- 6/12/2025
Sec. Scott Bessent testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.
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00:00Subcommittee meeting will come to order.
00:02Secretary Besant, welcome.
00:04I know that you've had an extremely long day, long travel.
00:07I appreciate your hard work on behalf of the United States and the toll that it takes on
00:11one.
00:12Just back from an overseas trip, having testified in the House of Representatives today, Ranking
00:18Member Reed and I both decided that we'd like to put our opening comments in for the
00:22record to spare you the time and exhaustion.
00:25If you'd like to do the same, Secretary, we'd welcome that.
00:32We will do that and proceed.
00:36I would like to start with the first round of questions, Mr. Secretary, and then I'll
00:41turn it over to Ranking Member Reed.
00:46Just one second here.
00:48I know you're really glad that we didn't – if we can go through all of Rope, it
00:57makes sense.
00:58Mr. Secretary, the Senate is currently considering the Genius Act.
01:03You're familiar with that legislation that's designed to promote and regulate innovation
01:08in payment stablecoins.
01:09The bill aims to bring our payment system into the 21st century.
01:13Unlike slow and costly wire transfers, stablecoins enable direct peer-to-peer transactions that
01:18settle nearly instantaneously.
01:20The potential benefits are immense.
01:22These digital assets can remove friction in global payments.
01:25They can unlock working capital for more productive deployment and improve settlement
01:29and efficiency in financial markets.
01:32The adoption of these innovative digital assets is soaring, growing from around $45 billion
01:37in early 2020 – I'm sorry, around $4 billion in early 2020 – to more than $200 billion
01:43today.
01:44If Congress can provide long-due regulatory clarity, this remarkable growth trajectory will
01:48only accelerate.
01:49So my first question, Secretary Besant – my legislation requires that stablecoins be backed
01:54by cash or short-dated U.S. Treasuries.
01:58One investment bank estimates that the Genius Act would expand the stablecoin market from its
02:01current value of $240 billion to $2 trillion by the end of 2028, with most of the reserves
02:07likely to be held in U.S. Treasuries.
02:09What are the benefits of having a new and expansive source of demand for U.S. Treasuries in the
02:14years ahead?
02:16Secretary Besant – Senator, thank you for your leadership on this important matter.
02:23As you know, the administration led by President Trump has made digital assets a priority and
02:31making the U.S. the world leader in digital assets is essential for our goals.
02:39Your question is a very important one.
02:43In the history of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency, there have been numerous passages along
02:52the way where it was – many people assumed that the U.S. dollar would lose reserve currency
03:01status, and there has always been a new mechanism that has cemented that.
03:10This administration is committed to keeping the reserve currency status and enhancing that,
03:17and I believe that stablecoin legislation backed by U.S. Treasuries, or T-bills, will create
03:26a market that will expand U.S. dollar usage via these stablecoins all around the world, and
03:34I think that $2 trillion is a very reasonable number, and I can see it greatly exceeding that.
03:47You've previously spoken about the need to reverse some of the overregulation in capital
03:50standards, including a reduction in the supplementary leverage ratio.
03:54That ratio penalizes banks – or the level of today – penalizes banks by requiring them
03:59to hold excess capital against low-risk assets like treasuries and reserves.
04:03So my question, Secretary of Business, is how soon could we see changes to the SLR ratio,
04:08and how could yields be affected by a more tailored approach to capital requirements for risk-free
04:12assets?
04:13Well, Senator, risk assets are like cholesterol.
04:21There's good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, but some risk assets are riskier than others,
04:27and the problem with the SLR is it doesn't differentiate.
04:30Yeah.
04:31So we have been working via FSOC and the regulators – OCC, the FDIC, and the Fed – to coordinate
04:43a change in the supplementary leverage ratio for the purchase of treasuries.
04:49We don't know the exact magnitude in terms of how it might affect yields, but what we have
04:58seen in the past is that when this requirement was removed, it had a substantial effect.
05:08So we don't know the effect.
05:13We do know the direction of travel.
05:16We don't know the magnitude.
05:17Got it.
05:18I do think that a tapering approach – I'm pleased to hear it – will have a very positive
05:22impact on the markets.
05:23Thank you for that.
05:24And I know this has been top of mind and front of mind for you, certainly in recent days.
05:30You've been playing an incredible role in negotiating terms of trade for our nation
05:34with other nations.
05:35You've just returned from a big trip in that regard.
05:37And to the extent you could comment in a public arena on what sort of update you might be able
05:43to give us on trade and tariffs, I think we'd be very interested to hear that.
05:47Yes.
05:48So as I've said several times before, there are 18 important trading relationships.
05:55They constitute between 90 and 95 percent of our trade deficits also.
06:02So our largest trading partners, definitionally, are also some of the worst defenders in terms
06:12of trade deficits.
06:14We are finding that these trading partners have come to us, many of them with robust proposals.
06:24Some have been a little slower to come, like the European Union, but have now shown better
06:31faith.
06:33The administration put a 90-day hold on the reciprocal tariffs and took everyone down to
06:39a global baseline of 10 percent.
06:42It is my belief that countries that are negotiating in good faith could be rolled forward.
06:50Our negotiations with the Chinese were extensive, deliberative, done with respect between the
07:00two countries, but also the understanding, on my part, that China is the most imbalanced economy
07:07in the history of the world, and that at a 30 percent, at 30 percent of global manufacturing,
07:17this is not sustainable.
07:19So we are looking to insert fairness into our relationship with the Chinese, and that can
07:29be done via them exporting less to us, or it could be done with what I would, to paraphrase
07:40from Ray Dalio, a big, beautiful rebalancing where President Trump would like to rebalance
07:48the U.S. more in favor of manufacturing.
07:50We're down to about 9 percent of the U.S. workforce is involved in manufacturing.
07:57The Chinese economy is imbalanced on the manufacturing side.
08:01They need to increase domestic consumption substantially.
08:06So if we could do that together, then the two largest economies in the world could get
08:11into better equilibrium that's fair for the American people.
08:15Thank you very much for that thoughtful response.
08:17Now I'd like to turn to my ranking member and partner, Senator Reid.
08:21Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and welcome home, Mr. Secretary.
08:25Senator Reid.
08:26Nice to meet you.
08:27I don't believe we've ever met.
08:29Well, today is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
08:33Didn't Humphrey Bogart say that?
08:34We can quote Ray Dalio, big, beautiful.
08:39Mr. Secretary, Treasury distributes about $5.4 trillion a year in payments, Social Security
08:48benefits, tax refunds, military salaries.
08:51And all these payment systems contain some of the most personal information of every American.
08:59And you have had, in Treasury, DOGE representatives who are reputed to have access to lots of information.
09:08And I've been asking questions, not just of you, but of other cabinet members about the
09:13extent of the information they have.
09:16Have your staff or any DOGE representatives, in terms of the distribution payments, started
09:21to stop or block any payments?
09:26Not to my knowledge.
09:28Well, it turns out that in emails filed by the Treasury Department of Court, your Chief
09:37of Staff emailed that, quote, Mr. Krause and his team needed access to the federal payment
09:44system so they could pause USAID payments and comply with Mr. Trump's January 20th executive
09:50order to halt foreign aid.
09:52Did that take place?
09:53I believe that may have been before I arrived on January 28th.
10:00And I also believe, if that's a Washington Post story or the New York Times story, they were
10:06actually quite selective with the email that was leaked to them.
10:11So, and Senator, just to be clear, what I discovered on my arrival was that we process about 1.5 billion
10:23payments a year that sums to the total you mentioned, approximately one-third of that do not have
10:31what is known as a TAS, Treasury Accounting symbol, or we found that.
10:38Having a TAS is the only way to tie a payment back to an appropriation.
10:44So we have been working very hard to make sure that all 1.5 billion payments can be tied back
10:53to an appropriation.
10:55I think a good mental model for this is to think of what's called the Treasury General
11:00Account, the TGA, is the checking account for the U.S. government.
11:06And above that sits between 400 and 450 entities, whether it's the big departments, the agencies,
11:14the smaller entities, and they put in requests for payments, Treasury is just the paymaster.
11:24So in general, we do not try to stop payments if they are properly notified, authorized.
11:34Well, you're right.
11:36The occurrence of this stoppage was January 24th, four days.
11:41But in fact, payment was stopped because of a political motivation, USAID was deemed to
11:48be an inappropriate agency in the government.
11:54Which begs the question, how could you stop someone or could you stop someone that decided
11:59to stop payments to an individual organization for reasons that were not meritorious at all?
12:07I'm not familiar with the litigation around that, but I can tell you since January 28th, none
12:16of that has happened.
12:17And that everyone, I think there's some conflation and much of it's due to the media on what is
12:28a Doge employee?
12:29Anyone who works in the Treasury Building is a Treasury employee, so they may have come
12:41there at the suggestion of Doge, but they are properly trained and compliant just as any
12:50other Treasury employee would be.
12:53Well, I think you've touched on an issue of conflation of different jobs.
13:00On February 3rd, you wrote in response to my letter that one of your colleagues, Tom Krause,
13:06started as a Doge representative, but then was brought on as an expert slash consultant.
13:14But then two days later on February 5th, you installed him as the fiscal assistant secretary,
13:20which is the top official charge of the Bureau of Fiscal Services.
13:25At any time during his employment at Treasury, was he a member or an employee of another company?
13:33He may have been.
13:34If he were an SGE, I think he's allowed to have outside employment.
13:39Well, in fact, again, another transcript from a court case.
13:45He was in employment.
13:47He was the chief executive office of cloud software group, which presents interesting potential
13:53conflicts of interest.
13:55But, Senator, I believe as an SGE, that is permitted to be seconded for a limited period
14:02of time with proper controls.
14:04Is he still involved with cloud computing?
14:07I believe he's left Treasury.
14:11So let me just switch to another area of data.
14:14I'm very much concerned because of the Doge penetration of the entire government.
14:20Again, the IRS has extraordinarily confidential, deeply personal taxpayer information,
14:27social security numbers, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
14:30And if compromise, this could threaten America's financial, Americans' financial security as
14:36well as even more sinister aspects.
14:39Doge staff members have attempted to access the integrated data retrieval system at the IRS.
14:46Secretary, does Doge staff have, have they ever had or do they have access to the integrated
14:55data retrieval system?
14:56Not, not to my knowledge, sir.
15:01And again, any information they would have had access to would have been via, and I'm going
15:11to give, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm new to this, but I'm going to throw a lot of acronyms
15:16at you, it would have been through an MOU between IRS and OMB.
15:25So we put the proper controls prophylactics around any activities that they had in the building.
15:34Are you confident that no information has been exported from the Treasury Department by Doge
15:45personnel?
15:46Not to my knowledge, Senator.
15:47Have you investigated it to ensure us that that's absolutely correct?
15:52Well, we have strict protocols around that.
15:57So there's no reason to believe that there was.
16:01Now, in the previous administration, a contractor went to jail and paid, I can't remember, either
16:09a $5,000 or $10,000 fine is serving a stated five-year term.
16:15We don't know the terms of his plea agreement for exporting, I believe the files of, I don't
16:23know, it was 40, 50, 100 of the highest taxpayers in America, including President Trump.
16:29Well, you know, one of the issues here is these are temporary, their employees or employer status
16:37is kind of up in the air, particularly if they're not full-time employees, they work for other
16:43companies, et cetera, and they certainly have the technical talents to copy and exploit and
16:48expropriate any information they want.
16:50Well, Senator, that's why we took this very seriously.
16:55In terms of we, there was a push for them to come in the building.
17:08Our staff at Treasury and IRS was very mindful and diligent of everything you've said.
17:16So we were very mindful of having proper balances, protocols in place.
17:23Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
17:24Thank you for clarifying that for us, Mr. Secretary.
17:26I think that was very helpful to have that.
17:28And Senator Masech just told me all of the details there are in the litigation.
17:34Yeah.
17:35Thank you very much again, Mr. Secretary, for illuminating us with that explanation.
17:41I'll turn to Senator Van Hollen, please.
17:46Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
17:47Welcome, Mr. Secretary.
17:48I've just returned back from London, I believe, where you're engaged in the trade negotiations.
17:56And I've been trying to keep up with reports as to where those stand.
18:00I just have one question regarding that.
18:03There's a headline here that reads that Trump eyeing easing U.S. chip export restrictions to
18:13secure Chinese rare earths.
18:16I think all of us recognize the vulnerability the United States has with respect to rare earths.
18:23It's something that China has decided to limit much more since this trade war got launched
18:31in the most recent iteration.
18:34But many of us have been very concerned about the diffusion of very high-end chip technology
18:40and AI technology to China.
18:43So I'm wondering if you can comment on that.
18:47Yes, sir.
18:49Senator Van Hollen, to the extent that article makes it seem as though there is some quid pro
18:56quo, there is not.
19:01We have done an extensive analysis within Treasury, Commerce, and all the technology, the White
19:15Health Office of Science and Technology on any technology transfer.
19:22And we have been very judicious in that.
19:27So there is no quid pro quo in terms of chips for rare earths.
19:34Okay.
19:35I'm listening carefully, and I understand you're saying there's no quid pro quo.
19:40I take it to mean from that that there's – you're not saying that we won't increase
19:45the access to China of our highest-end chip technology.
19:50I'm not saying you're saying we are.
19:51I'm just asking you're not – you haven't ruled that out.
19:53Am I interpreting you right?
19:56What I'm saying is there's no intent – you're referring to NVIDIA chips mostly.
20:02I'm referring to NVIDIA chips and the other high-end chips and the manufacturing equipment
20:08to produce those chips.
20:09Yes.
20:10But in fact, we have done just the opposite.
20:14We put export controls on the NVIDIA H20, which I would regard as a very upper-end chip,
20:22but not the highest-end chip.
20:24So if anything, we have –
20:26Yeah.
20:27No, I appreciate the measures you've – some have taken.
20:30I would argue building in some cases on the Biden administration, but this is why this
20:35caught my eye.
20:36I just returned from the Senate floor where I have been raising very deep concerns about
20:40the deal that was done with the UAE, where on the day before the president left on his
20:46trip, rolled back the safeguards that had been put in place by the previous administration,
20:52which – with, I should add, strong bipartisan support, including the bipartisan joint committee
20:58in the House looking into China.
21:00So this is an area I think many of us are very concerned about, which is why this headline
21:06caught my eye.
21:07If I could turn to the cuts to the IRS, and I've followed your comments about how you're
21:12able to continue to bring in revenues despite the changes that have been made.
21:18I would suggest, Mr. Secretary, that it's way too early to tell.
21:22First of all, as you know, a lot of people were fired as probationary employees only to have
21:28to be brought back on an emergency basis for tax filing season.
21:32So I think it's important we understand that.
21:35And the idea that people can really turn around a ship and, you know, implement all these new
21:40technology and AI changes to expedite IRS collections, especially from very wealthy people, is something
21:49many of us have been pushing for for many years.
21:51But the notion that this has happened in a very short time, I think, defies logic.
21:56So are you predicting that the changes that you've made this year will not result in the
22:05IRS collecting less revenue, especially from higher end individuals than would be predicted
22:12this year?
22:13Obviously, if the economy continues to grow, revenues grow.
22:16But I'm saying the – I'm sure you've seen the CBO projections.
22:20The CBO says when you make these cuts, you will bring in less revenue from very wealthy
22:25people than you otherwise would.
22:27Do you agree with that analysis?
22:29I don't because I could tell you a couple of things.
22:34I've been discussing with my personal tax advisers that they say that anyone you could bring
22:41in with two to three years of training is virtually worthless.
22:46I would say it is like putting me on a basketball court with Steph Curry.
22:52And we have from a whistleblower in Atlanta, and this was before I arrived under Secretary Yellen,
23:05there was a problem with the rapid pace of hiring to the quality of individuals hired.
23:13If there were two criteria, many – two high criteria, many only satisfied one,
23:22and then there were a few examples of people who are not qualified at all.
23:27I appreciate that.
23:29I would just emphasize again, it'd be helpful if your team could get back to me and members
23:35of the committee as to what specific assumptions, premises, and conclusions in the CBO report you
23:42disagree with.
23:43Can you provide us with that?
23:44Yes, sir.
23:45Because I'd like to – you know, the CBO is like our umpire here.
23:50They really don't wear a party hat.
23:51They call it as they see it.
23:53And it's – in this case, we're seeing very different projections that have very meaningful
23:58consequences for our deficit.
24:00So I'd appreciate that.
24:01Yep.
24:02And what I would point out, in our technology innovation, the IRS technology stack update began
24:11in 1990.
24:14I believe $50 billion has been spent.
24:19We were due to spend $3.5 billion this year.
24:22We have cut that back because so much of it is wasted or it's just patches on patches on
24:30existing systems.
24:33And also, as I've said repeatedly, I have three goals – collections, privacy, and customer
24:45service.
24:47And I believe we can enhance all of those as you clearly are well-versed in AI.
24:58And I think that we are at the dawn of being able to greatly increase individual and experienced
25:08auditor productivity via AI.
25:12So for the upper-end tax collector auditors that you brought up, that is what would be
25:22considered a plum job.
25:24It is something that takes many years of experience.
25:27So our goal is to actually be able to enhance their productivity and collections ability with
25:33AI.
25:35I look forward to getting the analysis that looks at what the CBO has done and where you
25:40disagree.
25:41Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
25:42Senator Goons.
25:43Thank you, Chairman Hagerty, Ranking Member Reed, Secretary Besant.
25:46Welcome.
25:47Thank you for being here today.
25:48Senator, nice to see you.
25:49Chairman Hagerty, I'm impressed at your streamlining this hearing.
25:52It was striking.
25:55And I'm glad we're able to get right into the meat of the conversation.
26:00We are today spending more on the interest on our national debt than we are on our national
26:04defense.
26:06And I applaud your stated support for reducing the federal deficit and trying to get a handle
26:10on our national debt.
26:11But I struggle to square that with your support for tax policies that will, under CBO's analysis,
26:19add at least $2.4 trillion to our debt in the next decade.
26:24And given that credit rating agencies have just downgraded U.S. debt, I am concerned that
26:28by continuing to pile debt onto our national balance sheet, we will undermine growth, we will
26:34damage our ability to borrow, and we will lay the foundation for the next fiscal crisis.
26:39Do you share any of those concerns?
26:41And how do you see us making progress in improving our overall fiscal balance sheet?
26:46Senator, I don't think you and I have met in person.
26:50I think we had a long time.
26:51We have met.
26:52We did meet.
26:53And we also had a very long phone conversation.
26:55Yes.
26:56The reason I'm sitting here today is because I became very concerned about our government's
27:03finances and that in the trailing year, we will have had the highest deficit to GDP when
27:12we were not at war and not in a recession.
27:16Yes.
27:17Right.
27:18And so this is what we have inherited.
27:21If we look at the CBO scoring, and I'm not making a judgment on the good people who work
27:27at CBO, I'm making a judgment on their models.
27:32The models assume a static 1.7 or 1.8 percent growth.
27:36Whether we pass the one big beautiful bill or it fails, no matter what, we always grow
27:47at 1.8 percent.
27:49I believe through higher growth and the cost cutting that we are doing, that we can bring
27:56that under control.
27:58And I would note that if we want to use CBO scoring, CBO, sorry, which I don't agree with,
28:09is at $2.4 trillion over the 10-year window, the CBO also scores the President's tariffs
28:17at $2.8 trillion.
28:19So that would be a surplus of $400 billion.
28:25Let me move on to some more focused questions on specific things in your agency.
28:28I would welcome a chance about the broader economic picture, because I frankly don't
28:32believe the tariff income assessment.
28:35I do believe the tax, but we can – we literally could debate this longer than I believe I have.
28:41But –
28:42Let's move to sanctions.
28:43If we want to agree on CBO, we have to agree on CBO.
28:46Yep.
28:47And I'll take that point.
28:48Good.
28:49Secretary Rubio testified recently the Trump administration has not lifted any sanctions
28:53against Russia.
28:54Is that true?
28:55Not to my knowledge.
28:57And sanctions, which I've long followed, I've served on this subcommittee for many years,
29:02it's not a static game.
29:04For every company that's sanctioned, typically they then move to set up a front company to
29:09find another avenue.
29:11And with the Russians in particular, they're quite skilled at sanctions evasion by setting
29:15up new companies in other countries, including in the PRC.
29:18And for every sector that's sanctioned, there's a whole cottage industry devoted to evading them.
29:23Relative sanctions depend on follow-up, enforcement, and pursuit, which is why you have a whole
29:29talented team at Treasury focused on finding evaders and front companies, redesignating them
29:34publicly, closing the loopholes.
29:37Treasury and state were rolling out new sanctions designations every few weeks, much of last year.
29:43How many new Russian entities have you designated under your sanctions authority since January?
29:48I will get back to you with that number.
29:50The answer is zero.
29:52How many entities worldwide have you sanctioned for doing business with Russian companies
29:56in ways that undermine our sanctions and export controls?
29:58I will get back to you with that number.
30:00I believe the answer is zero.
30:01I hope I'm wrong.
30:03I'd love it if you'd get back to me and tell me I'm wrong.
30:06But the PRC is helping Russia's defense industry by providing dual-use components and advanced
30:11technologies.
30:12Last week, Chancellor Mertz briefed a bipartisan group of us on Russia's alarming rearmament with
30:18help from China, Iran, and North Korea.
30:22How many Chinese firms have been designated for doing work directly with Russia's defense
30:26industry?
30:27I will get back to you on that.
30:29I will tell you that we have sanctioned numerous Chinese companies for receiving Iranian oil,
30:38and we have been working on the shadow fleets are not independent.
30:44And I believe in what you said, the Russians and the Iranians are very good at evading sanctions
30:51with these so-called shadow fleets.
30:53So we are working on a large – we have been pushing on those.
30:59We have sanctioned what are called teapot refineries in China.
31:04So these are non-state-owned, privately-owned refineries.
31:09This is a new, innovative measure that we have done.
31:14We have chosen not to go after Chinese government-owned.
31:21We are also working on tracking down the owners of these refineries, whether they have any assets
31:29in the U.S., in Western Europe, and moving on those very rapidly.
31:33I look forward to talking to you further about sanctions enforcement.
31:36Two last questions, Mr. Chairman, since I am the only senator remaining.
31:40I will make them brief.
31:41IMF.
31:42I just met with the head of the IMF.
31:44The IMF is a sound investment in global financial stability.
31:48We receive billions in interest every year from them on credit that they extend.
31:53In 2023, members agreed to increase quota, the capital contributions to the fund.
31:58It's my understanding that the Treasury Department and the White House have shown support for
32:03a measure to increase quota, can you just confirm it is, in fact, administration priority to
32:08increase our IMF quota?
32:09Yes.
32:10So, across the multilateral development banks, we believe that it is a very good way of leveraging
32:24tax dollars for U.S. power.
32:28And the managing director would have told you, or you may have seen, that I gave a speech about
32:35eight weeks ago during IMF World Bank Week.
32:37Yes.
32:38She did.
32:39That we are going to go back to basics.
32:42And we believe that they should be helping developing countries when they have a sudden stop and
32:49with development issues.
32:52Same for World Bank.
32:53I would love to work with you, Mr. Secretary, on making sure that the authorization for that
32:58increase actually happens this year so that we can move forward in our partnership.
33:03The direct file program allows Americans with very simple tax returns to file their taxes
33:08for free.
33:09It's been a great success.
33:11According to IRS research, 94 percent of direct file users rate their experience as excellent
33:15or above average.
33:17For a government tool for paying taxes, that's pretty darn good.
33:20You've expressed support for streamlining IRS operations, and direct file seems to support
33:25that mission.
33:26Do you continue to support direct file, or should I be concerned about rumors that the administration
33:31plans to end it?
33:32We are looking at direct file.
33:35We wanted to wait until we got beyond the window of tax filing season.
33:40So we are doing an assessment of that now.
33:46I will get back to you on that.
33:49One of the goals is to have more electronic filing because I'm cupping the numbers.
33:58But in order of magnitude, an electronic filer who doesn't get a refund may cost us under
34:05a dollar.
34:06A paper filer who does get maybe up to $80.
34:10So I will get back to you on that.
34:12Thank you, because I do think it's a successful program and reduces costs and makes it easier
34:16for taxpayers.
34:17Thank you for your forbearance, Mr. Chairman.
34:20And thank you, Secretary Besson, for appearing before our subcommittee today.
34:23We appreciate your time and your attention, your hard work, and being here with, I'm sure,
34:27extensive jet lag and testifying all day.
34:30So thank you again for being here.
34:33Senator Reed and I know we'll be submitting some additional questions for the record.
34:37Our effort is to get you back where you get a little bit of rest now.
34:40And we need you at your best, and I'm sure you are.
34:43And our members, I'll remind you, have a week to submit questions for the record.
34:47Mr. Secretary, we'd appreciate it if the Department could respond to the questions that
34:51you received for the record as soon as possible.
34:54And with that, this subcommittee meeting is adjourned.