Homeland security secretary chad wolf spoke about request. Budget members of the subcommittee on Homeland Security asked about drug interdiction efforts. President s border wall, and 2020 Election Security. A lot of the questioning dealt plan he administrations on fighting the coronavirus. Welcome. I call this subcommittee on the Homeland Security to order. The first hearing of the cycle get 2021 budget and were glad to be joined by acting secretary chad wolf. Named acting secretary of Homeland Security november 13, 2019. To taking on this very challenging task, he developed and oordinated strategies polici policies to advance the Homeland Security mission and protected his merican public through leadership role in the office of strategy, policy, and plans. Of the is a recipient u. S. Secretary of Homeland Securitys distinguished service edal for his initiatives to counter domestic and International Terrorism and safeguard american interests the duration department. He thank you for that. We are joined by senator ses tester. Were beginning to consider, actually, the fiscal year 2021 budget request and look forward to further insight today from mr. Secretary. Very pleased to be joined by the of the full r committee, senator leahy, as well. 2021, i hope year to build on the progress made in the fiscal year 2020 bill, which december 20, 2019 basis. Oad bipartisan our 2020 bill provided a total in 50. 46 billion Discretionary Funding and included several significant investments that will shape and Homeland Security for years homeland for years to come. It provided billions of dollars support for border ecurity including money for sensors, health, life, and safety issues. Border patrol g facilities. It provided more than 22 illion for fema to support Disaster Relief efforts and state Grant Programs. It provided additional funding of targeted e violence and terrorism prevention to combat emerging threats. It funded the demroit of Aviation Security equipment, myself, at ally saw t. S. A. Headquarters designed to global threat detection, capabilities, and increased efficiencies for our travelers. Of dollars to ns ensure the men and women of the u. S. Coast guard have the carry onal capacity to out their domestic and overseas missions. Election funding for security certainly in 2020 is critical and provided funding cyber threat, analysis, capability in federal, state, tribal infrastructures. It provided millions of dollars detect a system to develop narcotics r smuggled and explosives. It included money for grants for missing and exploited investigations. Most i am proud of in the 2020 bill, because its so critical me and my state, is the continuing efforts of the department to combat the opioid methamphetamine crisis. Our state of West Virginia is cutely affected by this challenge. Its promising to see the investments made by the first the subsequent tangible 20 had some impacts in some of these previous investments include ncreases to Law Enforcement personnel and improvements to detection equipment at ports of to y, investments significantly enhance i. C. E. s to detect information on the dark web. A staffing in appalachia, particularly affected area and other regions affected by the drug crisis. Nd funding for the opioid detection research. These are Real Investments that will make a significant we plan to nd continue to work with you to make sure these investments are put to good use. Conducted our hearing defenpartment of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2020 we spent the majority of our time discussing the security and umanitarian crisis at the southwest border. At that time, the border crisis was receiving a great deal of rightly so. D after billions of dollars of investments through a appropriations in our f. Y. 2020 bill, i can say at the border has diminished but challenges obviously still remain with tens f thousands of apprehensions every month and tons of citizens excuse me and seizures of contraband. We helped provide what was at the t the border but same time we did not lose sight critical mission. Ill name am so. Counterterrorism, trade nforcement, human trafficking, maritime security, opioid and drug interdiction, president ial cybersecurity, infrastructure protection, emergency management, continuity immigration , services, Law Enforcement training, countering weapons of ass destruction, state and local information sharing, and most recently, supporting efforts to contain the coronavirus, just to name a few. I know Going Forward well remember the role that this played in enabling and scrutinizing all of the missions of the department. Were discussing all of the departments missions, id like budget proposals to shift the secret service out of he department of Homeland Security. As you know, and as i feel, the ecret service is a critical component of the department and conducts Important Missions across our nation, and i look orward to better understanding this proposal. Given all of the departments critical needs, i am, again, many of the that budget many parts of this budget request are not grounded reality. Including, one, assuming that the appropriate committees of ongress will authorize new revenue. Two, assuming that the appropriate committees of congress will restructure fema and that the Appropriations Committee will 3 4e to cut these grants by of a billion dollars. And, three, failing to annualize bipartisan critical security related activity that f. Y. 2020. N these funding gaps allows the propose spending on money we dont have, making our job harder. Afforded the t luxury of ignoring reality and concepts whentank it enacts appropriations bills. While the practice of digging expecting oles and congress to fill them may prevent the department from making tough choices at the time presented, itt is actually reduces the departments influence over the outcome. Acting secretary wolf, thank you for appearing before us today. We will make sure you and your eam keep us up to date on what resources you need to continue the good work that you are doing. My ranking rn to member, senator tester from senator tester thank you for having this hearing today. Hank you, acting secretary wolf, coming here discussing the fiscal year 2021 budget request department of Homeland Security. Think its very unfortunate acting is in front of your name. Weve had plenty of time to are notjudges some that qualified but someone with your stature doesnt have that permanent designation. For t want to put that in the record. I want to express my thanks not 240,000 you but to the employees at d. H. S. Who work to keep us safe and the homeland secure. H. S. , as the chairman point out, has a broad mission. Including countering terrorism from foreign and domestic securing cyberspace and Critical Infrastructure and hreatening preparedness and esilience, supporting Natural Disaster response and recovery and supporting our border. To hear your plans for the budget. Address some snt of the vulnerabilities our country faces. He proposed budget places an emphasis on an ineffective wants more and detention beds. This seems to be cuts to Vital National security programs such cybersecurity, Aviation Security, chemical security, preparedness grants for local innovative and research. This is an alarming trend. With regard to the border wall, has appropriated 4. 5 billion over the last four fiscal years. Taken another 10. 1 billion from military and treasury on from Forfeiture Fund over bipartisan of congress. Ut all those numbers together, thats almost 20 billion, and now were being asked to fund nother 2 billion in d. H. S. Budget for fiscal 2021. Not one dime has been paid for y mexico, as the president promised. All these dollars have been paid for by the american taxpayer. This is a wall that will take of millions of property from ranchers and farmers. It will threaten the borders and cost nearly 25 million per mile on average when alternate Technology Solutions deployed at a much lower cost. I would also tell you that i ot 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 from that was sent to me a trump supporter on the southern border whos having in r ranch literally cut half by this wall if it goes up. We still dont have a plan that explains how this funding will used. The last border wall plan d. H. S. Submitted is out of date and the the Government Accountability office, be criticizes being incomplete and areas. In several key further, two weeks ago, f. B. I. Irector Christopher Wray testified before congress. He said, we face a diverse and dangerous terrorism threat and that the threat is unrelenting. E mentioned the particular concern of domestic terrorism carried out by racially or ic \ly motivated ethnically motivated violent sponsored and state espionage against our economy and elections. A border wall across the addresses none of the concerns that f. B. I. Serious wray says is threats to our homeland. While i am a strong supporter of Border Security, the actions of administration to inflamed the partisan divide do not make us safer and make it difficult to get things done here in congress. Recent nt deployment of special Operations Forces and to deny residents of new york in the trusted Traveler Programs come to mind as recent examples resources are being used to protect the country or solely to make political points. Me, as tom line for Ranking Member of this committee, is to ensure in a hardearned ing taxpayer dollars in programs that address the most serious threats to our country, not empty campaign promises. Finally, id be remiss if i didnt mention security along border. Hern last year we received the Implementation Plan for d. H. S. That lays out specific equirements across various d. H. S. Components to improve the departments ability to facilitate safe, secure, and flows of crossborder traffic and secure the northern border against threats. Seeking a commitment from you today that sufficient resources are being dedicated to executive execute that plan in a timely manner. R. Acting secretary, i look forward to your testimony. As i said in a recent visit im here toe visit, work with you and hope we can find the Common Ground to fund National Security investments truly does make sense for the American People. Thank you, madam chair. Secretary wolf as acting secretary, my priorities are guided by determination to robust, at dvrs is resilient, and forward leaning, repared to address the threats of today and those of tomorrow. Fiscal year 2021 president s budget is not only a reflection priorities, but a path to achieving them. The e subcommittee knows, department of Homeland Securitys mission has air, land, sea, cyber domains and our workforce of 240,000 strong 24 hours a day, year. Ys a it facilitate our lawful trade security , balancing with the freedom of movement with care and precision every day. Say, Economic Security is Homeland Security and the department plays a mission. Role in this the president s budget ensures our workforce has the resources execute these critical responsibilities. It includes 49. 8 billion in net Discretionary Fund and more for relief fund to respond to and recovery from disasters in the homeland. Remain et priorities consistent with recent years which includes securing our borders, enforcing our mmigration laws, securing cyberspace and Critical Infrastructure, transportation ecurity, and american preparedness. Recognizing that the threats to the homeland are more dynamic than ever before, budget also budget to respond to emerging threats, including those emanating from nation states. Is also helping manage the u. S. Governments response to the coronavirus. Coronavirusisk from to americans remains relatively low, and we will continue to to ement measures designed keep it that way. D. H. S. Has responded with including afeguards directing all flights from china airports for medical screening. Cwmd d contracts from our office and continue to provide those contracts at those 11 airports. Ill now highlight specific riorities in the fiscal 2021 budget. The Department Must continue to grow our digital defense as threats grow in scope and severity. Will preserve our electoral process and secure our systems against interference of kind. The president s budget invests 1. 7 billion in the cybersecurity and infrastructure to strengthen our cyber and infrastructure security mission. Roughly n increase of 150 million from the residents f. Y. 2020 budget threat. The border remains a focus administration. It includes 2 billion for the construction of approximately 82 miles of new border wall system. Funding for Additional Technology and staffing. While securing our border is the utmost importance, the integrity of our immigration system requires that 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. Budget includes over 3 billion to ensure that our law nforcement officers have the resources they need to faithfully execute the law. S true today as it was in the wake of 9 11, counterterrorism remains a top focus for the department. Importantly, the president increased funding for targeted violence and terrorism programs by over 500 in this budget. The money distributed across. H. S. Xoeents components is critical in helping prevent radicalization. T modernizes the fleet for United States coast guard. Provides 550 million for the funding to fund the polaruction of the Second Security cutter which supports our National Interest in the region. It includes 564 million for the another patrol cutter, critical Capital Investment for the coast guard. Capabilities and technology are important for the department, our greatest asset and women who execute our Mission Every day. As threats evolve and our capabilities grow, tremendous is needed to execute our mission. For d. H. S. , the budget provides 500 new or cybersecurity employees across the department. 750 new Border Patrol agents. 126 new support staff. Processing atrol coordinators. New law. , 2,800 enforcement officers. Approximately 400 or so new attorneys. Staff. 1,400 new support for t. S. A. , funding to sustain oughly 47,000 transportation Security Officers to match the pace in passenger growth over the next year. Provides funding for an overall pay increase for 3 s. Employees including a increase for our uniformed coast guard men and women. Hese priorities are only a few included in the budget and d. H. S. Has one of the most setsse and complex mission in all of government and i continue to be amazed by the professionalism and dedication f the men and women at the department. Their commitment to our mission is beyond reproech and we should all reproach and we should at night. Better again, thank you for opportunity appear before you today and questions. D to the senator moore capito thank you. Thank you very much. ll begin by going to cybersecurity because im very concerned in the budget you in your testimony that budget requests more than what the president equested last year but in effect its about 250 million ess than what this congress enacted in cybersecurity. How do you account with that own testimony at the urgency of cybersecurity and how growing, how are you justifying a 250 million cut to critical ats so honorable wolf one, the process which when the budget was created. Obviously it was created well funding received our last year. I will say we are in an Election Year this year. Congress rom again, thank you for that provides us with enough at 2021 as we look hich is an off Election Year, it funds to provide that Election Security resource. Again, Election Security, while out specifically in the budget as a line item, a lot they do throughout cissa ontributes to a lot of the resources to election state officials as well as political campaigns. Enator moore capito is what youre saying the 250 million the Election Security piece, is that how im hearing it . Honorable wolf no. The budget request enacted in what i can tell you in. Y. 2020, that is an Election Year. As we look at 2021, well sustain that in the budget that well ested for 2021 sustain those activities. Senator moore capito ill note cfas canceling the program at the same time which is part of that reduction as well. Id note, just because this is an Election Year doesnt mean elections stop as november of 2020. This will be an ongoing responsibility of you and others administration. Let me ask about the border wall ecause thats obviously a source of interest. Can you tell us youre asking enough to build another well, urrently, 126 miles have been built to date of the money thats been previously provided for. What are the new capabilities as a result of this and what are as the next 2 billion and how will that affect system . Der wall honorable wolf sure, chairman. S you indicated, we have 126 completed. We have 213 miles currently nder construction and another 414 under prekuks in the preconstruction phase. As i often ties, talk about, are night and day landing map ng 1986 landing map. Not only the physical infrastructure but ights, cameras, radars, fiberoptics. The impede yens and denial that the new border wall system provides to Border Patrol is night and day to what they previously had. As i toured the border and as i there and talk to our men and women in green, i ask them, what do they need to border . He resources, technology, and then obviously the staffing. So its sort of a threelegged stool. We talk about technology, the first thing they ask for is an effective border wall system again, provides that impede yens denial so they can manner and timely then apprehend those that are looking to get in. Senator moore capito the rocessing agents that we provided for i might have the incorrect name there you know what i am talking about, border that we provided for in the last budget was kind of a the department. Partly to alleviate what our borderagents were doing, patrol agents were doing in lieu of their front line job of Law Enforcement. Maybe transportation or other, health care, something of that nature. Nd also to be part of a recruiting tool to maybe get folks involved in the border so they may advance different areas of Border Patrol. How many people have you hired been the and whats success of that . I know its been a short period of time. Because youre asking for more budget. Honorable wolf thank you for that. Thank you for congress for providing that. An exact back to number to our hiring to date. I will say those positions are absolutely critical. Retention. Ards it goes towards recruitment. When you have Border Patrol agents that are fully trained to on the border n about are instead are at orpitals or handing out food doing things they normally they didnt sign up to do, they are not trained to do you dontore capito know if you have hired any into that . Dont have the i exact number. Senator moore capito before we und it, we want to make sure hiring into certain positions so i think we need to carefully watch that. More question and then move on. I really want to ask about the facilities but ill ask about coronavirus. Ill get another chance to ask softsided facilities. This is a source of great concern of so many people. As youre ou all, Walking Around your respective states, people asking all the time, what are we doing . Top of this . You mentioned i guess there was a briefing this morning that basically told us that its going to come more broadly to the United States. Which i think we all expect. Can you tell us how youre and ng on the coronavirus with who, what other coordinating entities . Honorable wolf thank you. You mentioned, the task force, again, led by h. H. S. , did rief members of congress this morning. I will say were working hand in hand every day with that task departments perspective. We are taking in the direction from the medical professionals h. H. S. As they lay out a medical strategy to deal with the coronavirus. We are implementing measures to that. T so specifically in the airport environment, the sea port environment as well as land entry, were making sure the measures we put in place, the medical screening we there for the e protection of the American People and thats really what the president has asked us to lean into. To date, we have about 15 ases that weve identified coming in from china. Thats separate from those on cruise ships that have been overseas. So we feel like, again, the threat right now remains low. And others,o c. D. C. I think they continue to expect the number of cases in the u. S. To increase. The last several weeks, those really have not increased. Flat emained relatively between 12 and 14 cases. So the department feels very in the measures that we put in place. Gain, as c. D. C. Continues to adopt their medical strategy, the department will adopt the senator moore capito presently, do you have the need to move forward . Honorable wolf we do. On a tinue to look that daily basis. We go to o. M. B. Right now we have them in the existing budget. We will have to move money that. To adjust for well certainly be in contact with you and other members of the committee and o. M. B. If we additional or supplemental money. Senator moore capito thank you. Senator tester. Senator leahy. Senator leahy thank you. Wolf, welcome. Y ill echo what senator tester said. While i appreciate your service, regret that you are one of the very, very many positions in administration to which we should be speaking to somebody ctually confirmed by the senate. I have seenposition in my decades in the senate. Might appreciate that responsibility the acting secretary is given. Constitutional checks and balances. A little bit about the border. Raided ident has congressionally appropriated dollars from defense projects to fund the including money to for service ing mold to lead to helping children. Weve seen go get a fromeddollar cordless saw the department store. In the el paso sector, and ive visited, there and a der agents have found number of 5 rebar ladders which more. Se more and ladders or 100 cordless sauce have been used to wall . The honorable wolf senator, i dont have that. The number of attempts to locations border wall areas. El paso and other they will continue to find innovative ways to cross the border. Enator leahy its not innovative to get a cordless saw ladder. T a 5 rebar thats not very innovative, is it . Say no. E wolf i would that could be found at any hardware store. Do we have y numbers how many times thats been done . It. Rable wolf we can get largely from the 1970s era map where its about eight feet high you can get a ladder or jump over. We have seen a lot of ladders. Let me know within the past year. Honorable wolf we will get that number for you. Senator leahy how many tunnels have been discovered . Honorable wolf thats probably in the single digits, but we continue to invest in echnology that will look for tumbli tunnelling as well. Senator leahy let me know the number of devices and types that have been discovered by c. B. P. Defeat the wall. Honorable wolf sure. When can i get those numbers . Honorable wolf ill get with well get you d the numbers as quickly as possible. Senator leahy thank you. By Drug Enforcement administrations counterdrug and they keep telling part of st common getting drugs in is through entry. F now, they have been increasing i know they have increasing use of drivethrough scanners at the ports of entry. Know the approximately percentage of passenger and vehicles that are are along the southwest border . Of passenger 1 vehicles and 15 of commercial vehicles. I will say congress in f. Y. 2019 and f. Y. 2020 did provide funding for our technology that for narcotics. The goal for 2023 decrease from using that funding that congress provide and 72 . Rcial from 15 to senator leahy one of the most ecent statistics to the percentage of hard narcotics heroin hamphetamine and that are apprehended between of entry and onorable wolf we see the number of narcotics coming through ports of entry, we will interdict those about 2 3. About 1 3 is coming through ports of entry. In the last fiscal year we have those increase of narcotics to include the wide range of narcotics between ports entry so we are growing concerned about that as well. Enator leahy now, d. H. S. Has ontinued to cannibalize funds of accounts to fund more a ention beds so you have constant ballooning of detention capacity. For example, the roughly 40,000 currently detained by i. C. E. Are asylum of them seekers who demonstrated 20 credible clear persecution and torture. What percentage this will be my last question. Up. Ime is roughly, what percentage of individuals have committed serious criminal a enses such they would be Public Safety risk if they were released, and how much does it detain those 8,000 individuals every day . I donte wolf senator, have that exact 8,000 figure. I. C. E. Removes criminals from our communities. 87 and t 89 , between 89 of the amount of individuals hey remove every year are criminals, those are on final order of removal or criminal some kind. We continue to remove criminals in our communities. But they do have a wide they mission. De so theyre enforcing Immigration Law at the border, in the interior, and elsewhere. You will let me now how much it will cost to detain the 8,000 who are Asylum Seekers . Honorable wolf yes, senator. We will take that for the record. Like that hy id within the week if we could. Senator moore capito thank you. Senator kennedy. Kennedy thank you, madam chairman. Hank you, mr. Secretary, for being here. How many cases of coronavirus do e have right now in the United States . Honorable wolf we have 14 additional i believe its 20 or 30 some odd ases that we have repatriated back in the u. S. From a number of cruise ships. Senator kennedy how many are anticipating . Honorable wolf again, were working with h. H. S. To determine that. Senator kennedy how many do you anticipate . Honorable wolf we do anticipate the number will grow. Have the number. Senator kennedy is someone modeling that . Do you have any way of guessing . Honorable wolf h. H. S. Through their medical professionals. Senator kennedy you are head of h. H. S. And your job is to keep us safe. Sir. Rable wolf yes, senator kennedy do you know how many the experts are predicting . Honorable wolf we only know anticipate those numbers to grow in the u. S. Thats why were making sure our perations at our airports, landports are flexible. Senator kennedy you cant tell are w many your models anticipating . Honorable wolf no, senator. Id defer you to health and that. Services for senator kennedy dont you think that . Ght to check on honorable wolf yes. Senator kennedy im all for forces. Es and task honorable wolf we are coordinating them enator kennedy you are the secretary. I think you ought to know the answer. Honorable wolf i understand that. How is the kfb transmitted . Honorable wolf through a ways. Y of obviously humantohuman. Weve seen that. Again, were making sure those as they come into the u. S. Are medically screened so we can identified is it kennedy how transmitted . a variety of ways. Humantohuman. Vicinity. He same physical contact. Usually what weve seen from the medical cases weve seen here in u. S. Weve had several, i think two to three humantohuman cases hat have showed up here in the u. S. Its those that are closest to those individuals that have that contact. Enator kennedy whats the mortality rate so far . Nationwide . Worldwide . Wolf i believe its under 2 . Senator kennedy how much under 2 . Honorable wolf ill check with c. D. C. Monitoring the worldwide mortality rate. I can get you for that. Senator kennedy you dont know rate today . Y honorable wolf it changes daily, senator. Enator kennedy since we discovered the virus . Honorable wolf it was high as 3 . Numbers were rkal could you ated senator kennedy its between 1. 5 and 2 . Of influenza . Ber honorable wolf right around well. Ercentage as its around 2 as well. Senator kennedy are you sure of that . Honorable wolf a little bit, yes, sir. Senator kennedy ok. Do we have enough respirators . Onorable wolf to my knowledge we do. We want to make sure that c. D. C. Equipment. Senator kennedy we just heard testimony that we dont. From . Ble wolf testimony senator kennedy in our briefing. Honorable wolf ok. Medical professionals or for senator kennedy you are head of security. Do we have enough respirators or not . Honorable wolf for patients . I dont understand the question. Senator kennedy for everyone, that gets theican disease . Say go to olf i h. H. S. Senator kennedy youre the secretary of Homeland Security. Sir. Able wolf yes, senator kennedy and you cant tell me if we have enough respirators . I would wolf what tell you is the budget, my budget, our operations are on the men and women to make sure they do their jobs, to screen individuals working with re h. H. S. And senator kennedy you dont have the answer . Enough facemasks . Honorable wolf for the department of Homeland Security. Senator kennedy i am asking for the American People . Honorable wolf for the entire American Public . Senator kennedy yes. Honorable wolf no. I would say we are not. How many number are we short . Honorable wolf i dont have that number. Senator kennedy somebody is doing modeling on how many cases were anticipating. Not aware of it. Honorable wolf you are asking e a number of medical questions. H. H. S. Focusing on. Senator kennedy i am talking about the department of homeland to rity and youre supposed keep us safe and you need to know the answers to these questions. Onorable wolf and senator kennedy how far away are we getting a vaccine . Wolf several months. Senator kennedy thats not what we heard testimony about. Wolf ok. Senator kennedy whos on first, whos on second . Wolf for the coronavirus response. Senator kennedy youre telling me were months away from having a vaccine and thats your testimony as secretary of Homeland Security . What i have been told by h. H. S. And c. D. C. , yes. Senator kennedy and have you to make sure thats accurate . Honorable wolf we will talk a number of these senator kennedy well, your umbers arent the number as c. D. C. s. Honorable wolf i would defer to c. D. C. On medical questions. You thinknnedy dont you need to contact them to make sure you are right . Onorable wolf we are in contact with them every day. Kenld kenned you senator kennedy you dont know a you would have discrepancy . Mr. Secretary, i am going to hush here. You are supposed to keep us safe people deserve ome straight answers on the coronavirus. And i am not getting them from you. Honorable wolf i disagree. Senator kennedy thats all i chair. Adam shaheen we did have a briefing this morning. Id like to urge the department the other officials within some openment to have briefings. I didnt hear anything this morning that i havent read in he newspaper and i think it would be very helpful to the American Public to have a better ense of whats going on with to try and nd also post some information that could public. Uestions for the i met with some constituents after that briefing and thats one of the things that i heard have the is they dont information that they would like to have to share with their do oyees and to try and whats right in response to this emergency. I would now like to go to border and the devastating opioid epidemic. New hampshire, like west been very hard hit. Some small en progress thanks to the bipartisan support for funding provided significant increases for technology, for interdiction, to support treatment. But im concerned that what we to interdict fentanyl and other drugs is more than build a wall. I think there are more effectively ways to address that interdiction. Wonder if you can discuss the departments progress in deploying additional chemical devices to detect fentanyl. It was required under the interdict act. Advanced data the on International Mail shipments the stop required by act. Can you tell us where we are . Departmentsf the efforts to address the opioid crisis, we are multifaceted from on the interdiction side, and we talked about the n. I. I. And other technology we have out there. Work with nuing to the Postal Service to target at ments and then looking technology that will screen those shipments as well. Of course, i. C. E. , homeland certainlynvestigation has a role here in investigating these seizures. Every time we make a seizure, we turn those over to investigators, theyll investigate and d. O. J. Will help those as well. Also, c. N. T. , we continue to have money. In f. Y. We had money 2020, about 8 million. 2021 torequest for f. Y. Further enhance the technology that we have out there so they smaller smaller and amounts of fentanyl and opioids and the like across the spectrum. Senator sheehan when do you xpect both of those, the full implementation to address to be completed . A good e wolf thats question. Let me take that one. We have a timeline. Dont have the exact date of implementation of all of those efforts, but im sure c. B. P. Certainly does, who is the lead thats working there. Senator sheehan are we doing analysis to make what makes sense to stop drugs coming into the United States, a wall or is it these kinds of interdiction efforts that use technology . Respond. You to honorable wolf a holistic view, its all of the above. Gain, as i mentioned earlier, about 2 3 of the opioids that we do detect come through ports of entry. An n, thats whether its airport of entry or landport of entry. Were focused on the funding provided. Ess thank you for deploying small, n. I. I. Large numbers of technology. Thats everything from a hand held to something that screens a deploy making sure we that in rapid fashion. Enator sheehan i want to switch to the h2v visa program a Critical Program to help Small Businesses in New Hampshire, particularly those seasonal workers. Our tourism industry. Ur lodging and restaurant industry. Landscapers. Making those new visas available important. I was pleased to see there was an announcement that the visas increased. Talk about how soon those visas will be released and whether to be at the ng same time because the Summer Season is fast approaching. Wolf i will say right now no decision has been made about the supplemental cap increase. Again, would urge congress, you are in the best position to that fy how many visas Program Needs for the fourth year in a row, the departments duty to n that coordinate with the secretary of labor. We have been doing that. Gain, i would encourage congress to pick the number. Shaheen i have been on letters saying you need to increase that cap and pointing the cap has s when been increased and how effectively theyve been used. The problem is congress. I think the problem is at the administration level. And if its not your Department Needs to make that decision, then you need to tell us who is decision because i got a whole bunch of Small Businesses in New Hampshire who arent going to be able to do summer if ess this they dont have those workers. Honorable wolf the reason i say congress to it for decide this, i believe it gives industry a predictability. Know each and every year how many visas they have to work ith and plan their business accordingly. Every time you give it to the department, well continue to do ur work, and ill outline what weve done thus far, it takes time to make the decision. Of course, we have to publish a that. King to do it continues to increase the time before the visas get out there. I talked to secretary scalia, department of labor, six times over the past three, four up with a solution, a proposal. We hope to announce that very shortly. To push that inue decision. What i will say, its not only a looking at ts also the fraud and the abuse in the program which the department of Homeland Security is certainly concerned about. If we do reach out and increase, you also see a number get to sions there that that waste, abuse and the fraud that i believe members of basis s on a bipartisan have expressed concern with as well. But i share your sense of urgency, senator. I just want to make that clear. Quickly as i can to make that decision. Knows how industry many visas to work with and can, again, plan their businesses accordingly. Shaheen thank you. Senator moore capito senator hoeven. Hoeven thank you. Thank you, madam chair. Secretary wolf, thanks for being here. Appreciate you and we appreciate do. Work that you Border Security well, let me this one first. Turns of counter u. A. S. , vehicles. Erial the budget request includes 35 illion for d. H. S. Science and technology. Thats up from 13 million in f. Y. 2020. Moneys going at to be spent on u. A. S. , will you . Thats on olf research, development and testing of countering u. A. S. Capabilities. The department has some limited jurisdiction in capabilities. Were continuing to explore that. D. H. S. Ainly for facilities. We are working with the department of defense, f. A. A. , transportation and others as well as secret service as been using counteru. A. S. Technology for some time. We are trying to capitalize on their experience and what then s. N. T. Is building on that with additional research, development, and to hopefully have capabilities out there in the short term. Enator hoeven i know youre busy on the southern border and obviously coronavirus and all these important issues but id like you to come to the northern border. Grand forks, north dakota, has 900 miles of for border. Thats stationed all the way from the great lakes throughout most of montana. Also have very large u. A. S. Operation. We have the Northern Plains test there. We use honorable wolf i have been there, senator. I have been. Hoeven great. Id love you to come since you secretary. Senator tester and you can come to montana. Senator hoeve senator hoeven they have a beautiful state. We have a beautiful state. We think you can help you with Border Security operations. Honorable wolf i believe it was a test site in conjunction of university of north dakota there. We were there in late 2018 i believe. Fantastic. Ven did you come with mac or wolf with secretary nielsen. That r hoeven i remember visit. Forgot you were there. Appreciate youve seen it. We continue to make progress and back. Ou to come tell me a little bit about towers. Us surveillance honorable wolf thats a piece of technology thats critical. Do it through technology, we do it through physical infrastructure and then, of course, people. Autonomous surveillance towers are that other piece of critical technology. 200 believe we have up to towers we are looking to deploy. These are relocatable. So you can position them. Run off of selfsupported power. Mainly sunlight. They provide a capability domain awareness capability for the Border Patrol that improves upon some of the towers they previously have out there. So we look forward. Were very excited about the capabilities that that provides them. Program of en a record and expand it or are you still going through that process to make that determination . Wolf thats a continuing discussion that we have with c. B. P. , but, again, we capabilities those towers provide and well continue to deploy them. Senator hoeven real i. D. I just went through that process and got my real i. D. You got to have fortunate it. State is on top of if you get the four types of required documentation, go and get it. Me by october 1 folks are to g to have to have that get on an airplane. What happens when somebody shows isnt real i. D. I. D. . Honorable wolf thank you for the question. Continues to be an issuing program because in our mind, the 14 years tohad over phase this in. 2006. W passed in we encourage states to invest. The majority of them have. We have all states are compliant. Are issuing real i. D. s at the moment. We would like them to go faster. Go ink they would like to faster so we continue to have that dialogue with them. Hat we see today, though, is today we have about 35 of i. D. s in circulation are real i. D. Compliant. Relative senator hoeven 35 . Honorable wolf 35 . Senator hoeven i have mine so 35 plus one. Honorable wolf we are doing a number of things engaging the industry. We just issued a i will say the original law that real i. D. Passed is very restrictive for the department. It was passed in a time where there were no smartphones. It was flipphones. So this idea of transmitting information securely azarenka instead of coming in with the information is a real challenge. Thats why you see bottle necks at the d. M. V. s and capacity issues at the d. M. V. s. Hove ebb hove the i think mr. Hoeven the thing im suggesting to you is people are going to want to get on an aircraft and they wont have Something Else and now theyre going to say, hey, but i got to get on my flight. Thats going to happen. You know its going to happen. Its incumbent on the states to get it out. Im saying for t. S. A. As an organization, youre going secretary wolf were certainly planning. Mr. Hoeven probably going to need contingency secretary wolf a variety of eventualities. You can have a reali. D. Compliant i. D. But there are alternative forms of i. D. s you can have as well. Military i. D. , passport, as well as 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 associates, travel associates are also pushing out a lot of information as well. Mr. Hoeven final question. Back to coronavirus. Do you feel youve got adequate screening in place now for people coming into the country . Wife we do. We have 11 airports that were prescreening folks at. To date, since the measures were in place, d. H. S. , c. V. P. , cwmd, we screened over 50,000 individuals coming into the u. S. Thats just at airports. Were also screening folks at land ports of entry, as well as maritime. Mr. Hoeven but is it fair to say that your message to the public then is that you feel you do have wife absolutely. I have all the Information Secretary wolf absolutely. I have all the information i need to make operational decisions to determine whether were keeping the American Public safe and absolutely threat remains low. Well adjust those measures as the c. D. C. And h. H. S. Directs us to but as of today, im very satisfied on the measures the department has taken. Mr. Hoeven thank you. Appreciate it. Test test thank you, chair mr. Tester thank you. I want to first talk about the wall budget for a second. 2 billion in additional money for construction. The last Border SecurityImprovement Plan we had, that was two years ago, it was criticized by some of us and by g. A. O. We keep hearing that another plan is coming. Secretary wolf it is. Mr. Tester when . Secretary wolf in the next several months. Its currently in review and being finalized. Mr. Tester can you give me if it isnt here by the first of june, should we call new front of the committee and rake you over the coals or the first of may or april . Secretary wolf i think thats fair. A june deadline i will push personally to get it before that. But we have it. Its been finalized or its being finalized. Fevt mr. Tester if you can get it quicker than that. I misspoke. Its only 15. 185 billion for the wall. Thats a huge. A money. We need to have a plan. It needs to be a good one. Better than the last one. Last week you announced a plan to expedite the border wall construction by waiving 10 federal procurement laws for several sect wrrs the border wall is being planned. This will eliminate the full and open competition process. It will eliminate the requirement for a contractor to submit cost and pricing data, provide a bond. Guarantee wage payments. Eliminate the bid protest process. Were talking about 17 billion if this budget goes through as advertised. How can we protect the american taxpayer if these procurement laws are waived . Secretary wolf so the design, the concept behind waiving that specific waiver was to reduce the length of time between mr. Tester i got. It i understand. [talking simultaneously] theyre there for a reason. By the way, this argument could made for building the polar cutter, the c130s. Whatever it could be. Woipt funding the army corps will get will continue to go to vetted and qualified applicants that are currently on contract with the army corps or those on a larger task order for [talking simultaneously] mr. Tester doesnt your procurement law eliminate any bit bidding, any protest . How do rehold these folks account football they get a sweetheart deal . Secretary wolf theyve already been prequalified and determined contracts. Most of them are already building the border wall system today. So the idea is to, again, add onto those contracts, as that additional wall and property become available. So these contractors have been vetted. Theyve gone through that contracting process. They hold the task border with the army corps [talking simultaneously] mr. Tester you have a list of contractors then . Secretary wolf yes. Mr. Tester are any of these classified as small businesss . Secretary wolf i believe theres one. Mr. Tester could you give me that list . The procurement also waivings provision that provides opportunities for Small Businesses. I would love to have that. Because the procurement is at is it a pain in the next . Neck . Yeah. Do you have to jump through hoops . Yeah, theyre tough. But theyre there for a reason, so we hold our contractors accountable. I get it. You want to get it built and quickly. But you still have to do certain things and have to do it right. Otherwise after its built, the dollars have been spent, and it wasnt the best value, the question its too late then. Secretary wolf yes, senator. He dont believe it is. We continue to work with the army corps of engineers making were going to get the best value for the american taxpayer. Mr. Tester from my math, about 235 miles will be needed to be acquired from private landowners or private holdings. Have landowners been contacted . Secretary wolf they have. Mr. Tester how many have given you permission to access their property . For a wall . Secretary wolf again, its certainly a complex procedure. Anywhere from the title surge mr. Tester got it. The question is, if you come on my land and you use Eminent Domain, those are fighting word. Secretary wolf yes, senator. We survey before we ever get to the part. Mr. Tester where are we at . Secretary wolf we have a number of landowners have allowed us on land to survey. There are some that have not. We continue to work with them. The army corps through their contractors are doing that. Thats mainly mr. Tester you have exercised any Eminent Domain as of yet . Secretary wolf the army corps has in a small handful of cases. Mr. Tester i would love to know where theyre at and what transpeered. Im on the northern northern border. The truth, is 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 2350e9 feet does it take, half a mile . Secretary wolf its a little less. Theres an exclusion zone, theres the physical building of the wall. Mr. Tester could could have impacts for a much greater area than that. Theres a ton of lawsuits and maybe you know this, from the last time this was done, during the bush administration. How many of those lawsuits are still outstanding . Secretary wolf i dont know. Mr. Tester this is really an important [talking simultaneously] for private Property Rights [talking simultaneously] youre going to get a letter to a lady, i just sent it the chairman, her ranch is going to be split by a wall. Shes very concerned. By the way, shes a republican. She supported trump. Secretary wolf i understand. Mr. Tester theyre very worried about the impacts this is going to have on their farm. Ill yield for now. Mr. Lankford thank you. Chad, thanks for being here and the work you do. Youre covering a lot of issues today. As you do on a normal day. From coronavirus to Border Security to all sorts of Law Enforcement issues to Election Security to security and infrastructure facilities. Youve got a lot on your plate. So i appreciate the work that you do and the professionals that work around you and 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. But let me start with methamphetamine through fentanyl and other opioids that are coming through our southern border into the United States. We talked about the technology. Ive met with Companies Recently in oklahoma that are doing a significant amount of 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 you have already put into place in technology. But its always interesting to me. Almost everyone i talk to on technology says, were trying to get as good as a dogs nose. So let me ask you the odd question with this. On whats happening in our ports of entry and other locations. How are we doing getting more dogs noses there as were trying to be able to work toward getting more technology thats almost as good as a dogs nose . This in this process . Are we increasing our dogsniffing presence in all these locations . How are we doing adding technology to line up with that as well . Secretary wolf its all of the above. Were looking at the technology, the people, k9 assets as well. As we mentioned earlier, about 2 3 of the illicit drugs we see, the fentanyl, but also marijuana, all of the narcotics are coming through our ports of entry, 1 3 between our ports of entry and that number is rising. Were concerned about that as well. So we have a number of investments have been made by congress in f. Y. 2019 and 2020 for that ni n. I. I. Technology. Well continue to mr. Lankford that will that be implemented in this fiscal year . Secretary wolf the funding will be over multiple years. Some of the 2019 money will be implemented in this year. Some of the 2020 money will continue to be rolled out. That is a couple year money versus one year money. Its a Large Technology contract. Mr. Lankford its a significant task. Its extremely important to us, every one of our states. And your hometown as well, all affected by fentanyl and opioids and methamphetamine coming in. Fastest we can rule that out, the better to be able to help cut off the flow of some of these drugs coming into the United States. I appreciate all youre doing. Theres been a lot of conversation about i. C. E. Detention beds as well. Ive been on the southern border, you have a lot. The softsided facilities that c. B. P. Has put into place because there werent enough i. C. E. Beds cost a tremendous amount of money. How is that going in balancing out better quality i. C. E. Beds at a lower price than c. B. P. Having to do more expensive temporary softsided facilities, to be able to handle individuals coming across the border secretary wolf our idea is to get out of the softsided facilities business. We did that because of the surge last year. Again, thank you for fighting those resources finding those resources to do that. What weve seen as the numbers have decreesd over the last several months, we were able to take a number of those facilities offline and continue to save money. So weve taken one facility offline, were taking another three offline in the coming months. Assuming our numbers continue to hold. That will be about a 20ds million savings per month 20 million savings per month. Mr. Lankford is it the goal to surge into i. C. E. Facilities or back into [indiscernible] secretary wolf what were trying to do is move some of the softsided facilities into hardsided facilities. We need that Surge Capacity on the southwest border. We would like that to be in a hardsided facility versus soft. Over time, those are more Cost Effective. And so well continue, as far as irment contract i. C. E. Beds, though, we do a number of modeling, most of which 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 140,000 in some months of individuals into the interior, theres a tail to that and that comes to i. C. E. Doing their Law Enforcement mission inside the interior of the country. As they focus their attention and resources on criminals and picking up those individuals that have a final order of removal and the like, we have over three million aliens on the nondetain docket. A million of those have final orders of removal. Thats what i. C. E. Does. As they pick those up, they need to have the ability to detain those individuals for a short period of time before we deport them or repatriate them. Mr. Lankford senator shaheen mentioned about the visas. I know congress had given authority to be able to double the number of visas and that was Congress Statement to say, you can go up to twice as much, but youve got to be able to look at the department of labor and the numbers that are there. Youve mentioned that congress is best to be able to set that number. Congress has said, 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. The wall street journal story out last friday saying that there is some conversation about there may be up to 45,000 additional visas that may come online soon. Thats not been released by your team yet. I would just say, if youre choosing to do that, congress has already spoke noon that to say, you have permission to be able to do that. Number it even higher than that even. But if you choose to be able to do, that do it as quickly as possible. If that stretches out into june and july, before those actual releases come, thats too late for the season. Trying to get those done faster is better than slowly trying to piece those out. If i can mention one other thing, if i can beg the indulgence here of the chairwoman on this, that is this issue about rfra and the religious freedom restoration act. The waiver thats being put in place for construction of the wall. Ive been very confused by. This because d. H. S. Has said were waiving rfra and we have authority to do that. When rfra actually says, you cant waive this unless congress specifically states that it can be waived. This is going to be a battle of the lawyers to determine. What im trying to figure out is, why is there a need to even waive rfra . Because as far as i can tell, theres never been a need to be able to waive that. So why preeveryonetively say were going to when theres not really a statement to say, we need to waive religious freedom protections to be able to build the wall . Secretary wolf ive looked into that issue. Thank you. I will say that the last 12 or 13 waivers i believe that weve signed have not waived rfra. You have my commitment to make 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 oftentimes err on the side of caution on what we waive. I think its incumbent on part of the department to ensure what were waiving has a specific impact to the number of miles that are being built and that in that specific area. The waivers are specific to specific sectors and miles. So its incumbent upon us. I will say the department has not waived that in the last 12 waivers. Mr. Lankford since 1993 the rfra has never been waived. So id like to not have a first. Secretary wolf understand. Mr. Lankford thank you. Mr. Balderson thank you. Baledbaled thank you. Ms. Baldwin thank you. So, acting secretary wolf, executive order 7521 requires the u. S. Coast guard to conduct ice breaking operations to meet the reasonable demands of ommerce. However the fleet in the great lakes has declined over the past 40 years. The regions economy has consequently lost billions of dollars in economic activity, particularly over the past seven years, due to inadequate coast guard ice breaking resources. Ive asked the president to include funding to build a new great lakes icebreaker. 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 2021 request includes no funding for this new icebreaker. 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. Secretary wolf ive talked with the commandant about our icebreaker capability, not only in the polar region, but also in the great lakes. I certainly understand the concern that you have. I will say that for the coast guard, in f. Y. Twoun, they have a number of priorities. Several of their priorities is that polar security cutter, which would be the number would be the second one, as well as their offshore patrol cutter. Which really will become the backbone of what the coast guard does offshore. So those continue to be the priorities for the coast guard. Those are high Capital Investments. I will also say the readiness of the coast guard continues to be an issue as it does with all of our service agencies. So when you have a limited budget, you have to focus resources. As i mentioned, ive talked to the commandant about the ice breaking capabilities in the great lakes. He feels comfortable where they sit today. Obviously the one and then smaller vessels that provide capability as well. But well continue to have that dialogue. Limited resource, we have to prioritize. Ms. Baldwin im fully supportive of the polar ice utter. I would say the mackinac is well over. Its a very old and costs of repair and the time out is very significant. But what im telling you is 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 d. H. S. Began implementation of the migrant protection protecols. Also known as remain in mexico policy. Which keeps migrants in mexico while they aweight their immigration hearings await their immigration hearings. The present advocacy groups have advocated widespread abuse of my grants returned to mexico under m. P. P. , including things like kidnapping, extortion and other violence. In december, i had an opportunity to travel to tucson and know gal he is, arizona, to nogales, arizona, to visit d. H. S. And h. H. S. Facilities. As well as a private organization supporting migrants. Service providers there told me migrants returned under m. P. P. Are easy targets for criminal organizations in mexico and, frankly, in the u. S. In part because they are readily identifiable because c. B. P. Mandates that they remove their shoelaces. When they are in custody. And releases them without returning them. I found that sort of odd and surprising. But i heard it over and over again. That if you see a family, none of whom have shoelaces 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 m. P. P. And claims that the Program Offers protections for vulnerable populations. In light of the many reports of abuse of these individuals, at steps is c. B. P. Taking to ensure that they are safe as they await their day in court . Secretary wolf sure. Were taking a number of steps regarding the m. P. P. Program. We had an independent team in the department sort of do a review of the m. P. P. Program. These are individuals that have little to do with immigration, so they were coming to the system blind. They had a number of recommendations and steps to take. Were implementing some of those. Some we had already considered. I will say we continue to work with the government of mexico who is a partner with us in this program. Through the department of state. We have offered or we havent offered, weve provided up to 22 million in funding to help them 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 m. P. P. Program as they await their Immigration Court proceedings in mexico are in safe and secure shelters every day. Ms. Baldwin are you you a wear of the shoelace aware of the shoelace policy . Secretary wolf in terms of being in the custody, yes. I made a note to look at it. Ms. Baldwin seems like that would be a very simple thing to correct. Secretary wolf right. Ms. Heitkamp thank you. Just want to tell you how much we appreciate everything do you and congratulate you on your new position. My home state of mississippi is certainly grateful to the department for the responsiveness following emergencies and Natural Disasters such as hurricane katrina, when that occurred. Ms. Hyde smith were also proud of our ship building traditions and support of the u. S. Coast guard and gratified with the coast guards recognition youve given us of the strong work ethic and wellestablished excellence in ship building on the ississippi gulf coast. Mississippians take great pride in our shipyards thats constructing a 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 eed. The coast guard is a 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 sees seizes more drugs than all other 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 interdicted two 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. Secretary wolf 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, that is a facility thats, throughout d. O. D. , d. H. S. , but a variety of different agencies, are focused on that illicit drug traffic coming from south america, central america, into the u. S. Im proud to say that its coast guard cuts that are are providing that capability and that interdiction capability both in the caribbean and the eastern pacific. Using intelligence that we gaggetter from a number of different agencies gather from a number of different agencies, but its coast guard men and women on ships, in the air, as well as c. B. P. Assets that are providing that interdiction of all the illicit drugs coming from south america on a daily basis. So they have a Law Enforcement mission, as you indicated, thats a little different from d. O. D. Mission. They are a natural partner to our d. O. D. Assets. Looking to protect the homeland. But they not only do that here at home, but they do that away from the homeland in the eastern pacific, in the caribbean, as well as overseas, providing that Law Enforcement apability that d. O. D. Needs. Ms. Hydesmith switching to the National Security arena. Last year coast guard cutters were deployed in support of the indo pacific commander. And missions in support of department of defense efforts are becoming a very common occurrence. Secretary wolf yes. Ms. Hydesmith how has the department prioritized the coast guards counterdrug and Border Security missions versus the demand signal for coast guards assets in support of the Combatant Commanders . Secretary wolf its a 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 for d. O. D. We have about 2,000, i believe, coast guard men and women that are deployed overseas in support of the various Combatant Commanders. You mentioned indo pacific, but also in the middle east. Bahrain and elsewhere. When we had issues flair up in iraq flare up in iraq and iran at the beginning of the year, we had coast guard men and women deployed there in support of d. O. D. As well. Its a balance. They certainly have to do their Maritime Mission here in the states, here in the homeland. The drug interdiction capabilities, they have Many Missions but were happy to support and serve alongside d. O. D. Professionals overseas as well. Ms. Hydesmith thank you. Its very clear its a huge balance. Thank you for you what do in addressing that. Weve completed the senators that are here. Apparently senator murkowski is on her way and senator tester and i have some additional questions so well go to a round two i would just like to make a comment on the opioid detection and how important that is. Mrs. Capito i was just down in southern West Virginia with the head of the office of drug control policy. Went to a drug court graduation. E announced at that graduation , because what were seeing is our drug problem morphing from opioid prescription drugs to heroin and fentanyl, to now synthetic methamphetamine. But he announced that at the border you had interdicted 432 packages with 18 million worth of methamphetamine. I think it was a week ago saturday. 875 pounds. As i was reading the story, parently one of the agents detected something apparently one of the agents detected something, sent it to secondary screening and it was picked up on the nonintrucive inspection. Hidden in a bunch of broccoli. Congratulations to you and the interdiction youre doing there. Youre saving lives by doing that. Crystal meth is [talking simultaneously] secretary wolf we work closely with the ondcp. We were part of a Technology Challenge they announced. To have Companies Invest in the technology to find smaller and smaller amounts of opioids. We work very closely. Ms. Kaptur thats good mrs. Capito thats good. Im not going to ask you about softsided facilities. But you know thats an area where ive been worried about waste and overspending and certainly we want to be smart in visiting these facilities, as i have shared with you privately several times. Theyve been underpopulated and so ive had great concerns about that. So i would encourage you. I know youre closing more than just one now. Youre going and i appreciate that appreciate that for your responsiveness and 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. Secretary wolf thank you. We just need to balance as we bring those facilities offline, making sure that we are still prepared if there is a surge, another surge, very similar to last year, or even half of what we saw last year, we want to make sure we have the facilities that we can process these individuals in and we dont have them showing up and spending long amounts of time in Border Patrol facilities. They arent the right locations. We need to balance that, that concern. Mrs. Capito i would add also to senator baldwins question on the m. P. P. I think that with the in conjunction with the mexican government, its been a great deterrent to having people flood across our borders. The numbers, youve seen it go down since june, it was 105,000. This past month it was 29,000. Somethings working there. I think m. P. P. Is one of those protocols. Secretary wolf yeah. I would just like to elaborate. M. P. P. Is designed to do several different things. One is to make sure that those with meritorious claims can have their claim heard in a and adjudicated in if a timely manner. Were able to do that in months now instead of years. Its also deterring fraudulent claims. What were seeing is half of these individuals that are put in the Program Never show up for their court hearings. 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 a meritorious claim simply choose to walk away. So its a little bit of deterring that fraudulent behavior as well. Rooting out, restoring that integrity to the immigration system. Mrs. Capito thank you. Last question i have is on fema. I want to thank the department here and thank fema for helping us in West Virginia recover from the 2016 floods where you just recently 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 and making sure so i appreciate that. And you just helped with us the match issue as well. But also in your budget request, it seems that the f. Y. 2020 grants on the National Security and resilience grants program, youre revamping and cutting grants by an estimated 623 million. As somebody who is prone to fema has a healthy life in a state like West Virginia. We have unfortunately more than our share of natural occurrences where we need help. Is this going to cut back on less overall funding mean less grant applications would be granted and, you know, when the demand is still up . Secretary wolf id say its a balancing act. As all of our resources are, on whats the appropriate Grant Funding. I think that continues to be a dialogue between the administration and congress. Over time the grants are designed to build capabilities that are not there for grantees. But over time we want to make sure that they dont become to rely on Grant Funding as part of their base budget. So we want to make sure wen to find new applicants and grantees, continue to find new applicants and grantees. Thats a reflection of what you see in the 2021 budget request. Make sure we continue to focus on those areas that need continued funding, that 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 where weve increased two or threefold that we talked about. Domestic terrorism, prevention, weve increased the number of grants in that area. So we look at each Grant Program differently to determine whats needed. Mrs. Capito i would say in terms of alternatives, in terms of fema grants and preparedness and 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 wed had to expedite a response quicker. I think we all kind of are pulling for each other here. But i think 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 fundingses and all that. Senator tester. Mr. Tester thank you. I also want to just say thank you for being here, acting secretary. Im not going to do a gotcha. Are you familiar with the term consultation as it applies to getting having meaningful conversations with Indian Tribes . Secretary wolf yes. Mr. Tester ok. So the question is, theres a wall being built with a tribe. The tribe says its going a ss tribal land that is burial site. But the tribe says theres been no consultation. Go ahead. Secretary wolf sorry, go ahead. Mr. Tester no, shoot. Secretary wolf ive had conversations with both secretary sorry, 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 its not for a lack of communication. We continue to communicate with them. I plan to visit them as early as i can on one of my next visits here. Mr. Tester i appreciate that. 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 its going through a burial site, maybe theres more to the complaint than just somebody unhappy with the secretary wolf i know they were concerned about use of ground water. So weve addressed that concern. Were no longer using it within a certain mileage. Mr. Tester it is critically important. The more im getting to on this is not only with tribes. I brought up Eminent Domain in the last round. These all set up grounds where people women to hate the government. And there is no 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, heatseeking information that can be its the technology. Its the artificial intelligence. Its all of that. I just wish and 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 . Secretary wolf again, we need the entire border wall system. So we talk about the border wall system mr. Tester i got it. Secretary wolf physical infrastructure and all of the other technology [talking simultaneously] mr. Tester if you use technology, you get away from the problems that the indian tribe. Have you get away from the problems that the folks of Eminent Domain. Have you get away from the million acres in texas alone thats going to be separated and become a no mans land, thats United States soil but 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. You know why . Because 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. But mark my word, if i live long enough, there will be somebody standing in front of that wall, some president , that will say, tear down this wall. Because its much more effective utilizing technology. And its a fact. Secretary wolf absolutely. Border patrol needs technology. We continue to request additional technologies. But they also need the denial that an effective border wall system provides. That comes directly from the operators. Mr. Tester what im telling you, if you utilize man power and technology, you can be more efficient than a wall. Why . Because you can see further out and thats the question on the northern border. Its a question that the senator from north dakota brought up in that these towers are critically important. They cost pennies on the dollar. Were spending 2. 5 billion on a potential pandemic by the way, if the 2 mortality rate were getting out of china, i hope we have intel to back that up, because they havent been very forth right with a lot of the information that they dont want us to know. So i think thats another thing. Were spending 2. 5 billion on a potential pandemic. And were spending 17. 5 million, we just starred, on a wall. Anyway started, on a wall. Anyway. It doesnt make any sense. I want to talk about something more fun. Election security. We have interference in the runup. Potential foreign interference in the runup to the 2020 elections. Serious concern. No surprise that russias at it again. Their goal is to undermine the confidence for our democracy. And our Electoral Systems and spread disinformation via social media understand other platforms. Were seeing it. Based on the intelligence reports youre privy to, do you agree that russia is trying to influence this upcoming 2020 election . Secretary wolf we believe, as they did in 2016, that there try to influence the election in that they will try to influence the election in 2020. We dont have any specific intelligence. We know theyve tried. We know they did in 2016. We assume they will do again in 2020. Mr. Tester you dont want to get in trouble, but the truth is you are a member of the intelligence community. Has that information been shared that russias trying to influence our elections again . Im not saying in favor of anybody, im just saying theyre trying to [talking simultaneously] secretary wolf yes. They continue to sow discord with our elections. Mr. Tester with this budget, do you think this fully this properly resources d. H. S. To be able to attack this problem . Secretary wolf absolutely. Mr. Tester you feel good about the potential of making sure the states are onboard, so they know youre there to give them a back stop . Secretary wolf absolutely. We do a number of things with states. Not only providing the number of services at no cost to the states, were working with state election officials, but were also working with Political Parties and individual campaigns to offer those same services to their platforms and what they have out there. Were also trying to educate voters to determine on what type of foreign interference looks like. Sort of adjust from there. They have a role to play in this as well. Mr. Tester i think this is foundational to the future of this country and this democracy. Russias screwing around and theyre doing this for less than it costs for a fighter jet. Its crazy. I just have one other question for you, if i might. And that is, there is a proposed secret service move. To treasury from your department, i dont necessarily i had thats think thats a good idea. The point is, has there been an independent analysis to determine the pros and cons of such a move . Secretary wolf there has been a study. I believe thats been provided to congress on a move from d. H. S. To treasury. The pros and cons of that. Happy to provide that again to you. Mr. Tester who did it . Secretary wolf i believe it was a number of folks to include secret service, but also other elements of the department. Mr. Tester was it an independent group who had no dog in the fight . Secretary wolf no, i believe there were folks from the u. S. Government who need to be involved. Mr. Tester i believe they need to be involved but from a question and answering side, not a question and answer side. I think its important. Secret service should remain where its at because you do a good job and i think theres more benefits and theres more Cost Effective benefits if we keep it where it is. I dont understand senate to sending it to treasury. There may be a reason or two but it doesnt weigh the reason to keep it where its at. In closing, thank you for what youre doing. There were tough questions asked today. I appreciate your frankness and i also appreciate getting the information back that you said you would give us. Secretary wolf thank you. Mr. Tester good luck to you. Secretary wolf thank you. Mrs. Capito thank you. Id like to thank you as well for your testimony. Weve just got an call for a vote. I would like to tell my friend, senator tester, that i agree with him on the secret service. I dont agree with that they should be agree that they should be moving over to treasury. Theyre a 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 that 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 executive protection and theres such a Quality Group of individuals that i think homeland theyre well placed in Homeland Security. I have one last quick question. On the coronavirus, when you mention your resources that are screening people, and this is probably small because theres only 15 cases, but i think this is something that sometimes we forget sometimes, when the people are in the work force and theyre placed in situations where they could put themselves at risk, that we not really that we may overlook that own personal risk theyre taking in the betterment for the good of the country. Something like this, i think, is a pretty careful and sensitive topic. So im sure that youre keeping your eye on those frontline workers. But i do believe that that is something that im concerned about. Secretary wolf 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. So we provide a number of resources to c. B. P. Officers as well as t. S. A. Officers to make sure that they are aware of the risks, they understand the mete medical Science Behind it. We provide them a number of protective equipment that they are able to use and most are using that. But well continue to lean forward on that. Any briefing, any discussion about coronavirus, how the departments responding, my first or second question is always about the men and women of the department, how are they protected and doing their job every day. As you show up to work every day, you expect to be protected and we need to make sure that we do that. Mrs. Capito which say, to senator shaheens point, if you leave a gap of transparency of whats going on and how its transmitted, how many people, its getting filled on twitter and all these other things. And you get this sensationalism. I read something this morning that said somebody was infected after 24day incubation period. I have no idea if thats true or not. If youre keeping people for 14 days, it doesnt matter, if its 24 days. So i really think when you get back to your task force in the morning, that this is something people are starting to get really, really concerned about this. As you know. Secretary wolf i understand. Mrs. Capito 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 for two weeks from today. Senators may submit written questions for the record and we ask the department respond to them within a reasonable amount of time. If you need some help with clarifications on the question, im sure either relative senators will provide it or wed be able to provide it at the chairmans in the chairmans office. With that, we stand in rehe is in recess. Secretary wolf thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] house and Human Services secretary alex azhar tested testified by a Senate Appropriations subcommittee today on the Trump Administration response to the coronavirus. And the president s 2021 budget request for h. H. S. Senators also asked about the 2. 5 billion emergency spending request for trone crires programs sub clone coronavirus programs submitted yesterday. Well be showing that tonight at 8 00 eastern time. Live thursday well hear from the detecters for the centers of Disease Control and prevention. Along with other federal officials on the coronavirus response. Thats live thursday at 2 00 eastern on cspan3. You can also find both hearings online at cspan. Org and listen live to the c. D. C. Hearing on the free cspan radio app. We ae tino vote in campaign the latino vote in campaign 2020. Thank you for being here. How many latino voters will be eligible to vote in 2020 . And compare that with the last cycle. Guest up from 27 and a half million in 2016. It has grown to over 4 million since 2016. That has been the pattern over the lastct