Chairman shelby the committee will come to the order. Mr. Deputy attorney general, welcome to the congresss Appropriations Committee, which we will hear in the fiscal year 2018 budget request. I am pleased to welcome you here to your first hearing before this subcommittee. I am grateful that you and the attorney general brought the new leadership to the doj. Your input is helpful and necessary as we reviewed the priorities for the Justice Department to ensure that National Security and Law Enforcement is funded appropriately and sufficiently. This is a challenging budget climate as you know. Violent crime has risen and terrorists have escalated fiscal constraints. The president proposes to decrease funding at the department of justice by 630 million in 2018 for the new total of 28. 3 billion. Since the start of the new administration, in the early days of your tenure as Deputy Attorney general, im pleased the department is refocusing on the core mission of enforcing a constitution and newly enacted laws. Its critical to target the finite lawenforcement resources towards the worst criminals in our society and i agree with the attorney general directive to federal prosecutors to go after the most violent offenders we have in the country. Additionally, the importance of prosecuting Violent Crime is reflected in the president s budget request for 230 new assistant attorneys to address the problem. This reordering of priorities was further underscored by the obama administrations policies requiring federal prosecutors now to pursue the most serious charges and sense as possible. The stronger federal Law Enforcement approach toward drug crimes i believe it is critical and this is a key area where i hope, and i hope you will, see results for more stringent prosecution and the sentencing. The drug crisis that we have is fueled by drug traffickers that must be brought to justice under the law. The department is focused on the google problem of illegal immigration, making it a priority for prosecutors and empowering them to bring charges whenever possible under the law. Illegal immigration is one of the paul the most critical problems facing our nation, so it is encouraging to learn that the new approach has reduced the border crossings. The newfound ephesus on ephesus on immigration seeks marshals to address the alien problem. 70 Additional Support staff for immigration litigation assistance. I also appreciate the departments efforts to place Immigration Judges in jurisdiction where they are most needed and quickly hire the Immigration Judges, which the subcommittee has previously funded. Over the last eight years, dozens of the benches have gone due to the form administrations failure to act. In the meantime, the backlog of to aration cases has grown Staggering Number of 600,000. The reposed budget seeks to 65 million for the executive office to hire another 65 immigration judge tea on top teams on top of the 10 just provided. We will closely review the details of this request to balance the tremendous need with a restrictive budget requirement we are facing. I trust the recent establishment of the task force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety will continue to provide new ideas and recommendations on how the nation can best combat Violent Crime, illegal immigration and other lawenforcement challenges. Cyber security and counterterrorism remain two of the top National Security concerns, and we would want to know more about how the budget supports departments efforts for these critical fields. Thank you for the testimony today and we look forward to hearing you. And the questions. Your written statement will be made part of the hearing record in its entirety. You may proceed. Wait a minute. I am moving too fast. Sen. Shaheen. Sen. Shaheen thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to make a statement and your being here. The committee not only holds the Purse Strings for their federal government, but it also has a key role in performing oversight for all agencies under its jurisdiction, in this case for the department of justice. I am troubled i have to say, because for this subcommittee it is unusual to hold a hearing with the Deputy Attorney general when there is a sitting attorney general. This is the second time the attorney general has declined to appear before this subcommittee, canceling just days before hes scheduled to appear in an open public setting. As the nations chief lawenforcement officer, the attorney general is the most appropriate person to come for the subcommittee and testify the important work of the department of justice. The doj is on the front lines fighting the deadly Opioid Epidemic and it is still gaining strength. The doj hiring freeze for the officers correctional in federal prisons and curiously the request from the federal bureau of investigation is less than congress provided for fiscal year 2017. Even while the bureau conducts a counterintelligence investigations into russian influence in our 2016 process. While providing testimony before a newly scheduled Senate IntelligenceCommittee Hearing is important, and i understand that, the attorney general is still responsible for answering critical questions from the committee. He needs to provide his explanation for the budget as , well as the defense of his policies in an open public hearing for not only us that the but for the american public. I applaud your appointment as as the specialer counsel to oversee the Ongoing Investigation into the russian interference in the 2016 election. However, many questions remain both about your and the attorney generals role in this manner and your knowledge of resource requests made by the director of your involvement in the firing and your prior meetings with russian officials among many concerns. I will return to the subject s during my and your prior meetings with qur and know that my colleagues will express their concern and questions as well. I look forward to your testimony, our discussion today and at some future date having the attorney general appear before us in an open session. Thank you. Thank you and Ranking Member shaheen. I will not mince words. You are not the witness we were supposed to hear from today or the witness that should be behind the table. That responsibility lies with the attorney general of the United States. The attorneys general of the past did not shy away from the questions, regardless of the topic and regardless of the party. The attorneys general to fulfill of the questions, regardless of the topic and regardless of the party. The attorneys general to fulfilm responsibility, and they didnt agree to come and then canceled in the last minute. And send the secondincommand instead. Members of the committee have questions they may not want to answer. Until nowadays. With respect, i voted for you as you know. You are not who i am interested in hearing from today but i do have questions for the attorney general. I want to know why he has provided false testimony to me and to senator franken. I want to know why is he is recused in the Russian Investigation he played any role in the dismissal of fbi director james comey. I want to know how he believes he can credibly lead the Justice Department for which he has requested 28. 3 billion, amid pressing questions on his actions and integrity. And i believe the attorney general, the chief itenforcement officer, owes to more than the 116,000 Justice Department agents, intelligence analysts, and support personnel, the roughly one Million Police officers, and staff supporting more than 4500 assistance programs in every state to justify the budget request to the department of justice. Them that courtesy because the budget request for the Justice Department is the is abysmal. Cut the budget by 643 million from the fy 2016 and active level. The departments request is built on unrealistic assumptions , but worse than that its also built on the backs of crime victims. 1. 3 billion from the Crime Victims Fund. Let me repeat that. The president and administration have talked about how they support victims of crime, but they are asking for 1. 3 billion decision for the Crime Victims Fund. I do not know how you have tried to combine the rhetoric with the reality, how you can say you are for the victims of crime, but by the way, we will close the door on you. Ironically, in a budget touted as tough on crime the president operationsg for fbi and investigations by 44 million. We know we have to move ahead with the new fbi director. I have my own suspicions about why the president might seek out the fbi operations and personnel, but i want the attorney general to come in and talk about it. Just this week the attorney general quote about how he has theenforcements back, but Justice Department slashes the million in326 assistance to states, everyone represented in this dais. It slashes money for opioid initiatives by more than 27 million and includes eliminating ,10 million from the task force in those places that are worst hit by the opioid investigations, going after street traffickers. Everybody calls the opioid situation in Public Health crisis. I do not know how the Justice Department justifies cutting with those communities who have prevention, education and treatment. I am not surprised they want to cut the money for opioids, and they have proposed millions of dollars to hire lawyers to focus on seizing private land from hardworking americans along the southwest border, so the president can build his misguided wall. We wont protect our people but by golly we will take their land. Prioritiesce in the makes one thing clear, the trump and attorney general are intended on making our communities less safe abandoning the victims of crime , and victimizing those in the communities. Finally, regardless of the circumstances of your appearance today, i will raise one point with you. On may 1, the office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion, arguing the executive branch is not obligated to meet legitimate oversight request of the individual members of congress. Only the request from the chairs of the committees must be met. This is a coequal branch of in manyve been here republican and democratic administrations, i have been here when republicans have had control and democrats have had control. Ive never heard anybody, republican or democrat make this claim, we have checked on both sides of the aisle, chairman withley whom i have worked , called your opinion nonsense. Now the attorney general has the authority, i think he has an obligation to withdraw that opinion. May seek toration hide things from the American People, but they should know this. The Ranking Members and committee chair, objecting congressional oversight will do nothing to advance the interest of the American People and they should be withdrawn. Chairman shelby thank you. Without objection. Mr. Rosenstein, you may proceed. Dep. Att. Gen. Rosenstein good morning. Ranking member shaheen, members of the committee. I am honored to present the 2018 budget for the department of justice. The proposed budget matches the interest of the American People by allowing the dedicated men and women of the department to continue their outstanding work. We are grateful for your strong support and we look forward to building on our successes as we work to protect the nation from the rule of law and to ensure to promote the rule of law and to ensure equal justice for all. The 2018 request shows a strong commitment to the Justice Departments top priority, it provides more funding to fight cybercrime to reduce violent , crime and tackle the illegal immigration and also gives the resources that we need to support the state, local and tribal partners and essential Law Enforcement work. ,t attacks central themes efficiency and focusing on prries these changes are critical and they support the executive order of the president to reorganize Government Agencies for the goal of increasing efficiency and effectiveness. First, the budget is an honest one, eliminated from the books thousands of previously unfunded and vacant positions that give a misleading impression of the personnel we have in the department. Those ghost positions in most cases have been vacant for years or have never been at all. Secondly, the budget seeks to identify areas we can afford to cut back without harming our mission. And finally, the budget improves the allocation of our precious resources so we can do the most , Effective Work with every tax dollar that we spend. National security remains the highest priority. We face a wide array of evolving threats from terrorism to espionage and the cybercrime. We also need to come to terms, senators, with the growing dark challenge which you are all familiar with. Going dark refers to law increasingly increasing inability to access a andective Communications Store data. As a result, this technology impairs our ability to conduct investigations and to bring the criminals to justice. A lot of force officers operate within the constitution and respect the private interests. When there is a legitimate need to access electronic information and we have a court order or other legal authority, Public Safety is jeopardized when we are not able to obtain that information. Our Department Must keep adapting to the evolving challenges. To that end, the budget provides an extra 98. 5 million to combat terrorism, espionage and Cyber Security threats. The Justice Department is also committed to protecting the American People from violentto t crimes and from the adverse effects of the illegal drug distribution. Both of which are spiking at alarming rates. Rising in manys areas of the nation and drugrelated injuries and deaths are increasing across the country. Senators, the evidence is indisputable, rising Violent Crime and drug abuse are devastating american families. The Justice Department is facing these head on and we need your help. The proposed budget provides the departments Law Enforcement agencies with extra support so they can target the criminals, transnational crime organizations and Drug Trafficking rings. , as theprovides chairman mentioned, 230 additional assistant u. S. Attorneys to focus specifically on the efforts to fight Violent Crimes. Those Additional Resources will enhance the ability of federal Law Enforcement to fight crime and keep our communities safe. We are focusing on getting illicit drugs off of the streets through strong enforcement efforts and through the drug takeback programs. In addition to that, we call on doctors, pharmacists and pharmaceutical companies to take a hard look at their practices and help us develop ways to reduce the pharmaceutical drugs. And there over prescription. The American People also expect the government to secure our borders and restore a lawful system of immigration. The department of justice will do our part in conjunction with Homeland Security. The proposed budget provides muchneeded funding to hire 75 additional Immigration Judges and support personnel to reduce the unacceptable backlog on the Immigration Courts. It will also allow us to hire more deputy u. S. Marshals and more border enforcement prosecutors, so that we can effectively apprehend and prosecute criminal aliens who threaten the communities. The federal government doesnt maintain Public Safety alone. 85 of the lawenforcement officers in the country are not. They are not federal. They work for state, local and tribal partners and we rely on them heavily. Men and women serving on the front lines are the first line of defense and they help to keep communities safe. They deserve our support. The budget maintains our commitments to partners and has funding to grant those highperforming programs that have proven to be effective. We will do all we can to be good stewards of the departments resources and we have the duty to avoid waste and safeguard taxpayer money so that it will be available to fight crime and protect people. The department of justice is the for 150,000 honorable men and women who work every day to serve, protect and defend the American People and respects the constitution of the United States. This budget makes it possible for us to do our jobs, with investments set forth in the with your support, we will continue to enforce the nations laws and ensur