Order your copy today wherever books or ebooks are sold. , the senateoday Homeland SecurityCommittee Approved a subpoena for documents and deposition from lucerne strategies, a Consulting Firm that worked with a Ukrainian Gas Company when hunter biden worked on their board. The vote was along party lines. I note the presence of a quorum. I want to thank members for coming and providing a quorum word i want to announce we will not be voting on brian miller, who was nominated to be the Inspector General pandemic recovery. I appreciate the cooperation we got from the Ranking Member and majority. We fully support oversight efforts. I worked with senator peters on a different version of oversight and we certainly appreciate that as well. We will be able to discharge the nominee from our committee hopefully to get him confirmed before the holiday weekend. To getd be nice oversight efforts started as quickly as possible. The other item is the motion to subpoena lou starr. Januaryna for documents first 2013 for those associated or who worked with burisma a deposition regarding that work, and the coo for deposition regarding that work. With that i will turn it over to senator peters. Thank you, mr. Chairman. As is obvious to all of us, we are in the middle of unprecedented Public Health and economic emergencies. More than 90,000 americans have died during the pandemic and nearly 36 million are out of work. This committee has a longstanding bipartisan tradition of oversight and responding and safeguarding our nations security and i believe that should always be our top priority. We should Work Together to hold oversight hearings on the Pandemic Response efforts. We should be working together to reassure worried families that the government is capable of moving towards reopening safely. And at this moment when americans need us to Work Together, this extremely partisan investigation is pulling us apart. We are all here today in close proximity with each other and our staff in close proximity to each other in the middle of an ongoing crisis that has already and to Many American lives cost americans more jobs than the great recession. Cast a single vote on a partisan subpoena to obtain documents from four years ago, documents that are already being provided to the committee. Mr. Chairman, i would like to enter a letter from blue stars strategies one paragraph here. And quote on eparagraph here. It is our intention to cooperate. At no point have we ever stated we would not cooperate. That is why we are puzzled that the committee is voting on a subpoena. Willthout objection, i refute what they are saying in that letter. Thank you, mr. Chairman. This is not a serious bipartisan investigation in the tradition of this committee and i believe we should not be going down this dangerous road. The are the Homeland Security committee and we have jurisdiction over election interference. We should be working together to strengthen National Security and fight against foreign influence. Unfortunately, this misguided subpoena risks amplifying efforts of foreign adversaries to interfere in our election. This should not be about politics. We should be focused on National Security and acting that way as a committee. I have been requesting that members of the committee be briefed by both the fbi and intelligence committee. We cant allow this committee to be taken advantage of by adversaries. That a motion be put on the table to table consideration of this subpoena until members of this Committee Received briefings related to this investigation and foreign intelligence efforts from the fbi and intelligence community. Does any member wish to discuss the motion . If not, this movie will proceed to the motion to table this subpoena about. May i ask for a roll call vote . [roll call] mr. Chairman on the vote of on this vote, the motion is not agreed to. s the motion of the subpoena is not tabled and so we will proceed to a consideration of subpoena. Does any member wish to discuss the motion . On the the question is motion before us. Senator hassan . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Our nation is in the midst of the crisis, the likes of which we have not seen in my lifetime. More than 90,000 americans are dead and more than 36 million have filed for employment. In my state of new hampshire, our Nursing Homes tell me they still do not have testing or ppe at levels that would help them attacked their residence. We dont yet have the nationwide Public Health strategy in place that we would need to allow our economy to recover. There is much urgent work for this committee and the senate as a whole to carry out. This is not much work, to put it lightly. The committee oversees entire department of Homeland Security. It also oversees how the federal government interacts with states , localities, and the Postal Service. All of these are key to a robust response to the health crisis. We should hold hearings with all Relevant Administration officials on topics including the planned fixed supply issues, National Testing capacity, and the future of the Postal Service. We need to keep pressing for a strategy to ramp up production and distribution of a vaccine once we have one, to avoid the unacceptable shortages we have seen with ppe and testing supplies. That is to say nothing of the review that will be needed once we get through this. Why the United States of america is being hit harder than every other country on the face of the earth by this pandemic. Ledkind of bold review that to the creation of the department of Homeland Security that we oversee. Instead of focusing on those urgent tasks, we are spending on partisan nonsense and conspiracy theories. Today fails to help the health and economic wellbeing of the American People which should be our focus right now. Amplifying russian disinformation efforts to further erode our democracy. Should Work Together to help our fellow americans through this crisis, not further russian interests. This is a sad day for our committee with its longstanding record of strong and nonpartisan oversight. It is a privilege to serve with each of you on this committee, to help keep the American People safe, secure, and free. Lets get back to this Mission Rather than spend one more second on this charade. A charade that would be silly were it not so insidious. Charade that is beneath this committee and the United States senate. Senator harris . Chairman, this committee has the responsibility, dare i say the duty, to investigate threats against the homeland and watch over how the federal government is preparing to respond to them. This clearly includes how Government Agencies are addressing covid19. For which we have oversight jurisdiction and a duty of oversight include fema, which is tasked to coordinate and lead the entire government response including procuring testing material, distributing ppe, and ensuring the public is Accurate Information about the virus. Ice which isdes responsible for protecting the health and safety of those in its custody. Oversight and duty of oversight includes the office of Personnel Management, which is responsible for federal workers and their benefit, many of whom are on the frontlines and do not have the option to telework. Our responsibilities include the United StatesPostal Service, which has become an even more vital resource during this time by ensuring that people have access to essential goods like medicine, toiletry, and voter ballots. This committees responsibilities and this committees alone to determine how effective these agencies have been at referring at fulfilling their responsibilities to the american. Year,ruary 12 of this chairman you convened a roundtable titled quote are we prepared to protect the u. S. From the global pandemic. At this time i asked you why we did not have even one Current Administration official testifying, why there was not one current member of the Trump Administration that was testifying so that we could have accurate and current information about the plan, if one exists, to protect the American People. Day, ourater from that cases ands 1,528,000 thousands of deaths. We are the world leader in confirmed cases and deaths. Our country makes up 4 of the worlds population and over 30 of the cases. Based on recent numbers we have we have seeny, every day you failed to schedule an oversight hearing, an average of at least 20,000 people in america will become infected because of this virus and an average of at least 1000 americans will die each day from the virus. Our committee must provide oversight because the American People deserve to know what is going on. They demand to know why there is still no National Testing strategy for covid19. They demand accurate and transparent death toll statistics based on accurate methodology free from political influence. They demand to know if the Postal Service will continue to deliver medicine to seniors through the duration of this pandemic. Know why more than 1000 people in ice custody have tested positive for covid19 and at least two have died. The demand to know how office of Personnel Management is protecting frontline workers. They demand to know if the department of health and Human Services has been able to ensure if testing and treatment is free for all americans including communities of color. They demand to know why disproportionate number of deaths are happening in the africanamerican community. In milwaukee county, i know you 52 ofack people make up the deaths. This pandemic is the biggest crisis our country has faced since this committee was created. Have the government response will defund the future of our country. Yet mr. Chairman you made a unilateral decision to convened this meeting on a matter wholly unrelated to the deadly threat facing our constituents. You made this decision to force a vote on a purely political matter that will do absolutely nothing for those at risk. The matter you want us to consider is to grant you additional Legal Authority to demand documents from a Public Relations firm i understand is willing to give documents to the committee. So this is not nearly as urgent as covid19, and our duty to perform oversight over the federal agencies that are supposed to be helping the American People. And it is not helpful for the Homeland Security committee to prioritize Divisive Political subpoenas which will only so further distrust among the American People and fuel skepticism about our democratic system of government. Todays agenda reveals a lot about the senate majoritys priorities. Literallyre are matters of life and death waiting for our committees attention. But instead, this committee is doing the president s personal bidding. Members of this committee, i urge you to vote against his political sideshow so that we can focus our attention on the pandemic that is threatening the lives and livelihood of the American People. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Give any member that wants to speak a chance to speak after we vote. At this point in time yes . We will do it after the vote. The motion is on the question before us. Opportunity to speak for five minutes. I ask unanimous consent to speak for five minutes. Ask unanimous consent to speak for five minutes, please. After we take the vote. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman. No more than five minutes, and this will be the last member speaking before we actually take the vote. Put the clock on. Who is blue star strategy . I have no idea. She used to be a deputy chief of staff in the Clinton Administration his last term. She worked alongside erskine bowles. Alongside the former health and Human Services secretary. Who is this woman . She is one of the finest people i have worked with. Thats who she is. She is willing to meet with this panel, this committee, anytime. They have provided information. They have been responsive to the request for information. As recently again as this week. She wanted to come and talk to you and answer any questions you want. The attorney, who is he . I didnt know who he was, so i found out. Attorney. S. Years heast several has been a partner at yesterday a wonderful woman died. Her name was annie glenn. Who is she . She is the widow of john glenn, who used to lead this committee. He used to lead this committee with people like bill roth. They worked together. They got all kinds of stuff done. And i was elected to the United States senate, i asked john glenn what committee i should get on. He said get on governmental affairs. You will be good at this. Do oversight, save money, you will like it. Little did i know, later that year, 9 11 would come along. We faced the biggest crisis we had faced probably since world war ii. And you know what happened . We pulled together. This committee under the leadership of Susan Collins and joe lieberman, we pulled together. Of 40pted almost all approved recommendations. You could walk into a room with the staff meeting between susan staff and you would know who was on whose side. It was just that good. We face the biggest crisis we faced since 9 11. We have already lost more lives than we lost in the vietnam war. Before this is over, we will lose twice as many. Excuse me just for a second. Rate willmployment soon reach what it was in the great depression. Had more new debt in four months and we have had in decades. There is a crying need for oversight into all the stuff and we are not doing it. The Postal Service is going down again. Meanwhile, we are going to focus on this . My first year in the senate i was presiding over the senate. A guy named mike dempsey got up to speak and he talked about the 80 20 rule. I didnt know what he was talking about. He said its what makes ted kennedy be so successful in leading the health committee. I said, what is it . Agree on 80 nd i of the stuff and we disagree on 20 . Focus on the 80 and set aside the 20 . We should abide by that advice. Lets focus on where we agree. Theres so much to be done in the wake of this pandemic. We should focus on that, not the stuff that divides us. And your words from last week, at the end of the hearing you sent to me, i appreciate your comments and appreciate the way you have approached your chairmanship when you were the Ranking Member as well. I think we have all continued the tradition of Susan Collins and senator lieberman and yourself. You thank me for my work, i thank you for those words. I want you to be that chairman who spoke that day. Our country needs you to be that chairman. Thank you. Estimate Committee Members are well aware, as the Committee Members are well aware, this was not my choice to spend any amount of time on this boat. We would have gathered the information and moved on. I would remind everybody, when subpoena, itt the was a bipartisan suggestion, if you want the records from blue star, why dont you subpoena blue star . I said, so i will. So that is what we are doing here. So now we will boat. The clerk will call the roll now we will vote. The clerk will call the roll. Vote]call mr. Chairman on the vote of 5. Se present, yeas 7 nays the motion is agreed to. Before i give any other member a chance to speak, the committee has obviously done all kinds of oversight. Two weeks after the hearing senator harris referred to, we had Administration Officials come before us. Most of us are participating on multiple conference calls. The administration has made available where we can ask all kinds of questions. That has been by far what most of us have spent our time on is addressing this horrific crisis we face in this nation. Again, it was not my desire to even publicize these subpoenas. I just wanted to gather the information and make sure the American People understand the truth. With that statement, does anyone else wish to speak . Senator scott. Scott im supporting this probe today because we need to get to the truth about the bidens relationship with burisma. The hearings will provide the senate with the full picture. Got away with using the u. S. Government to force a hisign government to force this country to stop investigating. Unless anyone else wishes to speak, this business meeting is adjourned. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] the u. S. Senate is in session this week as members continue to debate debate and vote on several traditional nominations. As of now, the chamber has no plans to take up the 3 trillion Coronavirus Relief package that was passed by the house last week. Follow the senate live on cspan2. The house has no vote scheduled this week but they plan to return i27 for debate on reauthorizing fisa, which was passed last week by the senate. You can watch the house live on cspan. With the federal government at work in d. C. And throughout the country, used to congressional directory for Contact Information for members of congress, governors, and federal agencies. Order your copy online today at cspan store. Org. Now, Florida Republican senator marco rubio going sent American Enterprise institute discussion on the economic response to the coronavirus pandemic. He talks about the Paycheck Protection Program and what Congress Might do to help Small Businesses and individuals during the pandemic. From yesterday, this is just under an hour. Good afternoon and welcome to our virtual webinar. Director of Economic Policy studies. Im honored to