you adopted. what's another issue that is something that's foremost on your mind to help encourage

manufacturers to invest in virginia? gov. youngkin: just to take a pit stop on workforce for a minute. talent's the key. we all know it. and we have to provide multiple pathways for students to find their way into an opportunity-driven workforce and that means start early. that means start in middle school and make sure that all your students are having a chance to run as fast as they possibly can. but also begin to find areas where they have a passion and so we have a dual enrollment partnership with our community college stham a student can get -- that a student can get a certificate and go to work right away. by the way, they don't have to pay for it. and that opens up a whole new opportunity for employers, but even more so, for the future workforce. they can also go to one of our great colleges and get a two-year degree at a community college or a four-year degree at one of our great universities. so talent is the key and we customize that to work with companies and so virginia's talent accelerator, which we've

been rated as the best customized talent workforce development program for the last three years, best in the country, really works with companies to match their needs with that talent pipeline. power is critical and if we do not have power, we're going to be in trouble and i think this is one of the great opportunities not just for virginia but for america to continue to demonstrate that we are going to have affordable, reliable and, yes, increasingly clean power. when you lead in nuclear and introduce natural gas and, yes, have solar and some wind development, you're going to have increasingly clean power. but we need to make sure that it is affordable and reliable and i think that's one of our great competitive advantages. the one thing that i would add is pipelines for your supply chain. and i think supply chain certainty is critically important. and as we watch supply chains move, particularly to the united states and to our trusted allies, that security of a

regional supply chain that is, yes, in the united states, but also with some real trusted allies, i think is going to be the absolute cornerstone to manufacturing going forward. and i'm really excited about watching the dynamic nature of supply chain movement around the world as we're seeing it regionalize, regionalize in the united states, that's one of the things we're most excited about in virginia, and some of these key areas like semiconductors and like pharmaceuticals and like advanced manufacturing, as we see things coming to the united states. and so if we get education right and workforce right and we get power right and we get supply chain right, boy, the united states is going to dominate for a long time. jay: governor dunn levy, let's talk can -- dunleavy, let's talk about a different type of pipeline. you've been working on the alaska l.n.g. project. the alaska chaim err about of commerce -- chamber of commerce says you are one of the most incredible pro-business

governors that she's seen in alaska. what is one issue that's on your mind to attract manufacturing investment into the state? gov. dunleavy: that's a great question. so alaska has different challenges than the states represented up here on the podium. distance, we're the top of the world. small population, 740,000 folks. it's really a green field operation, part of america, it's the 49th state. but we came into the union as a resource state and that's what we do best. president trump signed an executive order, we're the only state, alaska is the only state that had an executive order signed on its behalf because of its energy potential, its critical minerals, our metals. alaska's got enormous amounts of gas. enormous amounts of oil. largest graphite find in north mencht large deposits of nickel, led zinc, you name it. alaska has look -- slooked upon by the white house as a solution to many of the world's perrons

and america's problem -- problems and america's problems. the gas line is a huge project that is supported by the president but also needed for alaska. for our utilities, our bases and for future manufacturing as well as our asian allies. and this pipeline's been talked about for decades and decades and decades. this is a whole different pipeline today. we have all of our permits, we have all of our right of ways and with the surge in electrification of the world, especially for low-carben fuels such as our natural gas, the appetite and the enthusiasm we're seefg receiving now, especially from our asian allies is something we haven't seen before. this pipeline is going to be phased out in three phases. the pipeline itself as opposed to the lick which faction plant, we -- liquefacation plant. we hope to have that built and exporting large amounts of gas to our asian allies. our folks in taiwan are very interested in vifnting, same with thailand. we just had a contingent go up to alaska last week from

thailand. japan and korea. we pioneer l.n.g. exports for the world in 1969. most people don't know that. alaska was shipping gas to japan for 50 years. we also pioneered large oil pipeline construction with the trans-alaskan oil pipeline built in 1974 to 1977 and shipping oil ever since. 18 billion barrels of oil going through that pipeline. so this pipeline concept is supported by the president, is supported by his staff. we're going to have a huge energy conference here june, 3, 4 and 5 in alaska. the secretary is going to be there, secretary wright. lee zeldin with e.p.a. is going to be there. and probably a thousand folks from all over the world that want to invest in alaska and i would say that energy is the key to everything we're talking about. education is the key. and alaska has a lot to offer when it comes to the energy world and energy sphere. especially for the pacific rim

and the pacific basin. jay: governor moore, you have high praise for the work on the raise act which was about apprenticeships. what's one thing on your mind to attract investment into the state? gov. moore: the importance of apprenticeships and workforce development is absolutely crucial in all of this. it's a reason why whether we came in, we were very clear that we were going to invest and find of creating better pipelines for our young people and we have actually quadrupleled the amount of apprenticeships in the state of maryland. being able to provide pathways for high school students, being very clear that we have some of the best four-year institutions in america in the state of maryland. but not every one of our students needs to attend them to be economically successful.

that has created not just a strong pipeline of talent that we've had onboard, it's also one of the reasons we've been able to drive the unemployment rate in the state of maryland to now one of the lowest in the entire country and i think that while the apprenticeship work and pipeline work becomes incredibly important, the other thing that has to be focused on is how are you then leveraging the items that you know are unique lie tethered to your -- uniquely tethered to your jurisdiction? we're focusing on making sure we're creating an education system that teaches our young people how to be not just employees but employers and being the entrepreneurs themselves. but when you look at the type of assets that we have within our state, the type of assets that we invest in, whether it be the port of baltimore, which is not just one of the largest, but also one of the most active ports within the united states, we're literally 2/3 of the united states gets their goods from the port of baltimore, so

we know that many of you have cooperations and partnerships with port of baltimore. when we think about the leverage assets that we have that's supporting advanced manufacturing and also the aerospace industry. we have a few businesses here who i had a chance to meet werleier, -- with early yes, the engineering work they're doing in maryland and they talked about why they chose middle riiver is the fact that maryland is the home of fort meade and u.s. cybercommand and the applied physics lab. so you have all these assets that are some of our largest not just thought lead birs industry-producing -- but industry-producing assets that for a lot of our large businesses they want to be near. they want to be around. they want to be able to leverage. and so i think that we've got to be able to focus on educational pipelines. we have to be able to focus on apprenticeship platforms.

we have to make sure we're focusing on creating a way to get more people back into the workforce. and we have to be able to leverage the assets that are already there. because for large corporations and small corporations that are looking to invest in our individual states, those are the questions they're asking. how can i leverage the things that are already there for the business and governmental entitys? i think our ability to be able to streamline, that make it easier, provide the right kind of incentives is also going to give us the core pathway to be able to win in the advanced manufacturing races taking place right now. jay: thank you, governor. i'm going to go back to alphabetical order now. so i'll start with you, governor dunleavy. we're going to do a speed round here. different questions for each one of you. as technology and a.i. companies look for competitive destinations for investments, what makes alaska a strong

contender for data centers and digital infrastructure, how is alaska shaping the next generation of technology investments? gov. dunleavy: great question. so alaska, we always talk about alaska, the next several decades in some respects is going to belong to alaska because of our energy and our ability to actually host data farms and data centers. alaska has large tracks of continuous acreage of land. large tracks. we're talks thousands of continuous acres. small population, large land mass. we have three times the freshwater of any other state in the country. we have cool temperatures obviously. once this pipeline is built and we have export going through it by 2031, we're looking at potential electrical costs in state at around four cents a kilowatt hour. this bodes well for any outfit that's looking to relocate and diversify where they put their data farms. as opposed to just in one place or one area. there's an opportunity of data

farms in alaska. so inexpensive, large tracks of land, cool temperatures, secure area. in alaska we have a number of military bases up there and starting here, just a few years, very inexpensive gas, very inexpensive electricity. so i think a tremendous opportunity and what will be a stable tax rate. tax system. tax regime for future data farms. jay: governor moore, how are you leveraging international partnerships to accelerate a.i. research and development as well as commercialization in your state and do you have a recent collaboration that you might be able to share with us? gov. moore: absolutely. we are very clear that if you were going to win particularly in the lighthouse industries that we indicated, whether it be life sciences, i.t. and also aerospace and defense, that the ability to win in those industries even ins you have to be the best partner possible in fact, we just recently came back from a foreign trade trip

to both japan and korea. so great seeing so many of you who had a chance to meet with, had a chance to meet with over there. but talking about how if we were going to be able to focus on these types of industries, then it means making sure that you have the strong partnerships with toe shiba. making sure you have strong partnership with miss mitsubish. our ability to be able to create those types of bilateral relationships became imperative. and i actually think that that's going to be where a lot of this future is going to be. because i think people saw within the state of maryland what you have is stability. what you have is transparency. and what you have is a really ripe atmosphere for the type of technological growth that i think we all believe in and speaking with the idea of thinking about the data centers and data farms is one example. where the truth is, and just being completely transparent,

maryland was not always the best place to be able to have data center advancement. that a lot of our neighbors were able to move much faster and did move much faster and so one of the first things we did was enact legislation about critical infrastructure and how we enhancing critical infrastructure assets because many of the things that the governor was talking about, access to energy supply, access to water supply, where 70% of my state is either water lined or water locked, when you think about access to washington, d.c., and also where the largest set of data farms were in, which was virginia, the best place to look was within the spaces within maryland for growth. that was a muscle that we had to develop and had to create and i'm really thankful for the type prove agrees we've seen within the state of maryland in these areas but i think it is how are we focusing on these bilateral relationships between our state and our foreign partners that i think is going to be really unique and actually really help to win this next decade that we're all competing for?

jay: governor whitmer, i have literally the most important question of the day that is going to you. who is going to win that big game the saturday after thanksgiving? [laughter] and the second most important question is can you get me into your box? because i'm an ohio state guy. [laughter] gov. whitmer: the question is about the michigan-ohio state football game next fall. so it's really not that important. jay: i'll give you a different one. maybe we can talk about that one later. michigan's advanced manufacturing base. as you know is rapidly integrating artificial intelligence. what role do you see michigan having in supporting the country's competitiveness and leadership in a.i.? gov. whitmer: i think a major role. michigan, one of the great things about michigan is the people who call it home. they're humble, it is a diverse population and they work hard. like, we are gritty people. we know how to get things done. i'm really proud of a lot of the

work that we've been able to do to diversify our economy. obviously advanced mobility continues to be a really important part of the michigan economy. but as i think about defense in particular, i was thrilled that we were able to announce michigan will be home to a number of the f-15-ex's. we've been growing our defense industry in the aerospace. saab just announced a munitions plant being built in gaylord, michigan, and one of the great things is we're home to over 20% of the world's fresh surface water. i want to say that just one more time because even people in michigan sometimes don't appreciate what a big deal this is. 20% of the world's fresh surface water is in and around the great lakes. that's -- we are the great lakes state. and so these are wonderful strength that i think we have as we look to diversify and make sure that we stay cutting edge

with our financial institutions of higher education. so many i think fortune 500 companies that are headquartered in the state of michigan because of these important assets. but also the collaboration between government, industry and the foreign direct investment that we have benefited from over the years. i will just level set, it is a challenging time right now globally. i know that trade policy is creating a lot of stress in industries all across our economies. i can tell you that when wes says that he believes that the state to country relationship is more important than ever, we believe that as well. we want to make sure that companies who invest in michigan have got real partnership from our state government and that's -- we're working overtime to do that. and as the goal -- if the goal is to make sure that we're onshoring and doing more manufacturing, that's something i think michigan is very strongly positioned to be

successful at doing and combining that with our cutting edge technology when it comes to a.i. so it's an exciting time, it is a stressful time. it is a challenging time. but for anyone who is in here and hasn't been down to the michigan booth, please come check it out. we would love to work with you. jay: thank you. governor youngkin, i had the privilege of joining you and other state leaders at the lego groundbreaking in chesterfield county. now, i have my own bias. i was a chief of staff for one of governor youngkin's predecessors, so i kind of like virginia. but like all states up here, virginia does know how to build. so tell us a little bit about how you're making more places in the commonwealth shovel-ready for manufacturers, especially foray-for a.i.-focused ventures and i'm asking that because, as you well know, industrial site

availability is often cited as a challenge for expanding manufacturing. gov. youngkin: i think one of the biggest opportunities for economic development is to shrink timelines. and we all know that when timelines expand, projects go from being great to meet okur or even -- mediocre or even immediate oaker to bad. so having an accelerated timeline for every aspect of an economic development project is critical. that starts with a state that understands what it means to run fast and so last week we announced the built in virginia investment accelerator. and it takes every aspect of state government and whether we have an economic development opportunity, we can accelerate everything. from permitting to approvals to site investment. site investment becomes critically important. and when we came in, i worked with our general assembly and we have divided government in virginia. and you get this done because

it's critically important and we've appropriated $500 million to invest in site readiness. that's to make sure that the sites in fact are graded and connected to utilities and that the transportation infrastructure around them from rail to road is ready to go. and as a result companies that are coming to virginia are able to get ready to build immediately and when you can accelerate that whole timeline, everything changes. and now what we're see something businesses like lego that came to virginia because we had a shovel-ready site are now investing again. and that is a huge statement of, i believe, affirmation for the ecosystem. the business-friendly ecosystem that we have built. listen, i think we have to be able to combine this great ecosystem. i want virginia, we just crested through our 15,000th high-growth start upin virginia.

up in virginia. innovative companies that want to grow. we want to connect them to the advanced manufacturing side so they have customers and then i think finally, one of the biggest attributes that we have to pay attention to is where are people wanting to live? and at the end of the day, are more people moving into states or out of states? and we in fact crested through net in migration in 2023 at a level that put us ninth in the nation of the desired place to live. people coming much faster than they're moving away. i think we have certain sets of customers. we have people who live here, we have people who don't live here yet but may with a tonight come and we have businesses that are already here that want to expand. i believe if we create an environment where we have lower cost of living, we've had $9 billion of tax relief in virginia, we have streamlined regulations, we have sites ready to go, we have great talent development, we have ail