Officers benefits which is so important to our first responders. I appreciate the attorney generals strong support for the goals of the justice and Second Chance reauthorization act and forensics reform legislation. Each one are going to improve the effectiveness of our criminal Justice System and id like to see them enacted this year. I know a lot of people in Law Enforcement would like to see them enacted. I appreciate the attorney generals recognition of the bipartisan efforts currently under way in this committee, to address the unsustainable growth of our prison population. The rate were going, there will be no money for Law Enforcement, it will be just in prisons, even to the extent of having geriatric units in these prisons. In a time of shrinking budgets, all levels of government, i think the problem we have in the expanding prison population presents devastating consequences for our other critical Public Safety priorities. If you do nothing and we just allow the federal prison population to consume more than a quarter of the departments budget, with eventually even more than that, that makes us less safe. Incremental changes to mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenders is a good place to start and im optimistic well be able to pass a bipartisan bill out of this committee to do that. So, thank you, attorney general, for returning to the committee to discuss these important issues. I also want to thank the men and women of the department of justice who work hard every day to keep us safe. I met with a lot of them. Youre the face of the department of justice. As you know, there are thousands of people whose faces will never be in the news but are out there every single day, throughout the country, and abroad, keeping us safe. We pray for their safety. We appreciate what they do. They deserve our gratitude and respect. Senator grassley. Before i read my statement, id like to say to general holder, obviously you and i were bit by different political bugs but and we have policy differences. Maybe we got more agreement than what you and i might realize at a particular time. And i think those policy differences are legitimate and we can live with them. In my statement, im going to make some comments about some administrative action where i think theres no excuse for and congress isnt being respected by your department and whether its you or people within your department, i think the very least we ought to have responses to things where there should be no political differences. Just wanting information. So i hope you appreciate the fact that if we disagree on policy issues, that it doesnt carry over to things that, when congress simply wants administrative action on your part. I thank you, chairman leahy, for this hearing. Its a very important hearing. Oversights very, very important. And i thank the attorney general for coming here. You take some beating by coming here. But at least youre fulfilling a constitutional responsibility of giving us information that we need in public. I have to start by pointing out to the chairman that we still havent received answers to our questions for the record from the last oversight hearing with the attorney general, which was almost 11 months ago. As ive indicated, i think this is unacceptable. The department should show sufficient respect for this committee to answer its questions, at least prior to the next oversight hearing. Now 11 months elapsed. We also havent received replies to questions directed to other Department Officials who testified at various hearings over the past year. This hearing also affords me the opportunity to call to your attention, general holder, the many letters that the department hasnt yet answered. Its unfortunate that we always have to start a Department Oversight hearing with the same request, to respond to Unanswered Questions from the congress. For instance, back in early november, i wrote you about the Justice Department council to health and Human Services on the Affordable Care act, h. H. S. Says that in consultation with your department, it decided not to apply the antikickback statute to the Affordable Care act. This is a clear violation of Congress Move to strengthen antifraud laws and youve helped us strengthen a lot of antifraud laws. Since i havent received an answer to my letter, im going to ask you about that today. Ive also written to you about the departments handling of cases in which the National SecurityAgency Employees abuse their signals intelligence authority. In august after news reports about these cases, i wrote to the n. S. A. Inspector general about them. In response, the Inspector General indicated that since 2003, there were 12 documented instances of n. S. A. Employees abusing these authorities, in many cases by spying on loved ones. Its good that the number of cases was very small. But even one case too many. According to the Inspector General, at least six of these cases were referred to your department for prosecution. So in october i wrote to you to request information about how the department handled these cases. I asked for a response by december 1. I havent received one. Its important for the public to know whether the department is taking these cases seriously. We need to deter this kind of behavior in the future. Given n. S. A. s powerful capabilities. In addition, this committee has spent a considerable amount of time considering various reforms to n. S. A. In his speech on this a few weeks ago, the president directed you as attorney general to work with the Intelligence Community to develop, quote, options for a new approach, end of quote, to the bulk collection of telephone metadata. Ill be interested in hearing how that is proceeding. The president has also asked you to do a review of the f. B. I. Whistleblower protection and recommend changes on how to improve them. The assignment was contained in president ial policy directive 19, which claimed to create protection for whistleblowers with access to classified information. The president gave you 180 days to complete the review and its now 10 months overdue. Theres a lot of lip service to whistleblower protection, but this is another example of how the actions dont match rhetoric. Im concerned about the president s directive. I recently had a whistle blower from the c. I. A. Contact my office. He was seeking to report alleged violations of the whistleblower protections in the president s directive 19. False statements to congress and concerns related to legislation. He tried to get permission to share the classified details with me. Yet a c. I. A. Lawyer wrote a letter denying permission, claiming Judiciary Committee members arent authorized to receive classified information from the c. I. A. , which is, of course, false. But it scares whistleblowers and it intimidates them into silence. This is one of several things that suggests to me that even with the president s directive we need stronger legislative protection for National Security whistleblowers. Another topic to discuss is the departments nonenforcement of controlled substance act. In august the department announced that it wouldnt challenge laws in colorado and washington, legalizing trafficking of marijuana. The Department Apparently believes that so long as these states create effective regulatory schemes, key federal enforcement priorities wouldnt be undermined. Those priorities include the diversion of marijuana into other states, increased use among minors, and more drug driving fatalities. However, im concerned that in many ways, this policy is based on willful ignorance of the realities in these states. Example, as a result of failure to adequately regulate medical marijuana, colorado has seen a sharp increase in Public HealthLaw Enforcement problems related to these federal priorities in a few years. Just a few weeks ago, a Senior Drug Enforcement Administration official told my and senator feinsteins caucus on the International Narcotics control that what was happening in these states is, quote, reckless and irresponsible. At a minimum, it is important that the department set firm criteria to meriwether or when its federal priorities are harmed, so much that the decision not to challenge these state laws is revisited. This is all the more important now that i understand you will soon announce Additional Guidance that will permit marijuana distributors in these states to use the Banking System to engage in what is under federal law money laundering. Im also concerned that this administration hasnt been faithful to the constitution on a number of areas, by unilaterally changing or ignoring laws passed by congress. In my view, many of these actions are inconsistent with the constitutions requirement that the president , quote, take care that the laws be faithfully executed, end of quote. However, your Departments Office of Legal Council is involved with this because they provide an independent check on executive action. The office of League Counsel is responsible for advising the executive branch on constitutional questions. Moreover, it reviews the constitutionality of all proposed executive orders. Last night, during the state of the union address, the president signaled that he will use executive orders aggressively to advance his agenda this year. Transparency should be brought to the office of Legal Counsels analysis of proposed executive orders so that the American People can see whether they are subject to a rigorous Constitutional Review. Thank you very much. Thank you. Please go ahead, attorney general. Chairman leahy, Ranking Member grassley, members of the committee, i want to thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the recent achievements in the ongoing priorities of the United States department of justice. Id like to thank the members of congress for coming together earlier this month to pass a bipartisan budget agreement that restores the departments funding to presequestration levels. We are reviewing this legislation to determine its impact on specific programs and components. But we anticipate it will provide for the hiring of additional federal agents, prosecutors and other essential staff. This will allow us to invest in innovative programs, to keep supporting state and local Law Enforcement agencies, and to continue building upon the outstanding work that my colleagues have made possible over the past year. As ive often said, the departments top priority must always be the protection of the American People from terrorism and other National Security threats. Since i last appeared before this committee, we have continued to strengthen key intelligence gathering capabilities, to refine our ability to identify and to disrupt potential terrorist plots. And to ensure that those charged with terrorismrelated offenses can be held accountable to the full extent of the law. As president obama noted in his speech at the Justice Department, roughly two weeks ago in carrying out this work its imperative that we continue striving to protect our National Security while upholding the Civil Liberties that all of us hold dear. On monday we took a significant step forward in this regard when the department acted to allow more detailed disclosures about the number of National Security orders and requests that are issued to Communications Providers. The number of customer accounts targeted under those orders and requests. And the underlying Legal Authority. Through these new reports methods, Communications Providers will be permitted to disclose more information than ever before to their customers. Allowing disclosure of this data will resolve an important area of concern to Communications Providers as well as to the public. And in the weeks ahead, as we move forward with the timely implementation of this and other reforms directed by the president , my colleagues and i will work closely with members of this committee and other congressional leaders to determine the best path forward. We also will continue enforcing essential privacy protections and other safeguards concerning data possessed by the government, as well as by the private sector. The department of justice takes very seriously reports of any data breach, particularly those involving personally identifiable or financial information. And looks into allegations that are brought to its attention. Now, while we generally do not discuss specific matters under investigation, i can confirm that the department is investigating the breach involving the United States retailer target. And we are committed to working to find not only the perpetrators of these sorts of data breach, but also any individuals and groups who exploit that data via credit card fraud. Beyond this important work, the department will continue to build on the progress that we have seen in confronting really a wide variety of other threats and challenges from combating drug and human trafficking, to addressing cyberattacks, protecting americans from Violent Crime, and taking really commonsense steps to reduce gun violence. Earlier this month the department strengthened the federal background check system by clarifying federal rules concerning Mental Healthbased prohibitions on firearm purchases. Under the leadership of our Civil Rights Division, we are working diligently with our federal Agency Partners to implement the Supreme Courts ruling in United States vs. Windsor, to make real the promise of equal protection under the law for all American Families and to extend applicable federal benefits to married samesex couples and we are vigorously enforcing federal voting protections around working with congressional leaders from both parties to refine and to strengthen the proposals that congress is currently considering to help ensure that every eligible american has access to the franchise. In addition, last year as part of our ongoing efforts to hold accountable those whose conducts the seeds of the mortgage crisis, we filed suits against bank of america and the ratings firm, s p. In november the department reached a 13 billion settlement with Jpmorgan Chase and company. This is the largest settlement with any single entity in American History to resolve federal and state civil claims related to the companys mortgage securitization process. Now, i think that these results demonstrate that no firm, no matter how profitable, is above the law. And they reinforced our commitment to integrity and equal justice in every case in every circumstance and in every community. This commitment is also reflected in the new smart on Crime Initiative that i announced this past august, to strengthen our federal criminal Justice System, to increase our emphasis on proven diversion, rehabilitation, and reentry programs, and to reduce unnecessary collateral consequences for those who are seeking to rejoin their communities. As part of the smart on crime approach, i mandated a significant change to the Justice Departments charging policies to ensure that people accused of certain lowlevel, federal drug crimes will face sentences that are appropriate to their individual conduct. And that stringent, mandatory minimum sentences will be reserved for the most serious criminals. Alongside other important reforms, this change will make our criminal Justice System not only fairer, but also more efficient. And it will compliment proposals like the bipartisan smarter sentencing act, introduced by senators durbin and mike lee, which would give judges more discretion in determining appropriate sentences for people convicted of certain federal drug crimes. I look forward to working with chairman leahy, the distinguished members of this committee, and other leaders who have shown a commitment to commonsense sentencing reforms, like senator rand paul, to help advance this and other legislation. I want to thank you all once again for your continued support of the United States department of justice and i would be happy to answer any of the questions that you might have. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. And thank you for mentioning sentencing, what senator durbin and lee and paul and ryan and others, who are all working together to try t