sen. klobuchar: i call to order [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] senr [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] sen. klobuchar: i call to order this hearing on s-1 the for the people act. today we are here to consider the for the people act, legislation that i m honored to lead with senator merkley and majority leader schumer, which has been cosponsored by every democratic member of this committee. i would like to thank senator blunt, our colleagues, and our witnesses for being here today. i would also like to acknowledge in addition to senator merkley two of our other members who are new to this committee and are new to the senate. senator ossoff, who along with senator warnock were elected in georgia, where we know election issues were front and center. as well as senator padilla, who has his own extensive experience with these issues from his time as calif
committee will come to order. i am starting off the hearing, i am glad that i have good eyesight because you are a long way away, welcome to the committee, and those who are joining us. this is our committee s first hearing in the new congress. my gaveling and this morning is a little bit expected. as the senate leaders are finalizing and organizing the resolution i am still chairman, perhaps on a technicality, that i will be handing the gavel over to senator mitch in a few moments. for i do, i want to make a couple comments. i want to reiterate what an honor, what a privilege, what a pleasure it has been to chair this committee. i think we recognize that we accomplished a great deal for our country, and we did it in a way that i think demonstrates the best of the senate. we did in a collegial way and we did it with a bipartisan approach, and we did it on issues that are sometimes difficult, but we worked things through the committee, we worked with our staff, and i don t w
[indistinct chatter] sen. klobuchar: we really appreciate our second panel. i will mention who they are and swear them in and then give them their righteous and rightful introductions. so with us today is the honorable trevor potter, the former republican chair of the federal election commission who is here to testify for the bill. the honorable lee goodman, former republican chair of the federal election commission, who will be on the other side, against the bill. the third is fred wortheimer, who i believe has been working on these issues for 50 years. we will let him tell us that. we also have with us the honorable bradley smith, former republican chair of the federal election commission. and then tiffany muller, the president of end citizens united. the purpose of this second panel is to focus on the campaign finance and ethics portions of the bill, where the first panel was focused on the vote portions of the bill. so if the witnesses could stand, including our remote wi
accused him of sexual assault. this is 2.5 hours. what we re going do do is have our opening statements of senator reid and myself and then we ll recognize dr. wilson for a very important introduction. all right? the committee meets today for the nomination of general john e.hyten to be vice president of the joint chiefs of staff. we thank him for being here today. we welcome your family who is here and your friends, dr. hyten. they can be introduced at the time you are recognized for your opening statement. and we have our boring seven or eight questions you have to respond to first. have you adhered to applicable laws, recognitions or any conflicts of interest? show yes, sir. do you agree if confirmed to appear and testify before request before this committee? yes, sir. do you agree to provide documents including copies of electronic forms of communications in a timely manner when requested by a duly constituted committee or to consult with the committee regarding the b
georgia for his comments. we will begin. thank you to the committee for the opportunity to make these statements as we go into this important process here in the budget committee. first, i have to make these comments, calling this a budget is really a sham. it is not a real budget. that is because it is not really a law, it is a resolution. everything can be ignored. there are no consequences. the only reason this process is necessary is to get tax reform. the entire budget process is broken. it is a fraud being perpetrated on the american people. i don t think anybody disagrees. it has only worked four times in 43 years. i am encouraged people on both sides of the aisle, some members of this committee, working behind the scenes to try to find a politically neutral platform in which to do our financial planning for the federal government. the budget today, under current law, is a political document. rather than a serious tool to make important fiscal decisions. make no mist