Pam Bondi Trades Barbs With Rosa DeLauro In Fiery Clash Over Proposed ATF Cuts

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During a House Appropriations Committee hearing, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi about proposed cuts to ATF.

Transcript

00:00Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Just a quick note before I get to my questions.

00:07Fentanyl seizures are down 30% compared to last year, and that data is coming from the

00:15Customs and Border Patrol, CBP. I don't make it up, but fentanyl seizures are down. At

00:23your confirmation hearing, you asserted that you will do everything in your power to prevent

00:27illegal gun runners in our country. Your budget request for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,

00:32Firearms, and Explosives, ATF, proposes a cut of 26% below the current level. How can you

00:38justify such a massive cut without inevitably weakening ATF's ability to help our state and

00:44local law enforcement fight illegal gun trafficking? How many ATF law enforcement officers and industry

00:50operation investigators do you anticipate will be lost to attrition as a result of this funding

00:56reduction you are proposing? So, I am a career prosecutor, and I believe in keeping America

01:08safe, making America safe. First, what we're doing is ATF is going to be brought over with DEA.

01:17Everyone knows, everyone sitting up here, guns and drugs go together. They go together. We're going to

01:23make it more efficient. What I will tell you will not be happening is ATF agents will not be knocking

01:29on the doors of legal gun owners in the middle of the night asking them about their guns. They're

01:34going to be out on the streets. If I can finish, they're going to be out on the streets.

01:39I have three minutes. No, no, no. You asked me a question. I did.

01:41You asked me a question. And you haven't answered my question.

01:44So, they're going to be out on the streets working hand in hand with DEA to violate.

01:49Mr. Chairman, I'd like an answer to my question. And the question is not being answered. How many

01:55ATF law enforcement officers and industry operations investigators do anticipate will be lost

02:02to attrition as a result of the funding reduction you are proposing? You are proposing a 26% cut to

02:10ATF for fiscal year 2026, as well as a 4.4% cut to DEA. So, you're going to merge the two agencies

02:18together. And then you're going to shortchange their resources so neither one of them will be

02:22able to do the job that they have been designed to do. You've got a 34% cut to the high intensity

02:27drug trafficking areas program. No dedicated money at all for the organized crime drug enforcement

02:33task force. So, my view is fair to say that the Trump administration proposal shortchanges

02:39federal efforts to stop illegal gun trafficking and federal efforts to stop the flow of dangerous

02:46illegal drugs like fentanyl.

02:50As I was attempting to answer your question, very calmly, unlike you, what I was saying.

02:58Excuse me, Madam Attorney General. Yes or no? Tell me what the numbers are. I don't want

03:03to hear all of your filibuster about this. Go ahead. Please tell us the numbers. So, we are

03:09reorganizing. ATF agents want to be out on the street. Okay. Let me answer the question

03:15for you. I'm going to answer it for you. You know, Mr. Chairman, you give me a certain amount

03:23of time, and I have a high respect for you, but I don't have to listen, nor do my colleagues

03:27have to listen to a filibuster when it's a simple question. But I have an answer to your question.

03:32It's page 146 of the department's fiscal year 2026 budget, and the performance summary explicitly

03:40says, and let me quote, ATF will eliminate 541 industry operation investigators, reducing ATF's

03:51capacity to regulate the firearms and explosive industries by approximately 40% in fiscal year

03:592026. ATF will perform fewer regulatory inspections. And the department summary goes on to say, and

04:09let me quote, ATF anticipates a reduction of approximately 284 support personnel and 186 agents based on historical

04:20attrition patterns, and these personnel cuts will impact ATF across various functions, unquote.

04:27If the capacity to regulate firearms industry is reduced by 40%, if you are losing 186 ATF

04:34law enforcement agents, on top of that, it is clear the direction you are headed with this

04:40budget, and that's what it is, isn't it? The proposal will weaken our ability to stop gun

04:47trafficking, and it will greatly reduce ATF support for state and local law enforcement that

04:53helps them prevent and solve violent crimes. It's a bad proposal.

04:57Do you want to hear my answer in three seconds?

05:00You mentioned regulatory functions. That's, we will not be having ATF agents go to the doors of gun

05:07owners in the middle of the night, asking them about their guns, period. They will be out on the

05:12streets with DEA, guns and drugs go together. How many are gone? They will, we are not, it will be

05:18attrition. We are not firing agents. They will be working. How many have taken attrition? Can I tell you that

05:24they all want to be on the streets? They want to be doing their jobs. They want to be seizing guns.

05:29But you're getting them off the streets. They want to. You're getting them off the streets.

05:32We're putting them on the streets. And they want to be working with DEA.

05:35You are getting them off the streets. There is no clear, and Mr. Chairman, I yield back my time.

05:42I yield back my time. Let's get some answers here.

05:46Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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