On may 12 the Committee Meets to consider a subpoena. I note the presence of the corm. Again i want to think the members for coming here and providing a quorum, i do want to announce we will not vote on brian miller who is nominated to be the special Inspector General for the pandemic recovery. I appreciate the cooperation that we got from the Ranking Member and then one order he this is an important position and oversight of the cares act, massive spending bill and will fully support those oversight efforts. I worked with senator peters on a different version of oversight on this to pass the care act, and a appreciate that as well. We will just be able to discharge the nominee from our committee and hopefully get him confirmed for the Holiday Weekend would be nice to get the oversight efforts starting on the cares act as quickly as possible. The other business item will be conducted is a motion to subpoena a blue star and no blue test strategy for documents of generally first 20132 presently to work for burisma or those associated with burisma in the attendance of the ceo for a deposition regarding the work in the attendance of coo for deposition regarding network. That is why we are here to meet today and to vote on. Without alternate over to senator peters. Thank you, mr. Chairman. As obvious to all of us, were in the middle of it unprecedented Public Health and economic emergency. More than 90000 americans have died during this pandemic in nearly 36 million americans are currently out of work. This committee has a longstanding nonpartisan tradition of oversight of our nations Disaster Response in safeguarding our Homeland Security and i believe that should always be our top priority. We should be working together to hold oversight hearings on the Pandemic Response efforts and with the administration we should be working together to reassure worried families that the federal government is capable of moving us towards reopening safely and at this moment when americans need us to Work Together, this extremely partisan investigation is pulling us apart. We are all here today and close proximity of each other and in middle of an ongoing crisis that is cost for too Many American lives and cost americans more jobs than the great recession. To cast a single vote on a partisan subpoena to obtain some documents from four years ago, documents that are already being substantially provided to the committee, mr. Chairman at this point i like to enter into the record a letter from blue star strategy received and i just quote one paragraph. At every opportunity we have indicated to the committee it is our intention to cooperate in no time have we ever stated or indicated in any way that we would not cooperate, therefore we are puzzled despite our willingness to cooperate where the committee is proceeding to vote on this subpoena. Without objection of i enter that into the record. Without objection that will be entered into the record but i will refute what theyre saying in the letter but without objection adobe entered. Taking mr. Chairman. This is not a serious bipartisan investigation into the tradition of this committee. I believe we should not go down this dangerous road. We are the Homeland Security committee and we have jurisdiction under election interference and we should be working together to strengthen our National Security and fight against foreign influence and fortunately this misguided subpoena wrist amplifying our foreign adversaries to interfere in the 2020 election. This should not be about politics. What we need to be focused on his National Security and we should be acting that way as a committee. I have been requesting since december the members of this committee be briefed by the fbi and the intelligence committee. We cannot allow this committee to be taken advantage of by adversaries who are seeking to subvert our democracy. I asked mr. Chairman if we can arrange briefings before we go further down the road with the fbi and the Intelligence Community and with that in mind i would like to offer a motion to put on the table, mr. Chairman i moved to table consideration of the subpoena until members of this committee that are related to this investigation and foreign intelligence efforts from the fbi and the Intelligence Community. Your motion is noted. Does anybody wish to discuss the motion . Then the committee will proceed to consideration to table the subpoena vote. Will ask for a roll call vote. A quick call on the role. [roll call] [roll call vote] [roll call vote] mr. Chairman the yeas are for and then nays are seven and the vote by proxy the yeas or two and then nays are one and the motion is not agreed to. The motion the subpoena is not table to the consider to the issue a subpoena to boost our strategies to describe in schedule a. Does any member wish to discuss the motion . If not the question on the motion before us, the clerk called the role. Pgh thank you, mr. Chairman. Our nation is in the midst of the crisis in which we have not seen in my lifetime. More than 90000 americans are dead and more than 36 million americans have filed for unemployment. In my state of new hampshire, the Nursing Homes tell me that they still dont have Rapid Testing and personal protective equipment at the levels that would help them truly protect their residents and their workers. We lost ten people yesterday nine of whom were in Nursing Homes. We dont yet have a nationwide Public Health strategy in place that we need to allow economy to begin to recover. There is much urgent work for this committee and the senate as a whole to carry out. This markup is not that work to put it politely. This committee oversees the federal Emergency Management agency as well as the entire department of Homeland Security. It also oversees how the federal government interacts with states and localities in the Postal Service. All of these functions are key to a robust coordinated federal response to the covid19 Public Health and economic crisis. We should hold hearings with all officials on topics including the plaintiff fix continuing supply chain issues, our National Testing capacity, how the federal government is working with states in the future of the Postal Service. We need to keep pressing for strategy to ramp up production and distribution of a vaccine once we have one to avoid the unacceptable shortages we have seen with personal protective equipment and testing supplies. That is to say nothing of the actions of you that will be needed once we get through this, why the United States of america is being hit harder than any other country on the face of the earth by this pandemic. The kind of broad government wide review that led to the creation of department of Homeland Security that this committee oversees. Instead of focusing on the urgent tasks, this committee is spending its time on partisan nonsense and conspiracy theories. Todays markup fails to further the health and economic wellbeing of the American People which should without question, be our focus right now. It also actually risks amplifying russian disinformation efforts to further erode our democracy. We should Work Together to help our fellow americans through this crisis, not further russian interest. This is a sad day for our committee with a longstanding record of strong and nine enter nonpartisan oversight. It is a privilege to serve with each of you on this committee to help keep the American People safe, secure and free. Lets get back to this Mission Rather than spend one more second on the charade, a charade that would be silly if it was not so insidious. A charade that is beneath this committee and the United States senate. Thank you, mr. Chair. Does anybody wish to speak to this, senator harris. Mr. Chairman this committee has the responsibility there he say the duty to investigate threats against the homeland and watch over how federal government in our federal government is preparing to respond to them. It is clearly including how Government Agencies are addressing covid19. These agencies for which we have oversight jurisdiction and a duty of oversight include fema which is tasked to coordinate and lead the entire federal government response including procuring testing materials, distribute in ppe and ensuring the public is receiving Accurate Information about the virus. It also includes ice which is responsible for protecting the health and safety of those in his custody, a population that is particular vulnerable to infection by covid19. Our oversight and duty of oversight includes office of Personnel Management which is responsible for federal workers and their benefits and many of whom on the front lines and do not have the option to telework. Our oversight responsibility include the United StatesPostal Service, which has become an even more vital resource during this time by ensuring that people have access to essential goods like medicine, toiletry and voter ballots. It is this committees responsibility in this committee alone to determine how effective these agencies have been at fulfilling their responsibility to the American People. On february 12 of this year mr. Chairman, you convened a roundtable entitled, are we prepared, protecting the u. S. From global pandemic, at that time i asked you why we did not have even one Current Administration official testifying. Why there was not even one current member of the Trump Administration that was testifying so we can have accurate and current information about the plan, if one exists, to protect the American People against this pandemic. 98 days later from that day to day, our country has 1 million, 528 cases and 91000, 938 deaths. , we are the world leader income from cases and deaths. Our country makes up 4 of the World Population and over 30 of the cases. Based on recent numbers we have seen every day that we feel to schedule an oversight hearing, mr. Chairman every day you feel to schedule an oversight hearing, an average of 20000 people in america will become infected because of this virus. An average of at least 1000 americans will die each day from the virus. Our committee must provide oversight because the American People in our constituents deserve to know what is going on. They demand to know why there is still no National Testing strategy for covid19 and they demand to have accurate and transparent death toll statistics based on expert methodology free from political influence. They demand to know that the Postal Service will be able to avoid bankruptcy and continue to deliver medicine to seniors through the duration of this pandemic. They demand to know why more than 1000 people in ice custody have tested positive for covid19 and at least two have died. They demand to know how the office of Personnel Management is protecting frontline workers. They demand to know with the department of health and Human Services has been able to ensure that testing and treatment is free for all americans including communities of color in the uninsured. They demand to know why a disproportionate number of deaths are happening in the africanamerican community, and fact in milwaukee county, i know you know, black people make up 27 of the population but 52 of the deaths. This pandemic is the biggest crisis our country has faced since this committee was created. How the government response to this crisis will define the future of our country. Yet mr. Chairman, you made a unilateral decision to convened this meeting on a matter wholly unrelated to the threat, the deadly threat facing our constituents. You made the decision to force a vote on a purely political matter that will do absolutely nothing for those at risk of contracting covid19. The matter that you want us to consider is to grant you additional Legal Authority to demand documents from a Public Relations firm that i understand is willing to give those documents to this committee. This is not nearly as urgent as covid19 and our duty to perform oversight over the federal agencies that are supposed to be helping the American People. It is not helpful for the Homeland Security committee to prioritize devices political subpoena which will only so further distrust among the American People and fuel skepticism about our democratic system of government. Todays agenda reveals a lot about the Senate Majority priority, sadly. There are literally matters of life and death waiting for our committees attention but instead this committee is doing the president s personal bidding. Members of this committee, i urge you to vote against the political slideshow so we can focus our attention on the pandemic that is threatening the lives and livelihood of the American People. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator harris i will give any member that wants to speak after we vote. I want to be mindful of everybodys time. At this point in time will do after the boat. The motion on the question. Mr. Chairman i have an opportunity to speak for five minutes. I understand you. I ask unanimous consent to speak for five minutes. I cannot understand. I asked the Union Minutes consent to speak for five minutes. After we take the. Mr. Chairman, mr. Chairman. No more than five minutes and this will be the last member speaking before we take the boat go ahead senator carper. Put the clock on. Blue star strategy, who is blue star strategy, have annoyed dia, led by a woman, who is she, she used to be a deputy chief of staff and the Clinton Administration in the last term. She worked alongside former secretary of health and social services. Who is this woman. You said i worked with her for years, shes the finest woman ive worked with. Thats who she is. Shes willing to meet with his panel in committee anytime, they provided information, they have been responsive to the request for information. Not once, not twice, as recently as this week. She wanted to come and talk with you and ask any questions you want. The attorney is peter, who is he, i did not know who he was so i found out. He was with 30 years of a law firm and hes a u. S. Attorney, for the last several years hes been a partner and hes the one that weve been working with and your team has been working with. Yesterday a woman died, her name was annie, who is she, she is the widow of john glenn who used to lead this committee. Who used to lead it with bill and you know what they did, they Work Together, they got all kinds of stuff done. When i was elected the United States senate i asked joe what committee i should get on anything get on government affairs. Your treasure, governor, youll be good at this. The oversight, save money, you will like it. Little did i know later that year 9 11 would come along. We face the biggest crisis we face since world war ii. And you know what happened, we pulled together, this committee under the leadership of susan collins, under the leadership of joe, we pulled together. 9 11 commission gave us for unanimously approved recommendations. We opted in almost all of them, you can walk into a staff meeting between susan staff and joe, you would not know who is on whose side. It was not good. Look we face the biggest crisis we faced since 9 11 and we are to have some of the challenges that we face in this pandemic and provided more in th people d more lives, when this is over we lost twice as many. We excuse me for just a Second Period our Unemployment Rate will soon reach what it was in the great depression. There is a crying need for oversight and other stuff and we are not doing it. Postal Service Going down again. Meanwhile what will we focus on, we will focus on this, the rally divides us opposes of this. My first in the senate presiding mike enzi got up to speak and talked about the 8020 rule, i did not know what he was talking about i asked him to come and talk to me and i said what is the 8020 rule. He said its what make todd kennedy so successful in leading health committee. And i said what is and he said ted and i agree on 80 of the stuff and disagree on 20 and we focus on the 80 where we agree. We satisfy the other 20 and will come back and deal with some other time. We should abide by mike enzis advice, lets focus on where we agree, theres so much to be done in wake of the spin dominic. We should focus on that, not the stuff that divides us. Last i want to say your words, these are your words from last week. You said at the end of our hearing, you said to me i appreciate your comments and i appreciate the way you have approached your chairman schiff when you were the Ranking Member as well and i think we have all continued the situation as susan and senator leader myself and yourself that is laid out for this committee and you think me for my work and i thank you for those words. I want you to be that chairman that spoke that day. We need you to be that german our country need you. Thank you. As the Committee Members are well aware, this is not my choice to spend any amount of time on this boat. I wouldve issued the subpoenas quietly, gather the information, moved on. I would remind everybody when we spoke about the subpoena, it was actually bipartisan suggestion if you want the records from blue star, why dont you subpoena blue star. I said so i will. So thats what were doing here. So now we will vote. The question is on the motion before us. The clerk will call the roll. [roll call vote] [roll call vote] [roll call vote] mr. Chairman on the boat of present the gays are seven and the names are five. On the vote by proxy the gays are one and the names are one, on this boat the yeager eight and then names are six and the motion is agree to. Before i give any other member a chance to speak i only add that this committee has done all kinds of oversight. Two weeks after the hearing that senator harris referred to, we had them come before us. Most of us are participating on multiple Conference Calls that this administration has made available where we can ask all kinds of questions. That has been by far what most of us have spent our time on is addressing this horrific crisis that we face in this nation. It was not my desire to even publicize the subpoenas. I just wanted to gather the information and make sure the American People understand the truth. But does anybody else which to speak . Senator scott. Mr. Chairman im supporting this because we need to get to the truth about the bidens relationship with burisma. These will provide the senate with the full picture. The public deserves to know how a guy who is Vice President of the United States who is currently trying to be president got away with using the u. S. Government to force a foreign country to stop investigating a company that was paying his son over 30000 or 80000 a month. Thank you. Anybody else wish to speak or theres this meeting adjourned . [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] focuse fuel standards, the strategic for petroleum reserve, oversupply of oil during the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing cleanup of Manhattan Project sites