benny thompson, the chair of the committee, called mr. kinzinger a fine representative and the type of person who would be good for this committee. speaker pelosi a couple of days ago joked that everyone else seems to think he would be good. the bottom line is this is a decision for the speaker and the speaker alone to make and she's not given any indication that she will add new members to the committee. the eight appointees of hers are a quorum. they will have their first hearing on tuesday. and the reason for all of this, the speaker and many democrats want to bolster the bipartisan credentials of this committee to maximize the chances that the american public trusts its finding. you recently had congressman marc veasey on. i want to play some of what he said about that. >> we want this to be something that all americans can have faith in, we want all americans to see democrats and republicans on this panel asking real questions, not being sensational or silly, like oftentimes you'll see jordan do and how you see banks, when he says, y

if mr. thompson joins us, we will go back to him. i welcome our panel of witnesses. the first witness is gary. he served as the acting assistant for terry for the u.s. department of homeland security countering weapons of mass destruction office. he previously served as the acting assistant secretary of cwmd from october 2019 to july of 2020. prior to his role within cwmd, he assumed the duties of the u.s. coast guard deputy commandant formation support deputy, personnel readiness in 2018, and has experienced working within the transportation security administration. he has also served as an active duty coast guard officer for more than 20 years and the subcommittee appreciates him for his service. mr. rasicot, thank you for joining us today. our second witness is chris for curry. he served as the director of homeland and justice division within the u.s. government accountability office. in his role, mr. curry leads gao's investigative work on emergency management, disaster response and recovery, and management of the department of homeland security. mr. curry began

. >> mr. chairman. mr. ranking member is on? okay, we will move forward and if mr. thompson joins us we will go back to him rated i know welcome our panel of witnesses, the first witness is gary, he served as the acting assistant secretary to the u.s. department of homeland security council weapons of mass destruction office. he previously served at the assistant secretary of the 19th of october 2019 through july 2020 and prior to his role within cw md, he assumed the of the u.s. coast guard deputy, not for his report omission support personnel readiness in 2018 and has experience working in transportation security administration. he has also served as an active duty coast guard officer for more than 20 years in the subcommittee appreciate him for his service. thank you so much for joining us today. our second witness is mr. curry as the director of homeland and juvenile justice division it within the u.s. government accountability office and in his role he leads the gao investigative work on emergency management, disaster response and recovery and management of the

describing the attack on the capitol building, the democratic chairman, bennie thompson, said that mr trump's supporters were intent on overthrowing the government. a violent mob was pointed toward the capitol and told to win a trial by combat. some descended on the city with clear plans to disrupt our democracy. 0ne rioter said that they weren't there to commit violence but that — i am quoting — "we werejust there to overthrow the government." i want to repeat that. i urge everyone to listen to those words and think about what they mean. "we were just there to overthrow the government." they marched on the capitol with the clear intentions of stopping the certification of the election, and when they encountered the police sworn to keep us safe, they went on the attack. sergeant aqulinio gonell. he told the inquiry this was something from a mediaeval battlefield. what we were subjected that day was like something from a medieval battle. we fought hand—to—hand, inch by inch to prevent an invasion of the capitol by a violent mob intent on subverting our democratic process. my fe

was mac he's not known as mr bipartisan on the democrat side? ida. he's not known as mr bipartisan on the democrat side?— he's not known as mr bipartisan on the democrat side? no, he's not and i've known the democrat side? no, he's not and i've known the _ the democrat side? no, he's not and i've known the chairman _ the democrat side? no, he's not and i've known the chairman for - the democrat side? no, he's not and i've known the chairman for many . i've known the chairman for many years. he is an outspoken partisan democrat, but he's also a nice guy. if anybody spent time watching the hearings today, he came across as being very fair and very reasonable. yes, did the speaker take a risk? yes, did the speaker take a risk? yes, but did he report himself well today? i think he did. i yes, but did he report himself well today? i think he did.— today? ithink he did. i agree. i think one _ today? ithink he did. i agree. i think one thing _ today? ithink he did. i agree. i think one thing is _ today? ithink he did. i agree. i think one thing is

and mr. thompson, which will be starting on the 20th, i believe is that person. another thing that i thought it was very important to do is just communicating different-based things to the community. we have updates about our office hours, especially now that some of the covid restrictions have lifted. we sent out a communication flier to all residents, letting them know the property office number, how to contact services, how to contact the police department for emergency and non-emergencies. how to get in contact with our tenant association, and that's something we will continue to do just as reminders to the community. another thing that i thought was extremely important to do as we were here, was to get out additional notices for rent relief. we definitely have gotten some positive feedback about that, and residents are responding back with the need assistance. and because i have already gone through the state program process and started receiving funds, it was important for me to get the ball rolling here and start helping some of our residents with their in

mr. thompson. >> thank you very much, madam speaker. i thank you for your steadfast commitment to getting to the truth behind the january 6th domestic terrorist attack on the capitol. next week will mark six months since the world watched in horror as americans violently stormed the citadel of our democracy to try and stop congress from carrying out our constitutional duties to certify a presidential election. over the last six months, at every turn, you've been laser focused on doing whatever it takes to get to the bottom and to deliver the truth for the american people. you met republicans, more than half way in an effort to stand up in a bipartisan independent commission, the reason i say that is i participated in negotiating what was to be negotiated and you did a good job. i thought from the standpoint it should have been approved. we passed it in the house. unfortunately we could not get the senate to do likewise. so we come to where we are today. your source of the select committee and the approval by the house in doing so and th

and it was bipartisan in terms of the committee and i salute our chairman benny thompson and mr. cavco the ranking member. even though it was something that was bipartisan and yielded on many points to the republicans in order to achieve bipartisanship, the leadership of the republican party in the house opposed and whipped against the bipartisan commission. still in all we have the votes. 35 members of the republican side voted with us to send it to the senate. it was very hopeful that we could pass it there. we had seven republican votes. not ten. and we needed ten to get up to 60. hopefully one day that will still -- that opportunity will still present itself. but because it was not possible in this time frame, last month we passed our legislation for select committee. a select committee is bipartisan and it has a quorum and it will do the job it set out to do. and that is to investigate the causes and that of what happened on january 6th, to find out how it was organized, who paid for it, who messaged to get those people here for the assault on the capitol. as you know, well

>> we've had conversation with mr. bordeaux. >> police also needed to have a conversation with kelli's boyfriend, justin thompson. little did they know that justin had a huge new lead waiting for them about the night kelli disappeared. >>> coming up -- >> you get vibes from people sometimes. i could see it. it was weird. >> a new possible suspect. >> he is the last person that is seen with kelli. that was very concerning to us. >> why something in his past would trigger even more alarm bells. >> it certainly was a red flag. >> when "deep in the woods" continues. woods" continues. and one that's forever wild. but freedom means you don't have to choose just one adventure. ♪ ♪ you get both. introducing the wildly civilized all-new 3-row jeep grand cherokee l. ♪ ♪ don't settle. start your day with secret. all-new 3-row jeep grand cherokee l. secret stops odor- causing sweat 3x more. and the provitamin b5 formula is gentle on skin. with secret, outlast anything. no sweat. secret. all strength. no sweat. (vo) convent

hubert thompson morgenthau more nearly killed when their boats at those objects and likely today mr. hoffman is still with us and this is just an example of something that we live with. another example of the department of the abandonment of the alaska north slope. on occasion hunters will come across explosive devices left eye the military which are likely decades-old and poses a dangerous threat to human life. my colleagues and friends in alaska cumbersome problems have prevented the 12-mile access road from being built that would allow local residents to the only lifesaving hospital within 30 miles and yet people died because they can't get their. people die. residents only axis are either by air transport or -- permafrost is revealing solid waste burial sites that were previously unknown. when i walk across the land to prayer of land management and the alaska department of our marmot to conservation we could smell the diesel, the fuel and we went through the ground and there was debris under the ground. this is the kind of contaminant that we are dealing with that we can't distur

thompson is talking about and another example, lake ontario, he's had two catastrophic floods in the last four years. catastrophic floods cross hundreds of millions of dollars of damage to the property, yet it didn't qualify for disaster reclamation so i would like to spend more time on this perhaps for the setting. this is a serious problem and big communities, expensive communities and beachfront communities when a hurricane hits, obviously that's a disaster what happens from the economic view, they can't recover so i'd like to talk more about that going forward because i think we must should have flexibility in respect to the . >> ranking member, we have an opportunity right now as we've learned so much in our response to covet seeing the impactsun underserved communities have, we do have the opportunity right now to reflect on that and see what we can do to incorporate better methodologies into the way we determine disasters going forward so i continue to have that discussion, i recognize that from my time in colorado as well where these rural communities have a harder time meeti

a legislative fix, i'm sure mr. thompson and i can draft something different. now that it's happened, i think it's going to happen again. it may see it more. it's really important that the initial assessment report that was done in september of 2020 about covid, hasn't been update ed. it you tell me the initial assessment report? do you plan to update it? >> so fema did an initial report prior to me getting here that really started to capture what i would call the initial lessons learned from our response. we're undergoing a more thorough assessment of the overall response as far as fema's role is concerned. so we will be releasing something when that is completed. >> do you have an idea of the timeline? >> i don't, but i'm happy to get back to you with where we're at in the progress. >> i think it's going to be important. there was a sea change nationwide. i want to make sure we're giving you the tools we need. i hope that's what we see. >> one of the witness was from my county. he testiied to the struggles of many officials faced. he specifically testified to

so that's what i think what mr. thompson is talking about. and another example, lake ontario two catastrophic floods in the last four years and i think you know that because you're a regional administrator up there. it caused hundreds of millions of damage to lake front property and communities. yet, it didn't qualify for disaster declaration. so i would very much like to spend more time on this, perhaps, in another setting with the chairman and maybe you can sit down with us, because this is a very serious problem. obviously, the big communities, expensive communities, the beach front communities, when a hurricane hits, obviously, that's a disaster. but what happens to the small towns from an economic standpoint, the disasters are stunning and they can't recover from them. and i'd like to ask about that going forward, fema should have some flexibility with regard to that. >> ranking member katko, we really have an opportunity right now as we've learned so much in our response to covid-19 and seeing the impacts that our underserved communitie

mr. thompson: very good. mr. browne, ms. kennedy, thank you for your time. madam chair, my time has expired. chair plaskett: for the ranking member of the full committee, you get len yhency -- leniency in more ways than one. congresswoman kirkpatrick. mrs. kirkpatrick: thank you, chairwoman. i thank you for having this hearing. i have a multigenerational family of ranchers. we had an enormous ranch. and ranched cattle. it would always be there as a kid. it's interesting to me that times have changed. so anyway, my question is for mr. shannon. you know, livestock producers are serving local markets, often have a difficult time getting a market-ready product produced, requiring meat slaughtering and processing as well as aggregation of local meat products for sale at the wholesale market. so can you describe some of the challenges facing local meat producers and how that impacts business decisions? mr. shannon: yes. thank you for that question. one of the biggest things that we face at this time -- we've been using a usda inspected processor for many years and

ranking member thompson was with this earlier paired right now i would like to call on mr. scott for his testimony paid mr. scott of georgia i always said the younger scott. >> fair enough. thank you. want to talk briefly about the supply chain just a little bit. i cannot talk about this without reminding the american public, the american farmer gets a little less than 10 cents of every dollar you're store.g at the grocery probably even less than that right now. the increased cost of transportation what is happening with inflation at the grocery store, the american farmer is not seeing that revenue. out to the local grocery store this past week and intending to buy steak i passed over the stake is simply cost way too much. i looked at the pork and it was unbelievably high. i ended up with $5 with of chicken i paid sevensu or $8 for. we talk about supply chain is not limited to the farmer for the american consumer is feeling the brunthe of this when they walk into the grocery store print i want you to know asas a consumer is not seeing the price increases you are seeing. we

thompson was with us earlier, but right now, i would like to call on mr. scott for his testimony. mr. scott of georgia, but i always say the younger scott. right? scott the younger. >> fair enough. thank you. i want to talk a little, briefly about the supply chain a little bit. i can't talk about this without reminding the american public who is watching. the american farmer gets less than 10 cents of every dollar at the grocery store. probably even less than that right now. the increased cost of transportation and what is happening with the inflation at the grocery store. the american farmer is not seeing that revenue. i went to the local grocery store on this past weekend and looked at the steak and i passed it over, because it cost too much. i looked at the pork and it was unbelievably high and i ended up with $5 of chicken that i paid $7 or $8 for. so when we talk about supply chain, it is not -- and it is not limited to the farmer. the american consumer is feeling, is feeling the brunt of this when they walk into the grocery store and i want you to know as the consumer that t

thompson for a hearing next week. but the leader may want to rescind those names. i'm ready to have them be accepted on the floor of the house. so we'll see. we'll see. i mean, there are some members who would like to be on it, but we'll see. yes, ma'am? >> can you elaborate more specifically what actions caused you to -- >> i won't. i'll just give you their statements. i'll give you their statements. one of them, i think, was sort of the -- mr. banks was that the biden administration was responsible for january 6th. there was no biden administration on january 6th. let's not go into that. have you -- are you up-to-date on their statements? i would like you to see them, because they completely just make it impossible for them to exercise judgment. again, this is about seeking the truth. and it's about not -- as i said in my comment with respect for the integrity of the investigation, with concern that the american people want to know the truth, and in light of statements and actions taken by them, i could not appoint them. i said that while this may be unprecedente

mr. chairman, thank you very much for being with us. we appreciate your time and certainly hope to have you back. i know it will be a busy couple of weeks for you, appreciate it. >>> we have a lot more ahead coming up on the show including president biden moving up the final date for u.s. withdrawal. our richard engel live on the ground in kabul as the taliban keeps making advances but next up, whether you need a booster shot to protect against the delta variant. why some experts are saying hold off on that as first responders push for others to get vaccinated at all, period. >> i would equate what's happening in my community right now as a mass casualty event that's happening in very slow motion. their only friend? the open road. i have friends. [ chuckles ] well, he may have friends, but he rides alone. that's jeremy, right there! we're literally riding together. he gets touchy when you talk about his lack of friends. can you help me out here? no matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at $79 a year.

thompson to inquire. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you, mr. secretary for joining us. it's good to see you back in the ways and means space. and i've got two questions that -- i'll give them both and then you can respond. first i'd like to start by talking about telemedicine. it's been one of the silver linings in the covid-19 pandemic. i'm proud to have founded the congressional telehealth caucus, a bipartisan group and we're working to ensure that high-quality tevl health services are available to all americans. and it was my bipartisan legislation signed into law at the start of covid that authorized medicare to expand telehealth for the duration of the pandemic. unfortunately, the telehealth flexibilities currently in place are going to expire once we get out of this public health emergency. and i've introduced another piece of legislation along with my friend mr. schweickert on this committee. to ensure patients can continue accessing tevl health services. my first question would be how do you view the next steps for telehealth and how does it envision incorporati

let me now recognize the gentleman from california mr. thompson to inquire. jothank you mister chairman. thank you mister secretary for joining us. it's good to see you back. i have two questions, i will give them both to you, you can respond. first, i would like to stop -- talk about telemedicine. one of the silver linings in the covid-19 pandemic. i'm glad to found the's telemedicine caucus. telemedicine is available to all americans. it was my bipartisan legislation that was signed and law at the start of covid that authorized medicare to expand tally health for the duration of the pandemic. unfortunately, the telehealth it is going to expire once we get out of this emergency. i introduced another piece of legislation along with my friend on this committee, that will ensure that patients can continue to add telehealth services. can you talk about how you view the next steps for telehealth and how does the administration envision including telehealth into the medicare program? second, we have got this huge number of ongoing health issues in our country. sub

mr. secretary, first, this is my moment to also thank mr. thompson for his sort of dogged focus on telehealth, and it worked. we did something amusing a couple weeks ago. we looked at the previous couple years of memos and those things about telemedicine and how skeptical many of our staff and brothers and sisters were now that we've lived through it, and we realized what a plus it was. i desperately hope you'll join us in getting it so it's extended, it just doesn't come to an end, the expansion once the pandemic is declared over. and, mr. secretary, one other thing. and this is sort of the big picture. both in reading your budget over the weekend but just even our own conversation we're having today, main many of us talk about health care and affordability in a light of who gets subsidized, who does not get subsidized instead of what we pay. and i will beg of you, start thinking about what we pay. because over the next 30 years, the hundred plus trillion dollars of u.s. sovereign debt that will be on the books in today's dollars, 67% of th

. >> are you sure, mr. torres? >> yes. happy to -- >> okay. thanks. mr. thompson, is that okay? >> since he is the vice chair i will let him go with this one. go ahead, mr. gottheimer. >> thank you, mr. torres. i thought, mr. chairman, you were going to call me a new yorker which would of course have been deeply insulting, as long as you compared me to mr. garbarino that would even be worse. i just appreciate you organizing this important hearing to discuss how we can strengthen the department of homeland security to better confront new and emerging threats and challenges. as we know the department was established in 2002 in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on september 11th as was just mentioned with a necessary focus on countering threats mostly from foreign terrorist groups. today nearly two decades later the threat landscape looks different. for instance, we have seen the rise of a diffuse, domestic and homegrown terrorist movement, especially white supremacists and racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists which director wray have testified were the primary

mr. thompson, mr. thompson is that okay? is that ok? >> >> if it is the. >> vice chair, alarm go over because he is the vice this one, chair, or let him go with this one. go ahead, go ahead mr. gardner. mr. congressman. >> thank >> you, mr. torres. and i thought thank you mister taurus you, mister, and i chairman, you are thought you were gonna call me going to call the aid a new yorker which new yorker, which of course, would of course been would have been deeply insulting deeply assaulted. , but if you thank you didn't compared compare me to mr. garb to me to mr. reno, that would've been bahrain, which would have worse. i been wet. i appreciate you appreciate you organizing organizing this important this report hearing to discuss how and this we can strengthen the hearing and, how we can department of homeland security and confront new and strengthen homeland security, emerging threats and and confront new challenges. as we know, the emerging threats and department was challenges. as you know the established in department 2002, in the

mace: thank you, mr. chairman. and i want to thank ms. thompson. i was a state lawmaker for three years before i came to congress. i represented the first congressional district of south carolina. south carolina has had its own history, very bad history with black south carolinians, black and brown african-americans. i recently took a vote to remove one that wrote the dred scott opinion, black and brown and african-americans could not become citizens of the united states of america, i voted to remove his bust. someone like hampton who encouraged the murder of over 150 black south carolinians during his run for governor. so i appreciate your comments about the 1960's. i was not around then, but i watched and read a lot of the history and seen the videos and seen the moments of violence against black america. so i applaud your work on that. my understanding is that you were elected in 1972 in texas, is that correct? ms. thompson: that is correct. ms. mace: i applaud you for making history, i would imagine, in texas and being a strong voice for black

thompson, thank you. mr. davis, who is our final representative, is now on zoom. representative davis, you are recognized for your five months of questioning. rep. davis: thank you very much, mr. chairman, for calling this very important hearing. i certainly want to thank all of our witnesses, especially those who came all the way from texas, and i don't really care how they got there, whether it was by plane, train, even if they had to walk, i think they would have been there just the same. i thank them for taking their time and for coming. as a matter of fact, i called them i and -- i called them my heroes and sheros. dr. king was fond of saying that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. and so, even though we have been talking about texas, but there are many places throughout the country where there are efforts to suppress, deny, delay, and take away the rights of people to vote. and certainly not to enhance them, which is what it seems like we really ought to be doing, is trying to make it easier for people to participate in public decision-mak

mr. fallon: democrats against the voter i.d. bill at the time and that is completely out of step with texans because texans believe for voter i.d., 74-75. representative thompson, do you believe the current legislation being proposed in texas has an adverse effect on turn youth? >> i do. >> voter i.d. in 2011. it was fabricated because from 2008 last time we had a presidential election in texas that didn't have voter i.d., turn out went up and our population did rise. but still outpaced 2-1 and the same doom and gloom we are hearing now how it's going to affect voter turn youth. i would argue you are wrong now. mr. chair, i yield back. mr. raskin: thank you for your reflections and chair of the full committee, chairman ma lonnie for her questions. mrs.maloney: thank you, mr. chairman. this hearing is not the first time that the oversight committee has investigated voter suppression efforts in texas. in march, 2019, my predecessor launched an investigation into the state's failed attempt to purge nearly 100,000 voters from the te

thompson: i'm not aware of him making that statement. mr. bernal: are you talking about application or a ballot? representative: a preprinted mail-in ballot. mr. bernal: application yes, ballot no. representative: with respect to the assertions earlier, the chairman put in videos and statements from texas constituents. i would ask to insert into the record a document that i have outlined a number of examples of voter fraud, including statements from black witnesses who testified about voter fraud. chair raskin:. . without objection -- chair raskin: without objection. representative: demetrius quoted , you are making a mockery of my suffrage to use it to your own advantage to keep my seat. it is not about the people. aubrey taylor, election's are being stolen, get ready to lose the state. jerry wayne munro, my community is suffering they cheated. he said he witnessed ballot harvesters taking $22,000 in pay, that they were soliciting nursing homes, he testified that a voting location had spare ids available for voters if they did not have one.