Krao eut krao eut one of the mr. Cartwright one of the most important things i look into is the justice assistance grants. Ive been very proud to bring grants home in both of those areas to fund local police and also to fund efforts by our local district attorneys. These are the ones that deserve the credit for that huge drop in crime over the last year, arent they . Mr. Garland i quite agree with that, yes. Mr. Cartwright dont let me put words in your mouth, but who else deserves the credit for this big drop in crime that america has experienced . Mr. Garland look, im we know and weve had experience over decades now with the right kind of strategies for reducing Violent Crime. These involve strategies from the Federal Point of view, require the cooperation that the chairman was speaking of all of our agencies. Then creating joint task forces with state and local Law Enforcement who are enormous force multipliers for the department. Our u. S. Attorneys offices who reach out to community, our Grant Programs to support Community Violence interrupters, who go out into communities and prevent the crime from happening in the first place, who are willing to meet with potentially violent people and talk them down. So the importance of our grants to local communities to enhance good relationships between the police and the communities and because we dont get good policing and effective policing unless the Community Trusts the police, so its a combination across the board of federal Law Enforcement, local Law Enforcement, community engagement. Mr. Cartwright thats well said. I want to focus on hiring of attorneys to go into prosecution where, attorney general, what is the department of justice doing right now to prioritize creating efficiencies in its hiring and reducing the time to hire so that we have enough attorneys working for the department of justice and the prosecution generally . Mr. Garland with respect to Law Enforcement reduction and time to hire, this is a significant issue with respect to retention, promotion, recruitment, Law Enforcement. Sometimes both federal Law Enforcement and state and local Law Enforcement take so long to hire the person, to go through the whole background and vetting process, the person already accepts another job before we finish that process. So our cops office has created a playbook for state and local Law Enforcement to increase and streamline that process. Of course we are lacking internally to do the same thing. Mr. Cartwright my time is expired, attorney general. I yield back, mr. Chairman. Mr. Rogers mr. Garcia. Mr. Garcia thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, attorney general garland, for being here today. I view these annual appropriations hearings as similar to an investor brief. We get to talk to you about whats going on in your organization, the money youre asking for, the past performance, the vision, the path forward. I dont think most americans know what the department of justice does. I dont think most americans know what the attorney general does. So i wept on your website went on your website and just printed out the mission statement. The mission staeupt of the department of justice is to uphold the rule of law, to keep our country safe and to protect civil rights. Pretty straightforward, pretty simple. Youve been in office since 2021. You report directly to the president. And you know your mission. For your investors, the american taxpayers, how would you grade your performance over the last three years relative to that mission . Mr. Garland i would grade the work mr. Garcia im talking about you, attorney general. With all due respect to you and your team, i have all the respect in the world for the agents in the field. They are doing gods work on a daily basis. So this line of questioning is specifically about you, as someone who is on the cabinet, reports directly to the president , and during a period of record high crime rates. Before my colleagues across the aisle get offended, i am not talking about the agents in the field here. I think theyre doing gods work, theyre doing a with the resources they have. How would you grade yourself as attorney general of the United States . Mr. Garland you asked about Violent Crime. I think what the attorney general does with respect to Violent Crime is set forth a strategy or fighting for is fighting Violent Crime and makes sure its carried out throughout the department and the country. Its what i did almost immediately after i came into office. Mr. Garcia were short on time. Im just asking for a grade. A through f. How are you doing . Mr. Garland im going to give myself an a but with room for improvement. Mr. Garcia ok. Let me explain to you why i would give you an f. And we just heard why mr. Cartwright from pennsylvania was citing the decline in crime nationwide. Your mission is to uphold the rule of law. And crossing the border is a crime. It is illegal per pennel code penal code, crossing International Border is a crime. We have 7 1 2 Million People under your tenure who have come across our border. When you say theres a decline in homicides by about 20 , a decline in homicide in 50 years or whatever the number is, does that include the 75,000 people who were killed by fentanyl or poisoned by fentanyl, by in many cases dealers who knew they were selling fentanyl and the victims did not, does that decline in homicides of 20 include the 75,000 fentanyl poisonings . Mr. Garland im sure it does not include the fentanyl poeutsening poisonings. Mr. Garcia those were american lives lost, though, right . Why is that not considered a homicide . Mr. Garland u. S. Attorneys offices do pursue attorneys offices do pursue fentanyl traffickers, including even the sale of small amounts where we can establish the trafficker is the one who caused the death. Mr. Garcia do you charge them with homicide when thats the case . Mr. Garland theres a narcotics statute that includes sentencing enhancement for death. We dont prosecute homicides, those are state laws. Mr. Garcia when were putting the cape on and saying theres a 20 reduction in homicides, we are not counting the 75,000 americans that have been killed by this drug each year the second metric of keeping our country safe, we talk about the death to america chants in some of our cities. We heard raised testimony last year that were in one of the most precarious positions our nation has been in the last several decades. We have 10,000 people entering our border a day illegally. 7,000 increase in chinese immigrants coming across our border illegally. 10,000 people a day coming across the borders. And thats about a 40 increase since your watch began in f. Y. 2021. 350 people on the known terror watch list, eight in 10 americans feel less secure than they did just three or four years ago per the Pew Research Center so your assessment of yourself, i think someone who is in your position, literally reports directly to the president , and atry beaut of a leader in that attribute of a leader in that position has to be selfaware. They have to have the courage to tell the boss that the boss is screwing up, especially when its leading to loss of lives at the level that is unprecedented and i think youre giving yourself an a under these circumstances demonstrates a lack of selfawareness, frankly. I think kwhraoufbg earned an f youve earned an f. I think you need to talk to your boss and tell him that the policies are killing us. Not the lack of money. I respect the 37 billion investment request here, if i was in charge id give you more. But its the policies that are broken. So with that, im out of time, im happy to discuss more things, but i will wait for the second round to talk about the treatment of law and the application of law to certain demographics and i yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Rogers mr. Morelle. Mr. Morelle id like to give the attorney general a chance to respond to what he just heard. Mr. Garland i didnt hear a question in that at all. And i disagree with almost everything that youve said. But i want to be clear that the border responsibility, youre talking to the wrong department here. The department of Homeland Security is the Department Responsible for preventing things from coming across the border. The president and the secretary of Homeland Security have proposed a bipartisan bill to protect the border and reduce the number of people who come across and to increase the money spent to prevent fentanyl from coming across the border. So that would be my recommendation in that respect. Mr. Morelle thank you. Ill just editorialize, this is the second hearing ive been at, both with the director of the f. B. I. And the attorney general, theyve been personally attacked. I want to underscore, there was a bipartisan deal on the table. As i understand it, the former president persuaded people not to participate in that because didnt want a political win and cared about the politics over the safety of the United States people and the american people. So im getting tired of these hearings, of listening to these attacks when they can be addressed. Having said that, mr. Attorney general, thank you for the time with us today and thank you for your long service to the country. I want to thank your staff and you for providing detailed feedback on a bill which i have reintroduced, preventing deepfakes ofent mat images act of intimate images act. This is to prohibit the disclosure of nonconsensual deepfake pornography. A growing problem in the United States. 96 of all deepfakes involve pornography on the internet and as i work to pass this legislation into law, which i hope that i can continue to have lines of communication open to you and to the department and i want to thank you for that. If i can, sir, theres obviously been a lot of public reporting on special counsel robert hurs report back in february this year. Im no asking to you comment on the substance of the report, which has been talked about publicly, but as a member of the president s cabinet, someone who has regular contact with the president , would you like to comment on President Bidens fitness generally . Mr. Garland look, im i start by thank you for recognizing that i cant comment and wont comment about the special counsels report at all. But if youre asking me about my own observations as a member of the National Security council and a member of the president s cabinet, i have complete confidence in the president. I have watched him expertly guide meetings of staff and cabinet members on issues of Foreign Affairs and military strategy and policy in the incredibly complex world in which we now face. And in which hes been decisive in instructions to the staff, decisive in making the decisions necessary to protect the country. Like wise, with respect to domestic policy discussions, these are intricate, complicated questions that hes guided all of us through in order to reach results that are helpful and important and beneficial to the american people. I could not have more confidence in the president. Mr. Morelle thank you, sir. I have a number of questions which i may submit in writing but one thing i did want to get some additional comment, you mentioned in your testimony, in addition to my role as an appropriator im proud to serve as the ranking democrat on the committee on house administration, which has jurisdiction over federal election reforms. In july of 2021, the department of justice launched a task force to address the rise in threats against election workers and election officials. In addition to threats of violence and intimidation, our countrys election workers face new and unique pressures driven by the rapid spread of misinformation by extremists. With less than eight months before the general election, can you provide an update on the activities of the task force and the departments plans to ensure the election workers are protected from threats . Mr. Garland yes, thank you. As i said in my opening remarks, i think the threats to election workers, particularly the volunteer election workers, but obviously also sex of state and secretaries of state and appointed administrators, this is a real threat to our democracy, to have the people who running our elections afraid to continue their work. And so we have i have personally spoken to all of our United States attorneys by video and issued in person during our conferences, the f. B. I. Has agent depends voted to this issue and we have this task force that youre talking about. We have prosecuted more than around 20 cases now, many of which have yielded significant sentences and we have investigated many, many more and disrupted other kinds of threats. So we are completely seized with the importance of deterring and disrupting threats against our election workers. Mr. Morelle thank you, sir. Mr. Chair, i yield back. Mr. Rogers the gentleman. Last week when the house was considering legislation to reform and reauthorize the foreign Intelligence Surveillance act, did you or anyone in your office make phone calls to members of congress urging them to oppose the biggs amendment to require the government to obtain a warrant prior to spying on american citizens through fisa section 702, a yes or no will suffice . Mr. Garland the hatch act in the constitution permit members of the president S Administration to speak with members who are interested in questions about the effect of legislation just like you are asking me today about clyde clyde if we asked, thats one thing. Mr. Clyde if you we dont ask and you reach out, thats a different thing. Mr. Garland it doesnt violate any law of any kind. I discussed the vital United States interests in extending 702 with members mr. Clyde how many members did you call . Mr. Garland im not going to get into my conversations mr. Clyde im not asking about the conversations, im asking how many members did you call . Mr. Garland im not going to get into that question. Theres nothing unlawful. Mr. Clyde on march 3, 2024, at a pwap kheuft tufrpb Baptist Church in selma, alabama, you made comments regarding our countrys elections and elections laws passed by states. You claimed democracy wasnt under attack by discriminatory, burdensome and unnecessary restrictions on access to the ballot. Attorney general, do you believe requiring an i. D. To vote in a federal election is discriminatory . Yes or no . Mr. Garland i spoke at the mr. Clyde just yes or no. Mr. Garland an Iconic Church for which the march for Voting Rights began. Mr. Clyde just a yes or no would be fine. Mr. Garland the answer is the Supreme Courts decision says that undue burdens on Voting Rights caused by voter i. D. s can be unconstitutional, but that mr. Clyde what . Voter i. D. Can be unconstitutional . Mr. Garland it can be depending on the burdens and the skreupbltory way in which discriminatory way in which they are taken. Mr. Clyde ok, so do you think its important to positively identify every voter, to ensure that they are a legal voter . I think as you called it, a legitimate voter. Mr. Garland no. You have to be a United States citizen, you have to meet the qualifications for that to be a voter. Its important that only those people vote. Mr. Clyde how do you prove that . If you dont require i. D. . You require i. D. To get on an airplane. Youre not going to get on an airplane. [talking simultaneously] mr. Garland i have voted every year my entire life and ive never been asked to show an identification. Mr. Clyde ive always been asked to show identification. Wow. Do you believe that illegal aliens residing in the United States should be allowed to vote in federal elections . Yes or no . Mr. Garland no. Mr. Clyde all right, great, we agree on something. Other than u. S. Citizens, are there any other legitimate voters . Mr. Garland you have to be a u. S. Citizen to vote. Mr. Clyde you must be a u. S. Citizen. Ok, great. I ask unanimous consent to add this to the record, mr. Chairman. Thank you, sir. This is a poster found in the city outside of city of matamoros. It was posted around the migrant camps and it is a poster from hias, the immigrant aid society, and this particular poster says, the Resource Center is a sixunit complex that is the home of hias. At the very bottom it says, reminder to vote for President Biden when youre in the United States. We need another year of your mandate to stay open. Thats what this poster says. Reminds Illegal Immigrants to vote for President Biden. So, is the department of justice concerned about illegal aliens voting in federal elections . Mr. Garland the department of justice is concerned about any illegallalities with respect to voting. Ive never seen that poster, never heard of that poster. Thats the first time ive ever had anybody even mention that poster. Mr. Clyde well, now you have. So if any noncitizens vote in federal elections, are you going to prosecute them at the federal level . Mr. Garland anybody violates the voting laws, federal voting laws, we will investigate and prosecute as appropriate. Mr. Clyde thats good to hear. I appreciate that. With the additional money you asked for the Civil Rights Division, i hope that you prosecute illegal voting. Now, last year you promised to provide the prosecution Crime Statistics for the ci