Their approval to become the white house budget director. Next, his appearance before the Senate Budget committee. It is about three hours. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] good morning and welcome to everyone here. I will call this here in short order. We are here today to consider the nomination of representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina to be the next director of the office of management and budget. Im going to try to keep my opening remarks brief since we have a pair of senators before us for going to give some introductory remarks of their own concerning their nominee. President trump indicated his intent to nominate representative of any for this position a little over a month ago. I think we would like to see a confirmed director in place as soon as possible. So i am happy to note that the other Committee Jurisdiction over omb d awe need an omb director in place with so many causing budgetary issues requiring the attention of the new administration and most among these foremost is a 20 trillion debt burden american shoulders. Congress needs an omb director who can awe can work with to put the nation on a responsible fiscal path. Thats why am pleased that he nominated fiscal conservative for this key post. The representative has been vigilant and budget aand six years in congress including his tenure on the house budget and oversight committee. He has been a vocal contributor to the great budget debates of recent years. Focus on questions and how he ultimately stopped the federal government from overspending while continuing to fund the countrys core priorities and responsibilities. Representative mulvaney has been a prominent voice arguing for fiscal restraint, balance budgets and honest budgeting that does not use gimmicks for nonemergencies. I have also discussed with representative mulvaney the urgent need to reform the broken budget process. Which has contributed to the budgetary stalemate and recurrent continuing resolutions in which congress now read tinley resorts in order to postpone hard decisions about spending and debt. There is an urgent need for important reforms to the process. Such as implementing budgeting and the overhaul of outdated budget accounts and concepts that have outlived their usefulness. Ultimately, my goal is to produce comprehensive and lasting budget process reforms that puts our nation on a better fiscal path. Despite its significance, the preparation of the president s annual budget submission is only one of the responsibilities of omb. As with any executive office omb has numerous governmentwide management responsibilities in addition to budgeting and spending that concern various activities carried out by federal agencies. These include agency rulemaking, contracting, grants management, financial management, information technology, program assessment, personal policy, Property Management and several others. I particularly am interested in hearing his view on the role played by the office of information and Regulatory Affairs and bedding agency regulations. This committee has been exploring the concept of a regulatory budget as one way to produce a check on the growing burden of regulation on the American Economy more so to Small Business. Also since he is the house sponsor with a recently enacted legislation with improper payments, i am interested in his view on how we can reduce the growing volume of improper payments made by the federal government each year. The annual amount reached 144 billion in 2016. The cumulative amount of improper payments densely started counting in 2003 exceeds 1 trillion. Senator sanders. Chairman. Thank you very much. And we welcome the discussion that we will be having with mr. Mulvaney for this very important position. And i would also like to take this opportunity to welcome the new members of this committee. Senators ben holland and harris and senator gardner, senator kennedy and ai look forward to working with all of you. Chairman you and i may not agree on too much. But i think we can all agree that President Trump ran a very unconventional campaign. And that he told the American People that he would govern as a very unconventional republican. I think that is fair that we can get unanimous consent on that one. And over and over again, in fact the cornerstone, one of the cornerstones of his campaign was that he was not going to cut Social Security medicare and medicaid. He was not ambiguous about this. He did not say this in an ambush interview at 3 oclock in the morning. He said this over and over and over again. And i suspect that millions of Senior Citizens of this country and millions of working class people that do not want to see Social Security, medicare or medicaid cuts for that reason. And i will just read a view of the quotes with your permission mr. Chairman. Into the record. Many of the quotes. That President Trump said on the campaign trail. He said on may 7, 2015 quote a i was the first and only potential gop candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, medicare and medicaid. April 18, donald trump said quote aevery republican wants to do a number on Social Security. They want to do it on medicare, medicaid and we cant do that. And it is not fair to the people that have been paying him for years. And now all of the sudden they want to be cut. August 10, donald trump said i will save medicare, medicaid and Social Security without cuts. We have to do it. People have been paying him for years and now many of these candidates want to cut it. Last quotes, march 29, 2016, donald trump said, you know, paul ryan wants to knock out Social Security. Knock it down, way down. He was not medicare way down. Frankly well two things, but for when you will not lose, youre going to lose the election if youre going to do that. Im not going to cut it. And i will not raise ages and im not going to do all of the things they want to do. What they really want, they really want to cut it. And they want to cut it very substantially. The republicans. And im not going to do that. That is quotes from the president when he was on the campaign trail. Now that this is over President Trump still sends out a whole lot of tweets. But surprisingly enough i have not seen that tweet where he says that. Im waiting eagerly for that as millions of seniors and working people in this country are. Issue that we are discussing today is will the president keep his Campaign Promises and will he appoint people to his cabinet who will help them keep those Campaign Promises . Now we go to congressman mulvaney. And i want to thank him for coming into our very productive interesting discussion. But, his views on Social Security, medicare and medicaid are exactly opposite of what donald trump campaigned on. Let me quickly run through congressman mulvaneys record. May 15, 2011 he said we have to end medicare as we know it. April 28 2008 he said quote a medicare as it exists today is finished. August 1, 2011 he said quote a you have to raise the retirement age, lower pay cuts, change the reimbursement system. He simply cannot leave Social Security the way it is. On may 17, 2011 he said, i honestly dont think we went far enough with the ryan budget because it did not cut Social Security and medicare rapidly enough. And in fact, just last year congressman mulvaney voted against the budget proposed by House Budget Committee chairman tom price. And House Speaker ryan. They voted in favor of a more extreme budget by the republican committee. This radical rightwing budget that congressman mulvaney supported cuts medicare by 59 billion more than the price ryan budget. He cut Social Security by 184 billion more and it cut medicaid and other Health Programs by 255 billion more than the budget proposed by chairman price and speaker ryan. This is also interesting. In may 2009 when congressman mulvaney was a member of the South Carolina state senate, he voted for an amendment declaring Social Security, medicaid and Us Department of education unconstitutional. Let me read the text of that amendment. Quote awhere as many federal mandates in which those that created the Us Department of education, medicaid and the United StatesSocial Security administration are directly and violation of the 10th amendment to the United States constitution. That amendment in the South Carolina senate was defeated by a vote of 35 to 6. Mr. Mulvaney was one of the six. In my view, the opinions and ideas of mr. Mulvaney are way out of touch with where the American People want and more importantly, they are way out of touch with what President Trump campaigned on. And while we can all disagree on many issues, i would hope we can agree that if somebody campaigns, i am sure many my republican athat you keep your promise. And i suspect that chairman enzi does that. He tells what he feels and he keeps his word. But it does not make sense to me to have a key advisor to the president having direct opposition and what the president campaigned on. Last point, i have come during the confirmation review process awe have come to learn during the nominating process here that mr. Mulvaney failed to pay over 15,000 in taxes for a nanny that he employed from 2000 to 2004. Here is what congressman mulvaney wrote about the issue in response to a question i asked him on january 11. Quote aive come to learn during the confirmation review process that failed to pay fica and federal and state unemployment taxes on a household employee for the years 2000 to 2004. Upon discovery of that shortfall i paid the federal taxes the amount in question federal i can unemployment it was 15,583. 60. Exclusive of penalties and interest that you were not yet determined. The state amounts are not yet determined. Mr. Chairman, this is a serious issue. As you will recall eight years ago senator awithdrew his nomination of secretary of a after it was discovered he failed to pay his fair share of taxes. On this issue i agree with minority leader schumer says quote awhen other previous cabinet nominees failed to pay their fair share in taxes, then it republicans force those nominees to withdraw from consideration. The failure to pay taxes was disqualifying for democratic nominees than the same should be true for republican nominees. That is the end of schumers quote. In 2015 mr. Chairman, congressman mulvaney voted for a bill in the house that clearly stated and i quote a any individual who has a seriously delinquent tax that should be an intelligible to continue serving as an employee of the federal government. Mr. Chairman i look forward to asking mr. Mulvaney questions. Thank you for the time. Thank you senator sanders. Before we swear in the witness and hear his testimony, we will hear today a little bit about the nominee from our committee colleagues, senator graham as well as aand senator graham and mulvaney or fellow South Carolina hands. And senator cotten said in house with mr. Mulvaney. Thank you mr. Chairman. Im honored to be here. To introduce congressman mulvaney. He is my buddy. We do not agree on everything but i think he is one of the most capable people i have met through my time in Public Service. And we have a real friendship. We play golf. He always beats me. [laughter] i accept that. He has a beautiful wife and triplets. Just remember that when you talk to him. He is sincere. Clearly, senator sanders would not have chosen him for his director. I think we established that. Why would donald trump, President Trump taken man according to senator sanders, that does not agree to anything he stands for . I would argue that he picked congressman mulvaney because he understands he knows the budget, he will be a good overseer of the government. He is a practical guide. And he will follow the president. President trump understands everything that you said about congressman mulvaney and he has confidence that this mans ability to do a job for his administration. I share that confidence. To those on the defense side he will follow the call of the president to increase defense spending. He does believe in and reform and i think he is right to do so. To save these programs. So from a personal point of view, ive never had an occasion where he would not tell me exactly what he believed even if he knew i would disagree with him. And he is able to disagree with people in an honorable fashion, he is incredibly smart. He has made it his lifes work to understand what is wrong with our government. He his dedicated to fixing. One final personal ai think i voted for every i asked myself where did that and appeared reason i did it, i think elections have consequences. And while i disagree with almost every nominee about the basic structure of government, i understood that president obama needed his team and deserved his team if they were qualified. And here is what i would ask this committee to consider. Given this mans life experience, his background, the Public Sector and private sector. His time in congress, do you believe he is qualified to understand how the federal Government Works and reform it consistent with what the president will direct him to do. I believe that with all of my heart and soul. And i appreciate you listening to congressman mulvaney. In any hard question you can ask, youre doing your job. Just realized elections have consequences for you as they did for me. Thank you. Senator cotton. Thank you. Mulvaney and i have known each other for many years. We serve together and house of representatives. He is a friend and i speak from personal experience when i say he will serve our president and our nation with distinction. The way i see it, the directors chief job is to give president the unvarnished truth. He is a telling president exactly what things cost. Partly to his agenda but mostly to the taxpayer. The president of course sets the agenda but he deserves a clear eyed view. Not rosecolored glasses there for the past six years mick has been telling many hard truths. Presenting we are spending too much, and shortchanging the military will only cost us more in the long run. He also understands afor the big spenders in washington. It is the American People who earned this money through their hard work and sacrifice. He will treat every tax dollar like it was his own. And trust me it means he will watch it like a hawk. Many people stopped me to ask about the National Debt. It is a huge concern. So with his eagle eyed focus on spending, mick will be a crucial voice. He will represent americans are deeply worried about the burden of where we are leaving our children and while he is deeply principled he knows how to work with others and make progress wherever we can. In short, mick is a fine choice to run the office of management and budget. So i urge you not only to advance his nomination but you do so as soon as possible. Under the law the president is required to submit budget to Congress Early next month which will be very difficult without a new director. I hope the senate will also confirm him promptly. Thank you for your time today and your consideration of a passionate advocate for the taxpayer, a bold truth teller in my friend, mulvaney. Thank you senator graham and senator cotton. I will keep my remarks brief. Mr. Mulvaney is representing the Fifth District of South Carolina. He holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and a law degree from the university of north carolina. He has a husband and the father of triplets. We thank you for joining us today to and begin with you on testimony but first, under the rules of the Committee Nominees are required to testify under oath. So would you please join me as i administer the oath. Do you swear the testimony that you will give to the Senate Budget committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth . I quietly agree to appear before the committee and answer any questions that they might have . Yes. You may be seated. Now we have a chance to hear from you. Thank you committee, dickie chairman, thank you it is an honor to be here today to present my qualifications and my vision for the office of management and budget. I want to thank the president for nominating me and showing confidence in me in doing so. Especially mr. Graham and cotton for their kind words. I want to think especially before we get started my family. As members of this committee know the burdens of our Public Service often fall on those at home and we do not get a chance to say this nearly enough we certainly do not get enough on national television. I mixed ordinarily proud of the young people that my 17yearold triplets have become. I do not know if its because i have been away from home or despite the fact of being away but the fact that they are the young