Transcripts For CSPAN3 Acting DHS Secretary Wolf Testifies On Presidents 2021 Budget Request 20240713

Ing on this very challenging task, he developed and coordinated strategies and policies that advanced Homeland Security mission and protected the American Public through his leadership role in the office of strategy, policy and plans. Mr. Wolf is a recipient of the u. S. Secretary of Homeland Securitys distinguished Service Medal for issues to Counter International terrorism and safeguard american interests throughout his career at the department. Thank you for that. Im glad to be joined by our sub committees Ranking Member, senator tester. We are continuing to consider or beginning to consider, actually, the fiscal year 2021 budget request and look forward to further insight from you, mr. Secretary. Very pleased to be joined by the Ranking Member of the full committee or senator leahy as well. In the fiscal year 2020 bill enacted december 20th, 2019, on a broad bipartisan basis. Our 2020 bill provided 54. 6 billion in discretionary funding and included several significant investments that will shape and protect the homeland for years to come. It provided billions of dollars to support Border Security, including funding for a borderwall system, sensors and cameras, humanitarian care requirements and health, life and safety issues all at existing Border Patrol facilities. It provided more than 22 billion for fema to support Disaster Relief efforts and state Grant Programs t provided additional funding for the office of target violence and terrorist prevention to combat emerging threats. It funded the deployment of Aviation Security deployment, which i actually saw myself at tsa headquarters, designed to enhance global Threat Detection capabilities and increase sufficiencies for our travelers, included billions of dollars to ensure men and women of the u. S. Coast guard have the capacity to carry out their domestic and overseas missions, prioritized funding for Election Security. Certainly in 2020 its critical, funding for cyber threat analysis and response capability and Critical Infrastructure networks, provided millions of dollars to develop a detection system for Small Nuclear material, smuggled narcotics and conventional explosives. It included funding for grant support for missing and exploited children investigations. One of the things im most proud of in that 2020 bill because its so critical to me in my state is the continuing efforts of the department to combat the opioid and methamphetamine crisis. Promising to see that the investments made by the first bill in 2019, the subsequent bill in 2020 have had some tangible impacts in some of these previous some of these previous investments include increases to Law Enforcement personnel and improvements to detection equipment at ports of entry, investments to significantly enhance i. C. E. s ability on the dark web and i. C. E. In appalachia. We conducted our hearing with the department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2020 we spent the majority of our time discussing the security and humanitarian crisis at the southwest border. At that time, the border crisis was receiving a great deal of attention and rightly so. After billions of dollars of investments through a supplemental appropriations in our fy2020 bill, the intensity of the situation at the border has diminished. Challenges obviously remain with tens of thousands of apprehensions every month and tons of citizens excuse me, and tons of seizures of contraband. We helped to provide what was needed at the border. At the same time we, the subcommittee, did not lose sight of the many other. Counterterrorism, trade enforcement. Human trafficking, opiod and drug interdiction. Continuity of government, countering weapons of mass destruction, state and local information sharing and most recently supporting efforts to contain the coronavirus, just to name a few. Going forward well remember the role of this subcommittee played in enabling and scrutinizing all of the missions of the department. I would like to note the Budget Proposal to shift the secret service out of the Homeland Security. As you know, and i feel, secret service is a critical component of the department and conducts Important Missions in our nation and i look forward to better understanding this proposal. Given all the departments critical needs im disappointed that many parts of this, assume ing appropriate committees of congress will restructure fema grants and Appropriations Committee will agree to cut these grants by threefourths of 1 billion and three, failing to annualize many critical, bipartisan securityrelated activities we funded in fy20. These funding gaps allow the government to propose spending money it does not have, throwing a massive bill in our laps and making our job harder. Congress is not afforded the luxury of ignoring reality and pushing thinktank like concepts when it enacts appropriations bills. While the process of digging budgetary holes and expecting congress to fill them may prevent the department from making tough choices at the time the budget is presented, it actually reduces the departments influence over the final outcome. Acting secretary wolf, thank you for appearing before us today. We will make sure that you and your team keep us uptodate on what resources you need to continue the good work that you are doing. And i now turn to my Ranking Member, senator tester, from montana. Thank you chairman capito. Thank you very much for having this hearing today. Thank you, acting secretary wolf, for being here to discuss the fiscal 2021 budget request of the department of Homeland Security i would be remiss if i didnt say, its unfortunate that acting is in front of your name. I think weve had plenty of time to nominate and confirm judges who some arent even qualified yet somebody who has your stature does not get confirmation to have that permanent designation. I want to put that in for the record. I want to express my thanks to you and the employees of dhs who work to keep us secure. Its a broad mission, including counterterrorism from foreign and domestic threats, Critical Infrastructure and threatening preparedness and resilience, supporting Natural Disaster response and recovering and securing our borders. I look forward to hearing from you on how your budget balances against these priorities. First glance, budget doesnt seem to address the Real Security vulnerabilities our country faces. The proposed budget place an emphasis on ineffective border wall and thousands of more deportation beds, seems to be funded by cuts in National Security programs such as Cyber Security, Aviation Security, chemical security, preparedness grants for local communities and innovative research. This is an alarming trend. With regard to the border wall, congress has appropriated 4. 5 billion the last four fiscal years. The president has taken another 10. 1 billion from military and 601 million from Treasury Forfeiture Fund over objection of congress. Put those numbers together. Thats almost 20 billion. Now were being asked to fund another 2 billion in the dhs budget for fiscal 2021. Not one dime of this has been paid for by mexico, as the president has promised. All these dollars have been paid for by the american taxpayer. This is a wall that will take hundreds of miles of property from ranchers and farmers, threaten the borders ecosystem and cost 25 million per mile on average when alternate Technology Solutions could be deployed at a much lower cost. I will also tell you, ive had several people contact me, many people contact me on this wall on the southern border and how it will impact agriculture. Im forwarding you one of those emails sent to me from a trump supporter on the southern border who is having their ranch literally cut in half by this wall if it goes up. We still dont have a plan that plains how this funding will be used. Last border wall plan is out of date and Accountability Office says its incomplete and lacking in several key areas. Further, two weeks ago, fbi drkter Christopher Wray testified before congress. He said, we face a diverse and increasingly dangerous terrorism threat and that the threat is unrelenting. He mentioned the particular concern of domestic terrorism carried out by racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists. He also mentioned the growing sophistication of cyber intrusions and statesponsored espionage. Border wall across the southern border addresses none of the concerns that fbi director wray as serious threats to our homeland. Im a strong supporter of Border Security. Acts taken by this administration to inflame the partisan divide do not make us safer. The recent deployment of special border Operation Forces to the interior of the country. And the recent decision to deny residents of new york, participation in dhs trust and travel programs come to mind as recent examples of whether resources are being used to protect the country or solely to make political points. The bottom line for me, as Ranking Member of this committee, is to ensure were investing hardearned taxpayer dollars in programs that address the most serious threats to our country, not empty campaign promises. I would be remiss if i didnt mention security along our northern border. Northern border Implementation Plan for dhs that lays out specific requirements across components to improve the departments ability for safe, secure efficient flows and secure the northern border against threats. I will be seeking a commitment for you today, the sufficient resources are being dedicated to execute that plan in a timely manor. Mr. Acting secretary, i look forward to your testimony. As i said, in a recent office visit, i am here to work with you and hope we can find the Common Ground to fund National Security investments that truly does make sense for the American People. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you, senator tester. With that, well go to the testimony of the acting secretary. Thank you, mr. Secretary. Chairman capito, Ranking Member tester and members of the subcommittee, its a pleasure to be here to discuss the mission to keep the country safe and present the president s 2021 fiscal year budget. To ensure dhs is robust, resilient, forward leaning, prepared to address the threat of today and those of tomorrow. Fiscal21 of the president s budget is a path to achieving them. Sub committee knows department of Homeland Security air, land, sea, cyber domains and our workforce of 240,000 strong stands watch for the nation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They safeguard the United States from terrorists, adversaries and others who seek to do us harm. They facilitate, balancing security with freedom of movement, care and precision every day. As they often say, Economic Security is Homeland Security and the department plays a Critical Role in this mission. The president s budget ensures our workforce has the resources it needs to execute these critical responsibilities. It includes 49. 8 billion in net discretionary funding and additional 5. 1 billion for the Disaster Relief fund to support response to and recovery from disaster notice homeland. Consistent with recent years, including securing our borders, securing cyber space and Critical Infrastructure, transportation security and american preparedness. Recognizing that the threats to the homeland are more dynamic than ever before, the budget positions the department to respond to emerging threats, including those emanating from nation states. Helping to manage the u. S. Governments response to the coronavirus. The risk from coronavirus to americans remains relatively low. We will continue to implement measures designed to keep it that way. Dhs has responded with proactive safeguards, directing all flights from china to preselected airports for medical screening. The department stood up that medical screening in a very rapid fashion using contracts from our cwmd office and continue to provide those contracts at those 11 airports. Ill now highlight a handful of specific priorities included in the fiscal21 budget. The Department Must continue to grow our digital defense as Cyber Security threats grow in scope and severity. The department maintains a posture on election prosperity to secure our election process and against interference of any kind. 1. 7 billion is invested in the Cyber Security and infrastructure security. This is an increase of roughly 150 million from the president s fy20 budget request. The security of our nations border remains a priority focus for the administration and the department. Most notably, as mentioned, the budget includes 2 billion for the construction of approximately 82 miles of new border wall system as well as funding for Additional Technology and staffing. Securing our borders is of utmost importance, the integrity of our immigration system requires we enforce the law as written, remains the priority of the department to protect our citizens by identifying, detaining and removing criminal aliens from the United States. The budget includes over 3 billion to ensure Law Enforcement Office Officers have the resources they need to faithfully execute the law. Counterterrorism remains a top focus for the department. Importantly, the president s increased funding for targeted violence and terrorism prevention programs. The 96 million in funding krs the dhk components is critical to identifying atrisk individuals and preventing their radicalization. The budget also invests in modernizing the fleet for the you state coast guard, provides 550 million for the funding to fund the construction of the second cutter in the polar region. It includes 564 million for the offshore patrol cutter, another critical Capital Investment for the coast guard. While physical capabilities and technology are important for the department, our greatest asset remains the men and women who execute our Mission Every day. As threats evolve and our capabilities grow, tremendous new talent is needed to execute our mission. For dhs, the budget provides funding for 500 new securities across the department. For cvp, 750 new Border Patrol agents, 126 new support staff and Border Patrol processing. For i. C. E. , 2800 new Law Enforcement officers, 400 or so new attorneys and 1400 new support staff. For tsa, funding to sustain roughly 47,000 transportation Security Officers to match the pace and growth over the next year. Budget provides funding for an overall pay increase, including 3 increase for our uniformed coast guard men and women. These priorities are only a few included in the budget. Dhs has one of the most diverse and complex mission sets in all of government. I continue to be amazed by the professionalism of the men and women at the department. Their commitment to our mission is beyond reproach and we should all sleep better at night knowing theyre on duty. I ask your support in providing them the resources they need to keep the people in our homeland safe and secure through the president s fy21 request. I look forward to your questions. Thank you very much. Im going to begin by going to Cyber Security because im very concerned in the budget. You mentioned in your testimony that the president s budget requests more than what the president requested last year, but in effect its about 250 million less than what this congress enacted in Cyber Security. How do you account for that, you know . Taking your own testimony of the urgency of Cyber Security and how its growing, how do you how are you justifying a 250 million cut to the area so critical . Couple of different factors in play. The process and the timeline when the budget was created. Obviously it was created well before we received our funding last year. What i will say is obviously were in an Election Year this year. The plus up from congress, and thank you for that, provides us enough resources as we look at 21, an off Election Year, the budget request fully funds what system needs to provide that Election Security resource. And, again, Election Security, while its called out specifically in the budget as a line item, a lot of what they do throughout plays in and contributes to a lot of the resources in services they provide to election state officials as well as our political campaigns. So, what youre saying is that the 250 million difference is the Election Security piece, is that how im hearing that . No, not specifically. There is a reduction from our 21 request from what was enacted in 20. I can tell you again in fy20, our Election Year. So were doing a lot more activities this year. As we look at 21, well sustain that in the budget that we requested for 21 will sustain those activities. I would note also that you are canceling the cfas program at the same time, which is part of that reduction as well. The other thing i would note is that just because this is an Election Year doesnt mean elections stop as we go past november of 2020. This is going to be an ongoing responsibility of you and others within the administration. Let me ask about the border wall, because thats obviously a source of interest. Can you tell us, youre asking for enough to build another no, currently 126 miles have currently been built to date of the money thats been previously provided for. What are the new capabilities as a result of this . What are you seeing as the next 2 billion and how will that affect this border wall system . Sure, chairman. As you indicated we have about 126 there completed. We have another 213 currently under 213 miles currently under construction and another 414 under preconstruction in the preconstruction phase. The capabilities, as i often talk about, are night and day over the existing landing mat defense that the Border Patrol had. New capabilities include not only the physical infrastructure but lights, cameras, radars, fiberoptics. The impedence in denial that the new border wall system provides to Border Patrol agents is night and day to what they previously had. I tour the border, go down and talk to our men and women in green, i ask them what do they need to secure the border. Resources, technology and obviously staffing. Its sort of a threelegged stool. When we talk about technology, the first thing they ask for is an effective border wall system that again provides that impeded denial so they can respond in a timely manor and then apprehend those that are looking to get in. The processing agents that we provided for, and i might have the incorrect name there, but you know what im talking about in Border Patrol. That we provided for in the last budget was kind of a new concept for the department, partly to alleviate what our Border Agents were doing, Border Patrol agents were doing in lieu of their front line job, health care or something of that nature, and also to be part of a recruiting tool to maybe get folks involved in the Border Patrol so they may want to advance in different areas of Border Patrol. How many people have you hired into that . And whats been the success of that . I know its been a short period of time. But because youre asking for more in this budget. Thank you for that. Thank you, congress, for providing that. Let me get back to you on an exact number of our hiring to date. Those positions are absolutely critical. It goes toward retention. It goes toward recruitment. Border patrol agents who are fully trained to do their mission on the border but are instead at hospitals, handing out food or doing things that they didnt sign up to do, theyre certainly not trained to do. Right but you dont know if youve hired any into that . We have. I dont have the exact number. We want to make sure that youre able to this has been a problem for the department, hiring into certain positions. Right. We need to carefully watch that. Ill ask one more question and then move on. I really want to ask about the softsided facilities, but i want to ask about the coronavirus. Ill get back to the softsided facilities. People ask how were doing, are we on top of this. You mentioned, i guess, there was a briefing this morning. There was. That basically told us that its going to come more broadly to the United States, which i think we all expect, but can you tell us how youre working on the coronavirus and with who, what other coordinating enti entities . Thank you. As you mentioned, the task force again, led by hhs, did brief members of congress this morning. Ill say were working hand in hand, every day, with that task force. From the departments perspective, we are taking it in the direction from the medical professionals at hhs as they lay out a medical strategy to deal with the coronavirus, we are implementing measures to support that. Particularly in the airport environment, seaport environment and land ports of entry, were making sure that the measures we put in place, the medical screening we put in place are there for the protection of the American People. Thats really what the president has asked us to lean into. As of to date weve had 15 cases weve identified coming in from china. Thats separate from those on cruise ships that have been parked overseas. We feel like, again, the threat right now remains low, as we talk to cdc and others, they continue to expect the number of cases in the u. S. To increase. I will say over the last several weeks, those really have not increased. Its remained relatively flat, between 12 and 14 cases. So the department feels very comfortable in the measures that weve put in place. But, again, cdc continues to adopt their medical strategy. The department will adopt its operational presently, do you have the resources you need to move forward . We do. We continue to look at that on a close basis, report every week to om bchb on those resources. Right now we have them within our existing budget. Well likely have to move some money around this year to adjust for that. Well certainly be in contact with you and other members of the committee if we need additional or supplemental funding. Thank you, senator tester. Senator leahy . Thank you, senator tester. Thank you, madam chair. Acting diresecretary, i would l to echo senator testers sentiments, that you should be confirmed by the senate. The president might appreciate that flexibility that acting secretaries give him. I prefer the constitutional checks and balances. Now, you talk a little bit about the border. The president has raided billions of congressionally appropriated dollars to fund his border wall, including money to clean up housing for Service Members from everything from mold to lead to helping their children. Weve seen reports that can be defeated with ease. You could go get a 100 cordless saw from a department store. The el paso, ive been down there and visiting with Border Agents and found a large number of 5 rebar ladders used more and more. How many 5 ladders or 100 cordless saws have been used to defeat the wall . Senator, i dont have that. We do see a number of attempts to defeat the border wall system in a number of locations outside of el paso, across the whole southwest border. Adversaries will continue to try to find innovative ways. Its not too innovative to get a cordless saw or a 5 rebar ladder. Thats not very innovative, is it . I would say no, that can be found at probably any hardware store. Do we have numbers how many time thats been done . In the past im sure we can find those numbers. Again what we see largely is from the 1970s, its about eightfeet high, you can get a ladder on or jump over that wall. Let me know how many in the past year. In the past year . Well get that information for you. Border patrol will have that. How many tunnels. Im sorry . How many tunnels have been discovered . Thats probably on in the single digits, but we continue to invest in technology that will look for tunnelling as wel well. Will you let me know the number of devices and the types that have been discovered by cvp that are used to defeat the wall . Yes, senator. When can i expect the first accounting of these numbers . Ill get with cvp today and provide you numbers as quickly as possible. Thank you. Were told by the Drug Enforcement administrations counter drug assessment, the most common method for transporting illicit drugs into the u. S. Are through the ports of entry. Theyve been increasing. I know theyve been increasing the its use of drivethrough scanners at ports of entry. Do you know the approximate percentage of passenger and commercial vehicles that are scanned across ports of entry along the southwest border . Right now its about 1 of Passenger Vehicles, 15 of commercial vehicles. I will say congress in fy19 and fy20 provided a number of funding for technology that would screen for narcotics. The goal by 2023 for Passenger Vehicles from 1 to 40 , using that funding that congress provided and for commercial vehicles from 14 to 72 . One of the most recent statistics of the percentage of hired narcotics like methamphetamine and heroin that are apprehended between ports of entry compared to at ports of entry . Roughly the majority of narcotics coming through the ports of entry, we will interdict those twothirds of the time. Last year weve seen an increase of those narcotics to include wide range of narcotics between ports of entry. Were growing concerned about that as well. Now, the dhs has continued to cannibalize funds from other institutions. Have you the constant ballooning of retention capacity. For example, roughly 40,000 individuals currently detained by i. C. E. , nearly 8,000 of them are Asylum Seekers that demonstrate about 20 credible fear of persecution and torture. Roughly what percentage, will be my last question. My time is up. Roughly what percentage of these 8,000 individuals have committed serious criminal offenses, such that they would be a Public Safety risk if they were released and how much does it cost to detain those 8,000 individuals every day . Senator, i dont have that exact 8,000 figure. What i can tell you is that i. C. E. , on any given day, continues to prioritize the removal of criminals from our community. Its about 89 , between 87 and 89 of the amount of individuals they remove every year. Criminals on final order of removal or have criminal arrests of some kind. Well continue to prioritize removing criminals from our communities. They do have a wide mission. So theyre enforcing Immigration Law at the border, in the interior and elsewhere. But youre going to let me know how much it costs to detain the 8,000 who are Asylum Seekers . Yes, senator. Well take that for the record. And the other 40,000 . I would like to have that within the week if we could. Okay. Thank you. Senator kennedy . Thank you, madam chairman. Thank you, mr. Secretary, for being here. How many cases of coronavirus do we have right now in the United States . Well, we have 14 cases plus an additional, i believe it is, 20 or 30 odd cases that we have repatriated back into the u. S. From a number of cruise ships. And how many are you anticipating . Again, were working with hhs to determine that. I understand. How many are you anticipating . We do anticipate the number will grow. I dont have an exact figure for you, though. Do you have an estimate . Is someone modeling that . Do you have any way of guessing . Again hhs, through their medical professionals are yes, but youre head of Homeland Security. Yes, sir. Your job is to keep us safe. Yes, sir. Do you know today how many the experts are predicting . We only know that again, we anticipate those numbers to grow in the u. S. Thats why were making sure that our operations at airports, land port shall et cetera, are flexible. You cant tell us how many your models are anticipating . No, senator. Again i would defer you to health and Human Services for that. Do you think you ought to check on that . We will. As the head of Homeland Security . Absolutely. We have Task Force Members working this every day. Im all for committees and task force. Were coordinating with them youre the secretary. I think you ought to know that answer. I understand that. How is the coronavirus transmitted . Through a variety of ways. Obviously, humantohuman, weve seen that. Again, were making sure that those procedures as they come into the u. S. Are medically screen sod he we can identify those. How is it transmitted . A variety of different ways, senator. Tell me what they are. Again, humantohuman is what were obviously humanto human. How . Being in the same vicinity, physical contact is usually what weve seen from the medical cases weve seen here in the u. S. Weve had several, i think, two to three humantohuman cases that have shown up here in the u. S. Its those that are closest to those individuals that have that human contact. Whats the mortality rate so far . Worldwide . I believe its under 2 . How much under 2 . Ill get you an exact figure. Ill check with cdc. Theyre monitoring the worldwide mortality rate and i can get that for you. You dont know the mortality rate today . It changes daily, senator. Well, i understand that. Whats the average since we discovered the virus . Again its under 2 . It was as high as three. Numbers were recalculated based on reporting from china. Is it between 1. 5 and 2 . Between 1. 5 and 2. Whats the mortality rate for influenza . Its also right around that percentage as well. I dont have that offhand. Are you sure of that . Its around 2 as well. Are you sure of that . Yes, sir. Do we have enough respirators . To my knowledge, we do. Im focused on making sure that our operators at dhs make sure they have the protective equipment. Hhs, as part of the supplemental we just heard testimony that we dont. Testimony from . In a briefing. Okay. So youre head of Homeland Security. For medical professionals or youre head of Homeland Security. Do we have enough respirators or not . For patients . I dont understand the question. For every american who needs one who gets the disease. Again, i would refer you to hhs on that. My budget supports mr. Secretary, youre supposed to keep us safe. My budget supports youre the secretary of Homeland Security. Yes, sir. You cant tell me if we have enough respirators . What i would tell you is that the budget, my budget, our operations are focused not only on the men and women of dhs making sure theyre protected to do their jobs, to screen individuals coming in, were working with hhs, cdc. You dont know the answer. To ensure they have enough medical equipment. Do we have enough face masks . For the department of Homeland Security we do. Im asking for the American People. For the entire American Public . Yes. No. I would say probably not. Okay. How short are we . I dont have that number offhand, senator. Ill get that for you. I want to be sure i understand. Somebody yes, sir. Is doing modeling. Yes, sir. On how many cases were anticipating. Yes, sir. Youre just not aware of it . Youre asking me a number of medical questions, hhs are working on. Im asking you as the department of Homeland Security and youre supposed to keep us safe. Yes, sir. And you need to know the answers to these questions. How far away are we from getting a vaccine . Several months. Thats not what we just heard testimony about. Okay. Who is on first here . Hhs. Whats on second . The federal agency for the coronavirus response. Youre telling me were months away from having a vaccine . Thats your testimony, as secretary of Homeland Security . What i have been told by hhs and cdc, yes. Have you probed that to make sure thats accurate . Yes. We continue every day we have Task Force Meetings with those individuals and were talking about a number of these your numbers arent the same as cdcs. Then i would certainly defer to cdc on all medical questions. Dont you think you ought to contact them and find out whether youre right or theyre right . Were in contact with them every day. You dont know why you have a discrepancy . I would refer you to the cdc. Mr. Secretary, im going to hush here. Youre supposed to keep us safe. And the American People deserve some straight answers on the coronavirus. And im not getting them from you. I disagree. Thats all i have, madam chair. Senator shaheen . Thank you, madam chairman. Acting secretary wolf, thank you for being here. I would like to pick up a little bit on the coronavirus. We did have a briefing this morning. I would like to urge the department and the other officials within the government to have some open briefings. I didnt hear anything this morning that i havent read in the newspaper. And i think it would be very helpful to the American Public to have a better sense of whats going on. Okay. With this issue. And also to try to post some information that could answer questions for the public. I met with some constituents after that briefing and thats one of the things i heard from them, is that they dont have the information that they would like to have to share with their employees and to try to do whats right in response to this medical emergency. I would now like to go to Border Security and the devastating opioid epidemic. New hampshire, like west virginia, has been very hard hit. Weve seen some small progress, thanks to the bipartisan support for funding thats provided significant increases for technology, for drug interdiction. Im concerned that what we need to do to interdict fentynal and other drugs is more than just build a wall. Can you discuss the departments progress in chemical screening devices to detect fentynal and obtain data on International Mail shipments that were required by the stop act . Sure. Can you tell us where we are . We are multifaceted on the interdiction side. We talked about nni and other technology we have out there, continuing to work with the Postal Service to target shipments and looking at technology that will screen those shipments as well. Of course, i. C. E. , Homeland Security investigation certainly has a role here in velthing these seizures. Every time we make a seizure we turn those over to investigators. They will investigate and doj will help us prosecute those as well. Snt, we continue to have money. I believe we have money in fy20, 8 million, similar requests for fy21 to further enhance the technology we have out there, so we can find smaller and smaller amounts of fentanyl and opioids across the spectrum. When do you expect those to be completed . Thats a good question. Let me take that one. We do have a timeline. I dont have the exact date on full implementation of all those efforts. Im sure cvp, who is the lead opponent working this, does. Are we doing any cost analysis on what makes more sense, stopping drugs coming into the United States . Is it a wall or these interdiction efforts that use technology . I would ask you to provide that when you respond. Absolutely. From a holistic view, its all of the above. Twothirds of the opioids we detect come through ports of entry. Were focused again. Thank you for that, deploying small, medium, large nni technology. Thats everything from a handheld to something that screens a vehicle, making sure we deploy that in rapid fashion. I would like to switch topics to the hb2 visa program, a program thats helped Small Business in New Hampshire, particularly those who employ seasonal workers, tourism industry, lodging and restaurant industry, landscapers. Making those new visas available is very important. I was pleased to see that there was an announcement that the visas will be increased. Can you talk about how soon those visas are going to be released and whether thats all going to be at the same time because the Summer Season fast approaching . As of right now, no decision has been made about the supplemental cap increase. Again, i would urge congress, youre in the best position to identify how many visas that Program Needs for the fourth year in a row, the department has been given that duty to coordinate with the secretary of labor. Weve been doing that, but again i would encourage congress to pick the overall number for the hb2. Ive been on multiple letters that are bipartisan, saying you need to increase that cap and pointing out past years when the cap has been increased and how effectively theyve been used. So, i dont think the problem is at congress. I think the problem is at the administration level. If its not your department who is making that decision, you need to tell us who is making that decision. Ive got Small Businesses in New Hampshire who wont be able to do their business this summer if they dont have those workers. The reason i say its better fit for congress, i believe it gives industry a predictability. Theyll know each and every year how many visas they have to work with and will plan their business accordingly. Every time you give it to the department, well continue to do that work and ill outline what ive done thus far. We have to publish a rule making to do that. It continues to increase the time before the visas get out there. Ied with secretary scolia, department of labor, six times over the past several weeks, coming up with a proposal. We hope to announce that shortly and will continue to push that decision. What i will say is that its not only a number but its also looking at the fraud and the abuse in the program, which department of Homeland Security is certainly concerned about. If we do reach out and increase, you also see a number of provisions there that get to that waste abuse and fraud that i believe members of congress on a bipartisan basis hasv expressed concern with as well. I share your sense of urgency, to make that clear. Im pushing as quickly as i can to make that decision and announce that decision before any rule making is finalized so the industry knows how many visas to work with and can plan their businesses accordingly. Thank you. Senator hoben . Thank you, madam chair. Secretary wolf, thanks for being here. Appreciate you. And we appreciate the work that you do. Border security let me ask this one first. In terms of counter on unmanned air vehicles, the budget request includes 35 million for dhs science and technology. Right. Thats up from 13 million in fy20. Tell me how that money is going to be spent, will you . Primarily on research, development and testing on counter capabilities. The department has limited jurisdiction in capabilities. We continue to explore that mainly for dhs facilities. Were working with the department of defense, faa, department of transportation and others, as well as secret service has been using counter Uas Technology for some time. Were try iing to capitalize on their experience and what theyve seen and s t is building on that with additional research, development and testing to hopefully have capabilities out there in the short term. I know youre busy on the southern border and obviously coronavirus and all these important issues. I would like you to come to the northern border. Responsibility for 900 miles of border. Right. That station, all the way from the great lakes through most of montana. Right. We also have a very large u. S. Operation, Northern Plains test site there. Ive been there, senator. Okay. I have. Great. We would love for to you come back now that youre the secretary. You can come to montana, too. Yeah, tester has a beautiful state he would love to have you check it out, montana as well. We would love to have you come back. I would be happy to do that. We thiching we can help you with all your Border Security operations. Great. I believe it was a test site in conjunction with north dakota state. University of north dakota. Yeah. We have a very large Aviation School there. We were there, i believe in late 2018 i believe. Fantastic. Did you come with mcaleenan or secretary nielsen. Absolutely. I remember that visit. Sorry i forgot you were with us. Im glad youve seen it. We continue to make progress and want you to come back. Great. Tell me a little bit about autonomous surveillance towers. Piece of Border Control technology thats absolutely critical. We talk about securing the border. We do it through technology, physical infrastructure and, of course, people. Autonomous surveillance towers are that other piece of technology, 200 towers were looking to deploy. These are relocatable. You can position them. They run off of self supported power, mainly sunlight. So, they provide a capability, a domain awareness capability for the Border Patrol that improves upon some of the towers they previously have out there. We look forward were very excited about the capabilities that that provides them. Make a program of record and expand it or are you still going through that process to make that determination . Thats a continuing discussion that we have with cvp. Again, we like the capabilities that those towers provide and well continue to deploy them. Real i. D. , i just went through that process and got my real i. D. And you have to have its quite a bit. Fortunately, our state, theyre on top of it. If you get the four different types of required documentation, so on and so forth, go and get it. By october, folk also have to have that to get on an airplane. What happens if somebody shows up and their i. D. Isnt real i. D. . Thank you for the question. This continues to be an issuing program, because in our mind the states have had over 14 years to faze this in. The law passed in 2006. So we encouraged states to invest. The majority of them have. All states are compliant. All but two are issuing real i. D. S at the moment. We would like them to go faster. I think they would like to go faster. We continue to have that dialogue with them. What we see today is about 35 of i. D. S in circulation are real i. D. Compliant. 35 . Around 35 . Thats a relatively low number. I going to mine. Its like 35 plus one. Yes, sir. Its a relatively low number as you look at october 2020. Were doing a number of things in gauging the industry. We just issued a policy adjustment that allows individuals seeking to come in for a real i. D. , they can submit their documents electronically to the dmv. That makes it easier as they go in. I will say that the original law that real i. D. Passd is restrictive for the department. It was passed in a time there were no smart phones. It was flip phones. The idea of transmitting information securely versus coming in with the information is a real challenge. Thats where you see bottle necks at dmvs and a capacity issue at dmvs. The thing that im suggesting to you is come october 1, youre going to have a lot of people show up at tsa and theyre going to want to get on an aircraft and theyre going to show their drivers license and they wont have their passport. They wont have something else. Now theyll say hey, ive got to get on my flight. Thats going to happen. You know its going to happen. Yes. Its incumbent on the states to get it out. Im saying tsa as an organization certainly planning. Theyre planning for going to need some contingency. Variety of eventualities. Were trying to educate the public. You can have a real i. D. , compliant incht d. There are other alternative forms of i. D. , military incht d. , passport, as well as a number of others. We continue to try to educate the American People and the traveling public on what type of identification they need come october. Our partners in the airline industry, airline associations, travel associations are also pushing out a lot of useful information as well. One final question back to coronavirus. Do you feel youve got adequate screening in place now for people coming into the country . We do. Again, we have 11 airports that were prescreening folks at. To date, since this measure went in place, cvp, we screened 50,000 individuals coming into the u. S. Thats not just at airports but land ports and maritime ports of entry. Is your message that you do have adequate screening . I have all the information from cdc and hhs on a daily basis to make operational decisions to determine whether were keeping the American Public safe and absolutely, the threat remains low. Well adjust those measures as the cdc and hhs directs us to. As of today, im very satisfied on the measures the department has taken. Thank you, secretary. Appreciate it. Thank you. Senator tester . Thank you, chair, chairwoman capito. I first want to talk about the wall budget for a second, 2 million in additional money for construction. Quite frankly, the last Border Security Improvement Plan we had was two years ago. It was criticized by some of us. We keep hearing another plan is coming. It is. When . I would say in the next several months. Its currently in review at the department and it is being finalized. So, can you give me if it isnt here by the 1st of june, should we be calling you in front of the committee and raking you over the coals, the 1st of may . I think thats fair, a june deadline. I will push personally to get it before that. Okay. We have it. Its been finalized or is being finalized. If you can get it quicker than that. Were talking i misspoke. Its only 15. 185 billion for the wall. Yeah. Thats a huge amount of money. Sure. We need to have a plan. It needs to be a good one. Better than the last one. Last week you announced a plan by waiving ten procurement where the border wall is being planned. This will eliminate the full and open competition process, it will eliminate the requirement for contractors to submit cost and pricing, provide a bond, guarantee wage payments, eliminate the bid protest process. Were talking about 17 billion, if this budget goes through as advertised. Xxxx. The cutter, the c130s, whatever it could be. The funding they will get will go to vetted applicants currently on contract with the army corps or those on larger task. Doesnt your procurement law eliminate any bidding, any protest . The question is, how do we hold these folks accountable if they get a sweetheart deal . Again theyve already been prequalified. Theyve already determined contracts. Most of them are already building the border wall system today. The idea is to, again, add on to those contracts as that additional wall and additional property become available. Again, these contractors have been vetted, theyve gone through the contracting process. They hold with the arm corps. You have a list of contractors then . Yes. Are any of these classified as Small Businesses . I believe there are tl is one. Could you give me that list . Yeah. The procurement also waives provision that provides opportunities for Small Business. I would love to have that. The procurement, is it a pain in the neck . Yeah. Its tough. But theyre there for a reason. Theyre there to make sure we hold our contractors accountable and taxpayer dollars i get it. You want to get it built. You want to get it built quickly. Right. You have to do things and do it right. Otherwise after its built, the dollars have been spent and it wasnt the best value, the question is, its too late then. I yes, senator. I dont believe it is. So, again, we continue to work with the army corps of engineers, making sure there are vetted contractors and that theyre going to get the best value for the american taxpayer. From my math about 235 miles will be needed to be acquired from private land owners or private holdings. Have land owners been contacted . They have. And how many have given you permission to access their property for a wall . Well, again, its certainly a complex procedure. Anywhere from the title search i got it. The question is, if you come on my land and you use Eminent Domain, those are fighting words. Yes, senator. Again, we survey before we ever get to the combination part. So where are we at, though . We have a number of land owners that have allowed us on land to survey. There are some that have not. We continue to work with them. Again the army corps through their contractors are doing that. Its mainly rg sector. Have you exercised any Eminent Domain as of yet . The army corps has, in a small handful of cases. I would love to know where theyre at and i would love to know what transpired. I will tell you look, i am not right on the border, about 80 miles south. The truth is that i have a certain amount of empathy for those folks who may have their farm or ranch split in half or even a quarter section peeled off due to this wall. And the wall may take, i dont know, how many feet does it take, half a mile . Theres an exclusion zone, the physical building of the wall. The fact is that it could have impacts for a much greater area than that. My understanding, theres a ton of lawsuits, and maybe you know this, from the last time this was done during the bush administration. Yes. How many of those lawsuits of Eminent Domain are still outing . I dont know how many are still outstanding. This is really an important for private property rights. Significant number of times rega regarding the border wall, litigation. Youre get a letter from a lady i just sent it to the chairman, that the ranch will be split by a wall who is very concerned. By the way, shes a republican. She supported trump. I understand. And theyre very, very worried about the impacts this is going to have on their farm. Ill yield for now. Senator langford . Thank you. Chad, thanks for being here, for the work you do. Youre covering a lot of issues today, as you do on a normal day, from coronavirus, Border Security to Law Enforcement issues to Election Security, to security and infrastructure facilities. Youve got a lot on your plate. I appreciate the work that you do and the professionals that work around you. You have thousands of folks on the team. So, tell them thank you from all of us and for what they do. I want to run through multiple different issues here. Let me start with methamphetamine, through fentanyl and other opioids coming through our southern border. I met with some in oklahoma who are doing research on handheld devices to be able to help detect fentanyl and other illegal substances coming across our southern border. Theres a lot of dialogue about what youve put into place in technology. Its always interesting to me. Almost everyone ive talked to on Technology Says were trying to fete as good as the dogs nose. Let me ask you the odd question with this, on our ports of entry. How are redoing getting more dogs noses there as were working toward getting more technology that almost as good as a dogs nose in this process . Are we increasing our dogsniffing presence in all these locations . How are we doing, adding technology to be able to line up with that as well . Its all of the above, senator. Were look at the technology, canine assets as well. In the hearing we mentioned twothirds of the elicit drugs weve seen, fentanyl, marijuana, coming through our port of entry. Onethird between our ports of entry. That number is rising. Were concerned about that as well. We have a number of investments made by congress in fy19 and 20 for that technology. Well continue to invest in our canine workforce. Is that implemented by the end of our fiscal year or when do you think that funding will be fully rolled out . It will be over multiple years. Some of the 19 money will be implemented this year. Some of the 20 money will continue to be rolled out. Thats a couple year money versus oneyear money. Its a Large Technology contract. It is. Its a significant task. And its extremely important to us, every one of our states and your hometown as well, all affected by fentanyl, opioids and methamphetamine rolling in. I appreciate all that youre doing. Theres been a lot of conversation about incht c. E. Detention beds as well. Ive been on the southern border. Youve been on the southern border a lot. Softsided facilities that cvp put into place cost a tremendous amount of money. How is that going in balancing out better quality incht c. E. Beds at a lower price than cvp having to do more expensive temporary softsided facilities to handle individuals coming across the border . We need to get out of the softsided facility business. We did that because of the surge again. Thank you, congress, for providing those resources to do that. As the numbers have decreased over the last several months, were able to take a number of those softsided facilities offline to safb money. Weve taken one facility off line. Were taking another three offline in the coming months, assuming our numbers continue to hold. That will be a 20 million savings per month as we continue to take those offline. If theres a surge to surge into i. C. E. Facilities . Were try iing to move some these softsided facilities into hardsided facilities. We do need that capacity, that Surge Capacity on the southwest border. We would like that to be in a hardsided facility versus softsided. Over time those are more Cost Effective. Well continue, as far as i. C. E. Beds, though, we do a number of modeling, most of which we share with the committee. Almost all that we share with the committee. We continue to see an increase in the beds that i. C. E. Continues to need over time. As the surge occurred last year, and we were releasing over 100,000, 140,000 in some months of individuals into the interior, theres a tail to that. And that comes to i. C. E. , doing theyre in Law Enforcement inside the country. As they focus their attention on criminals, and have a final order of removal and the like, we have over 3 million aliens on the nondetained docket. A million of those have final orders of removal. Thats what i. C. E. Does. As they pick those up, they need the ability to detain those individuals for a short period of time before we deport them or repatriate them. Let me make a couple of quick comments. Senator shaheen had mentioned about the hb2 visas. Yes. Congress had given authority to double the number of visas, Congress Statement to say you can go up to twice as much but look at the department of labor. The numbers are there. You mentioned already that congress is the best to set that number. Congress has said hey work with the department of labor and see what we need at this point. And you have the opportunity to go up to twice as many as youve done in the past. Wa wall street journal out last friday that there may be up to 40,000 additional visas that may come online soon. Thats not been released by your team yet. If youre choosing to do that, congress has spoken in to say you have permission to be able to do that, number even higher than that. If you choose to do that, do that as quickly as possible f it stretches out into june and july before those actual releases come, thats too late for the season and so trying to be able to get those done faster is better than slowly trying to be able to piece those out. If i could mention one other thing, if i can beg the indulge yens of the chairwoman on this. That is this issue about the religious freedom restoration act and the waiver being put in place for construction of wall. Im very confused by this. Dhs said were waiving rifra when rifra says you cant waive this unless congress specifically states it can be waived. I know it will be a battle of the lawyers to determine. What im trying to figure out is why is there a need to even waive rifra . As far as i can tell, theres never been a need to be able to waive that. Why preemptively say were going to, when theres not really a statement to say waive religious freedom protections to be able to build a wall. Ive looked into that issue. Thank you, senator. I will say the last 12 or 13 waivers, i believe, weve signed have not waived rifra. Right. You have my commitment to making sure as we look at any waivers Going Forward if thats put before me, im going to ask a series of questions on specifically does this inhibit building the border wall system at any point . I think we often times err on the side of caution on what we waiv. Its incumbent on part of the department to ensure what were waiving has a specific inl packet to the number of miles being built in that specific area. Numbers are specific to specific sectors and miles. Its incumbent upon us. The department has not waived that. 1993, religious freedom of restoration act has never been waived. I would like to not have a first in that. I understand. Thank you. Senator baldwin . Thank you, madam chair. So, acting secretary wolf, executive order 7521 requires the u. S. Coast guard to conduct ice breaking operations to meet the reasonable demands of commerce. However, the coast guards icebreaking fleet in the great lakes has declined from 14 to nine vessels over the past 40 years. And the regions economy has consequently lost billions of dollars in economic activity, particularly over the past seven years due to inadequate coast guard icebreaking resources. Now ive asked the president to include funding to build a new great lakes ice breaker, but all ive heard back is that other coast guard needs are more important. I would note that in your opening statement, you equated Economic Security and National Security. The coast guards fiscal year 21 request includes no funding for this new ice breaker. So, im wondering how you can ignore the Economic Injury that is occurring in the upper midwest and, in particular, obviously, the Great Lakes Region in this budget. So ive talked with the xh d commandant about our ice breaking capability in the polar region and the great lakes. I understand the concern you have. For the coast guard in fy21, they have a number of priorities. Several of their priorities, as i mentioned, is that polar security cutter, which would be the second one, as well as their offshore patrol cutter, which really will become the backbone of what the coast guard does, again, offshore. Those continue to be the priorities for the coast guard. Those are high Capital Investments. I will also say readiness of the coast guard continues to be an issue, as it does with all of our service agencies. When you have a limited budget you have to focus resources. As i mentioned, i talked with the commandant about the ice breaking authorities in the dpra great lakes. He feels confident where they sit today. Mac krchl mackinaw. Im fully supportive of the polar ice cutter. I would say the mackinaw is well over its a very old and the cost of repair and the time out is very significant. The Great Lakes Region and indirectly the entire upper midwest is suffering because of the lack of ice breaking capacity, economically. And this should be a priority, especially given your comments of equating Economic Security and National Security. I want to switch topics. Its been more than a year since dhs began implementation of the migrant protection protocols, also known as remain in mexico policy, which keeps migrants in mexico while they await their immigration hearings. The present advocacy groups have documented widespread abuse of migrants return to mexico under mpp, including kidnapping, extortion and other violence. In december, i had an opportunity to travel to tucson and negales, arizona, to visit dhs and hhs facilities as well as a private organization supporting migrants. Service providers there told me that the migrants returned under mpp are easy targets for criminal organizations in mexico and frankly in the u. S. , in part because they are readily identifiable because cvp mandates that they remove their shoelaces when they are in custody and releases them without returning them. I found that sort of odd and surprises, but i heard it over and over again. If you see a family, none of whom have shoe laces on their shoes, you know that they are probably folks who have been recently released from custody and probably very vulnerable. Your budget requests 126 million for mvp and that it provides protections for vulnerable populations. What steps is cvp taking to ensure they are safe as they await their day in court . Sure. Were taking a number of steps regarding the mpp program. Independent team in the department do a review of the mpp program, these are individuals that have little to do with immigration, so they were coming to the system blind. So, they recommended a number of recommendations, a number of steps to take. Were implementing some of those, some of those that we had already considered. We continue to work with the governor of mexico, a partner with us in this program, through the department of state, we have offered havent offered. Weve provide up to 22 million in funding to build out their shelter capability. That includes security for those shelters. Also, transportation funding. So we do a number of things with our department of state colleagues to make sure that the government of mexico is fulfilling their requirements under this program to ensure that individuals in the mpp program, as they await their Court Proceedings in mexico are in safe and secure shelters every day. Are you aware of the shoelace policy . I am, as it pertains to being in cvp policy. Ive made a note to look at that. Seems like that would be a very simple thing to correct. Right. Senator hydesmith . Thank you, madam chairman and acting secretary wolf, i want to tell you how much we appreciate everything you do and con dprat la congratulate you on your new position. My home state of mississippi is certainly grateful to the Department Following Natural Disasters such as hurricane katrina, when that occurred. Mississippi is also proud of its long and storied ship building traditions. Were proud of our support of the u. S. Coast guard and the coast guard recognition youve given us of the strong work ethic and well established excellence in ship building on the mississippi gulf coast. Mississippians take great pride in their contributions to the department of Homeland Securitys mission and National Security interests. One of our shipyards is constructing the new polar security cutter to aid in the security of our arctic theater. And i certainly look forward to ensuring we provide the ships and other equipment our men and women in uniform desperately need, that we do quite well. Mr. Secretary, as youve highlighted in your testimony, the coast guard say unique component with advanced operational capabilities and multiple jurisdictional authorities, enabling the service to carry out both Law Enforcement and National Defense missions. The coast guard seizes more drugs than all federal agencies combined. For example, the coast guard cutter james recently returned from a twomonth deployment where it seized over 13,000 pounds of narcotics. In the past four years, the men and women of the coast guard have entered into 2 Million Pounds of pure cocaine worth an estimated value of 26 billion. Please describe the unique capabilities and authorities the coast guard provides for homeland and Border Security. Sure. Just to, i would say, expand on your points about the interdiction of drugs at sea, coast guard, if you have the ability to visit key west, a facility that throughout d. O. D. , dhs, but a variety of different agencies are focused on that elicit drug traffic, coming from south america, Central America into the u. S. I am proud to say that its coast guard cutters that are providing that capability and that interdiction capability in the caribbean and eastern pacific. And so its using intelligence that we gather from a number of different agencies, but its coast guard men and women on ships, in the air as well as cvp assets as well that are providing that interdiction of all the elicit drugs coming from south america on a daily basis. They have a Law Enforcement mission that say little different from d. O. D. Mission. They are a natural partner to our d. O. D. Assets, looking to protect the homeland. They not only do that here at home, but they do that, again, away from the homeland in the eastern pacific, in the caribbean as well as overseas, providing that Law Enforcement capability that d. O. D. Needs. And switching to the National Security arena, last year, coast guard cutters were deployed in support of the indopacific commander and missions in support of department of defense efforts are becoming a very common occurrence. Yes. How has the department prioritized the coast guards counter drug and Border Security migs versus demand signal for coast guard assets and support of the Combatant Commanders . Its certainly a balance, delicate balance that the commandant has to do every week and every month. As one of the services the coast guard is happy to provide support to d. O. D. We have about 2,000, i believe, coast guard men and women deployed overseas in support of the various commanders. You mentioned the indopacific, but also in bahrain and elsewhere. Shalls flared up in iraq and iran at the beginning of the year, coast guard men and women were floied there in support of d. O. D. As well. Its a balance. They certainly have to do their Maritime Mission here in the states, in the homeland. Drug interdiction capabilities. Were happy to support and serve alongside d. O. D. Professionals overseas as well. Thank you. It is very clear its a huge balance but thank you for what you do in addressing that. Thank you, madam chairman. Thank you. Weve completed the senators that are here. Apparently senator murkowski is on her way and senator tester and i have more questions so well go to a round two. I would like to comment on the opioid detection. I was at the head of the office of the drug control policy, jim carroll went to a drug court graduation. He announced at that graduation because what were see something our drug problem morphing from opioid and prescription drugs to now synthetic methamphetamine. He announced at the border you had interdicted 242 packages a week ago saturday, 875 pounds. And as i was reading the story, apparently one of the agents detected something, sent it to secondary screening and it was picked up on the nonintrusive inspection, hidden in a bunch of broccoli. Right. Congratulations to you and the interdiction youre doing there. Crystal meth is nasty stuff. Late last year we were part of a Technology Challenge that they announced to have a number of Companies Continue to invest in the technology to find smaller and smaller amounts of opioids. Again, we work very closely. Thats good. Im not going to ask you about softsided facilities because senator lankford mentioned it. You know thats an area where ive been worried about waste and overspending and certainly want to be ready. But we want to be smart in visiting these facilities as i shared with you privately several times. Right. Theyve been underpopulated and so ive had great concerns about that. I know youre closing more than just one now. Right. And i appreciate that for your responsiveness. Im sure its in the best interest of the department as well, in terms of the resources and using the resources in the best way. I dont know if you want to add anything on that. Thank you, chairman. We just need to balance, as we bring those facilities offline, making sure we are still prepared if there is a surge, another surge, very similar to last year or half of what we saw last year. We want to make sure we have the facilities to process these individuals in and dont have them showing up and spending lots of time in Border Patrol facilities. We node to balance that concern. Thank you. Lastly not lastly but to senator baldwins question on mpp, i think that with the in conjunction with the Mexican Government its been a great deterrent to having people flood across our borders. And the numbers, youve seen it go down from june 109,000 and this past month it was 29,000. Something is working there. Mpp is one of those protocols . Yeah. I would like to elaborate. Mpp is designed to do several different things, but one is to make sure that those with meritous claims can have their claim heard and adjudicated in a timely manor. Its also deterring fraudulent claims. Half of these individuals put in the Program Never show up for their Court Hearings and thats a similar percentage to what we see in the interior as well. Individuals that are put in this program that know they do not have, again, a meritious claim simply choose to walk away. Right. Its a little bit of deterring that fraudulent behavior as well, rooting out, restoring the integrity to the immigration system. Last question i have is on fema. I want to thank fema for helping us in washington recover from the 2016 floods where you recently had helped us rebuild four of our schools. Its four years later, so there was some frustrations there but fema really worked to help us make sure we were asking for the right things. I appreciate that. You helped us with the match issue as well. Also in your budget request, it seems that the fy2020 grants, youre recamp spg wuting grants by an estimated we have more than our share of natural occurrences where we need help. Im concerned, you know, is this going to cut back on less overall funding, less grant applications would be grant ed and, you know, when the demand is still up . I would say its a balancing act, as all of our resources are, on whats the appropriate Grant Funding. And i think that continues to be a dialogue between the administration and congress. And so over time, the grants are designed to, again, build capabilities that are not there for grantees. Overtime, we want to make sure they dont become to rely on Grant Funding as part of their base budget. We want to find new applicants, grantees and all of our partners in the states. Thats a reflection of what you see in the 21 budget request, to make sure we continue to focus on those areas that need continued funding, need to continue to build those capabilities but that we dont continue to just continue to fund and build out individuals and recipients base budgets. It is a balancing act. Its a shared responsibility, not only for the fema grants there are certain grants weve increased two or three fold. Domestic terrorism prevention, weve increased the number of grants in that area. We look at each Grant Program differently to determine whats needed. I would say in terms of alternative, senator tester, emergency response, this country, i think all of us have collectively responded to each individual areas of our country that have had need if weve had to have supplemental funding or if we had to expedite their response quicker. Theyre all kind of pulling for each other here. The best thing for the department and for states to plan is to make sure we have enough in there to have that baseline response capabilities so we dont have to go to the up and downs of supplementals and emergency fundings and all of that. Senator tester . Thank you, madam chair. I want to say thank you again for being here, acting secretary. Im not going to do a gotcha. Are you familiar with the term consultation as it applies to having meaningful conversations with Indian Tribes . Yes. The question is, theres a wall being built with a tribe, the tribe says its going across tribal land that is a burial site. The tribe says there has been no consultation. Go ahead. Sorry. Go ahead. No, shoot. Is there consultation . Ive had conversations with both senator mcsally and sinema on this issue. We have been in constant communication with the tribe and with the nation. We have some differences of opinion, but the communication its not for lack of a communication. We continue to communicate with them. I plan to visit them as early as i can. On one of my next visits there. I appreciate that, but the whole idea behind consultation isnt just its actually listening. Im not saying youre not, but im saying when you get pictures like this that appears that its going through a burial site, maybe theres more to the complaint than just somebody unhappy with trump. I know they were concerned about use of groundwater. Yeah. Weve addressed that concern. Were no longer using it within a certain mileage. It is critically important. I agree. What im getting to on this with not only tribes, i brought up Eminent Domain in the last round. These set up grounds where people come to hate the government. And there is nobody i serve with in the United States senate today, certainly nobody on this committee that doesnt want to empower you to do the job you need to do to keep this country safe. You brought up the stuff on the wall thats going to keep this country safe. Its not a steel wall thats 18 or 20 feet high. Its the lights, cameras, radar, heat seeking information that can can help. Its the technology, artificial intelligence, all of that. I know you cant tell the president that this is a bad idea because if you do, you wont be secretary anymore, because he tends to put people in positions like yours that absolutely agree with him 100 . Again, senator, we need the entire border wall system. We talk about the border wall system, physical infrastructure and all the other technology you talked about. I got it. But what im telling you is if if you use technology, you get away from the problem s that th tribe has, that people with Eminent Domain has, no mans land United States soil that will be south of that wall. You get rid of all those things and i maintain that its going to be more effective than a wall. Do you know why . 10 or 20 years from now, there will be different challenges and youll be able to change that technology to meet the 21st century challenges that a wall is not going to be able to meet. I put that out there. We can disagree. Mark my word, if i live long enough, somebody will be standing in front of that wall, some president , who will be saying tear down this wall because its much more effective utilizing technology, and its a fact. Absolutely. Border patrol needs technology. We continue to request additional technologies. They also need the impedence and denial that an effective border wall system provides and that comes directly from the operators. If you utilize manpower and technology, you can be more efficient than a wall. Why . You can see further out. And thats the question on the northern border. And its a question that the senator from north dakota brought up and that these towers are critically important and cost pennies on the dollar. Were spending, what, 2. 5 billion on a potential pandemic . By the way, if the 2 mortality rate out of china, i hope we have intell to back that up because they havent been very forthright with a lot of information they dont want us to know. I think thats another thing. Were spending 2. 5 billion on a potential pandemic and were spending 17. 5 million that we just started on a wall. Anyway, it doesnt make any sense. I want to talk about something more fun. Election security. Yes. Weve got interference in the runup potential foreign interference in the runup to the 2020 election, serious concern. Its no surprise that russia is at it again, their goal is to undermine our democracy on social media and other platforms. Were seeing it. Based on the intelligence properties youre privy to, do you agree that russia is trying to influence this upcoming 2020 election . We believe that as they did in 2016, that they will try to influence the election in 2020. And do you feel that your department we dont have any specific intelligence of that. We know that theyve tried. We know they did in 2016. We assume they will do again in 20. Ind you dont want to get in trouble. Youre a member of the intelligence community. Has that information been shared that russia is trying to influence our electrics again . Im not saying in favor of anybody. Yes. They continue to sow discord with our elections. With this budget, do you think this fully this properly resources dhs to be able to attack this problem . Absolutely. And you feel good about the potential to make sure that the states are on board . Yes. That they know youre there to give them a backstop . Absolutely. We do a number of things with the states, providing a number of services at no costs with the states. Were working with Political Parties and individual campaigns to offer those same services to their platforms and what they have out there. Were trying to educate voters to determine what interference looks like. They have a role to play in this as well. Thank you. This is foundational to the future of this country and the future of this democracy. Russia is screwing around and theyre doing this on for less than it costs for a fighter jet. And its crazy. I just have one other question for you, if i might. That is that there is a proposed secret service move. I was to treasury, from your department to treasury. I dont think thats necessarily a good idea. Thats not the point here. Has there been an independent analysis to determine the pros and cons of such a move . A study has been provided to congress on the move from dhs to treasury, both the pros and cons of that. Ill be happy to provide that to you. Who did it . I believe it was a number of folks, to include secret service but also other elements of the department. Was it an independent group that had no dog in the fight . No. I believe theres folks from the u. S. Government that would be involved in that move. I think they need to be involved but from a question and answering side not a question asking side. I think its important. I honestly think secret service should remain where its at. Why . You do a good job and theres more benefits and Cost Effective benefits if we keep it where it is. I dont understand sending it to treasury. There may be a reason or two, but it certainly does not outweigh the reason to keep it where its at. In closing really quick, thank you for what youre doing. Tough questions were asked today. I appreciate your frankness and i appreciate getting the information back that you said you would give us. Thank you, senator. Good luck to you. Thank you. I would like to thank you as well for your testimony. We just got called for a vote. I would like to tell my friend, senator tester, i agree with hmm on the secret service. I dont agree that they should be leaving and moving over to treasury. Theyre part of the fabric of the department of Homeland Security and so i frown upon that as well. And i think if the illusion that possibly maybe thought more resources or more attention would be paid to the secret service at the department of treasury, i think you do a great job at the department of Homeland Security, recognizing that, ive toured a lot of what they do in and around the white house and in executive protection and there is such a Quality Group of individuals that i think theyre well placed in Homeland Security. I have one last quick question on the coronavirus, when you mentioned your resources that are screening people. And this is probably small because theres only 15 cases. I think this is something that sometimes we forget sometimes. When people are in the workforce and placed in situations where they could put themselves at risk that we not really that we may overlook that own personal risk that theyre taking in the betterment for the good of the country, you though, Something Like this, i think, is a pretty careful and sensitive topic. Im sure youre keeping your eye on those front line worker. I do believe that that is something that im concerned about. And it is part of my response to senator kennedy, i have a responsibility to make sure the American People are safe but also the men and women of the department of Homeland Security, in doing their job every single day. We provide a number of resources to cvp and tsa officers to make sure theyre aware of the risk, we provide them a number of protective equipment theyre able to use. Most are use iing that. We continue to lean forward on that. Any briefing, any discussion about coronavirus, how the department is responding, my first or second question is always about the men and women of the department, how are they protected . Are they doing their job every day . As you show up to work every day, you expect to be protected and we need to make sure we do that. To senator shaheens point if you leave a gap of transparency, how its transmitted, how many people, its on twitter and all these other things. I read something that somebody was infected after 24day incubation period. I have no idea if thats true or not. If youre keeping people for 14 days if doesnt matter if its 24 days. When you get back to your task force in the morning, i think this is something people are starting to get really, really concerned about this, as you know. I understand. This concludes our hearing, acting secretary wolf, i appreciate you and all the men and women in your department and thank you for representing them so well today. The hearing record will remain open two weeks from today. Senators may submit written questions for the record. We ask that the department respond to them in a reasonable amount of time. If you need help with clarifications on the questions im sure relative senators will provide it or we would be able to help provide it at the chairmans office. With that, we stand in recess. Thank you. Acting secretary wolf wrapping up his testimony. You can watch the hearing in its entirety on cspan2 tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Former Homeland Security secretary tom ridge talks about Election Security and ways to combat mati on social media at a conference hosted by the penn state institute for computational and data sciences