00:09The Biden administration added all sorts of executive requirements to the PE program,
00:16the Rural Broadband Internet Program.
00:20I'm curious if the Trump administration would use that as a template to add new executive requirements
00:26for some of the leftover money from the Inflation Reduction Act for some of these green projects.
00:32We're going through a process with regard to the bead funding.
00:35I'm referring to Commerce on all the details there.
00:37And, you know, we're going to make sure we put the president's stamp on that funding.
00:43And any funding that goes out, we're always looking for opportunities on that front.
00:50Any update on the decisions back into the House?
00:53No, we're looking forward to the House blessing the Senate package.
00:57I'm not worried about it.
00:58We need to get it done and get it across the finish line.
01:00But a very historic moment, the return of using rescissions, getting the muscle memory for that back into the system.
01:10We've talked about defunding Corporation for Public Broadcasting for decades.
01:14President Trump's the first one to be able to do it.
01:17He had, you know, a lot of enthusiasm for this package.
01:22And we're just thrilled that we made it through that critical juncture last night.
01:27Is the president satisfied with having more funding?
01:32You know, the president has always been supportive of lifesaving treatment.
01:40And, you know, we continue to put forward proposals to make sure PEPFIRE is more geared towards actual lifesaving treatments.
01:49We had good reasons to put the rescission up that we did.
01:52But you have to make adjustments along the way.
01:54They maintained a $9 billion package.
01:56Hard to get upset about that.
01:58Yes.
01:59Your reaction to the discussion about what we filed, Ron Powell, and he commented on before.
02:03What was the president saying yesterday?
02:04I don't think that he would fire him.
02:07But also bringing up the issue with the chief lawmaker.
02:11What's your take on this latest fact?
02:14Well, I mean, you know, I think the president was pretty clear yesterday he's unlikely to fire the chairman.
02:19But he has substantial concerns with regard to how he's managed the Fed, not just from an interest rate policy, but with regard to cost overruns.
02:27And that's something I'm in particular looking at in conjunction with the national capital planning that has a number of new fantastic members.
02:34We're trying to get a site visit right now and get over there.
02:38I've been around it as I've gone up to the Martin building quite a few times.
02:43But I want to see it.
02:45I want to walk around the building with the other members of the commission and get a sense for why is the overrun happening.
02:52The inconsistencies between the plan that was submitted to the commission originally, the statements that the chairman made before the Financial Services Committee, how those reflect.
03:02And it's either misleading to Congress or it needs to go back to the Planning Commission.
03:07On the subject of cost, but a different topic.
03:11The Cabinet Secretary is heading to Alcatraz today in California.
03:15The critics have said that the building that prison would be very expensive and efficient.
03:20To prove the cost, how does the administration justify this?
03:23Well, I think one of the features of our fiscal plans is that we have a plan to get to balance, to make savings where we want to make savings.
03:32And then there are areas where we feel like we need to spend money.
03:36That could be one.
03:38There's obviously things in the national security perspective, shipbuilding, aircraft carriers.
03:44You know, we obviously think we need additional resources for border that we just secured.
03:49So this notion that, you know, somehow if you're a fiscally responsible administration, that that means you have to take the same view to every dollar of spending.
03:59We just reject the notion.
04:01And so it doesn't make answering those kind of questions particularly hard.
04:04Russ Beckham, on Jay Powell, do you think there are any signs of fraud at the renovation project?
04:10Are there only signs of fraud at this point or not yet?
04:13Look, we want to go over there.
04:14We want to see what's going on.
04:15Obviously, the cost overrun is very concerning.
04:18And the extent to which we don't believe that just having the Inspector General do a review is something that is going to be enough.
04:28So we want to have sit down with those that are in charge of the project and get a brief from them and see where we're at.
04:35No, the president's a builder.
04:42He has concerns with an overrun of this nature.
04:45I mean, it's just not an overrun of a normal building.
04:47We're talking about a building that's approaching the largest amount of spending that's ever been done on a building before.
04:55And we want to know why.
04:57And we want to get an answer some clarity as to the features with regard to this largest.
05:02And it has implications for the country's fiscal situation.
05:06The Fed's been mismanaged for a number of years.
05:09They're no longer providing a profit that comes back to the Treasury in the form of remittances.
05:15And so that's something that there are implications across the board.
05:20And we're going to continue to get our handle on it.
05:22HUD is also doing a major renovation in Virginia.
05:25How is that any different than most of them?
05:28Sorry, what's that?
05:29HUD is actually building a new building.
05:30Have you been to HUD ever?
05:33HUD is, if you had to work at HUD today, you would not want to work at HUD.
05:38Like, it's a bad building.
05:40It falls, like portions of the building fall on people.
05:44It needs a new building.
05:46And we're going to do everything we can to make sure that career staff and the people who work at HUD have a building that reflects the hard work and public service that they're providing.
05:56Again, this isn't a statement that says we're against renovations.
06:01Renovations need to occur.
06:03But the notion that moving the people out of HUD, and it's literally depressing when you go there, and moving them to a place where they can have a physical presence that they can do their job effectively,
06:19that's not the same thing as the $700 million cost overrun.
06:23Director, someone, if I miss them.
06:26Look at her and then you.
06:27Hi, I just wanted to talk a bit about, on the subject of buildings, the Grand Canyon Lodge that fell, that has been burned to the ground in Grand Canyon.
06:35How much money do you allocate to situations like that, or does it only come from the state?
06:39They're doing major investigations.
06:4180 buildings were lost.
06:42All the staff lost their accommodation and absolutely everything.
06:47How quickly do you move now through FEMA, and will you put federal funding to that emergency?
06:52We'll take a very close look at it and go through our normal FEMA process.
06:56But I don't have anything for you right now on that.
06:59Okay, Director.
07:00Program and bond are both headed to Alcatraz today, and that is anticipated if this was to be re-vote like the president has requested.
07:07That's anticipated to cost around $300 million.
07:11How do you square that with the cuts that the administration has been making across the entire federal government?
07:17Well, again, you know, we don't have a cost estimate for that yet, but I would just refer you to what I said earlier.
07:21The administration puts forward a comprehensive fiscal strategy.
07:25We have cuts that we send to Congress, and we have increases.
07:29And in the net, we reduce the deficit and reduce debt.
07:32But that doesn't mean that if something costs money, we're going to treat every dollar of spending or cut the same way.
07:39The president doesn't believe that.
07:41There are certain things, as a federal government, we need to spend money on, and the president has talked about restoring that.
07:47I'm glad that the secretaries are out there to get a handle on that.
07:52So do you believe it would be cost-effective, these renovations of Alcatraz?
07:55We're going to go through the process like we do everything else, see what it costs, do it as efficiently as possible.
08:00And this is, I think, the start of that process on which their site visit is.
08:04Hi, Director.
08:05Do you have evidence of Fed Church Jerome Powell overseeing fraud or directing any lavish spending as part of this construction that would justify him being fired?
08:13We're going through the process right now.
08:16The facts are very clear, and he will attest to the facts.
08:19It's overrun by $700 million.
08:22Where we want to get a sense for is the reasons why.
08:25We want to get a sense for the difference between his statements and the plans that were submitted to the National Planning Commission.
08:33And then we'll see where we are.
08:34You might have missed it.
08:35We're trying to get a site visit.
08:37Myself, the National Planning Commission members, some senators that are concerned, Bill Pulte, the fantastic FHFA director.
08:45We want to go over there, take a tour, and have some really good conversations with the Fed on this.
08:51They disputed the idea of any terrace gardens or VIP dining rooms.
08:55And that conflicts with their own policy plans that were submitted to the commission.
09:00In your letter, in my letter, you'll see the page numbers for those...
09:03How do you get, though, from the cost overruns, which happened on a lot of building projects in this city and in many other cities?
09:12How do you get from there to fraud?
09:15The fraud is an accusation of committing a crime or stealing the taxpayers' money.
09:21How do you get from the cost overrun to the crime accusation?
09:25We have a building that is being horribly mismanaged.
09:30And there is a ton of oversight that's already going on.
09:34We've brought an added layer with our own commissioners that are now on the job.
09:38And we're going to see where this takes us.
09:40But this is not something the American people should expect from their government.
09:46And it comes at the real-world implication of us not having the Fed running a large S program
09:56that doesn't allow us to bring in the necessary resources to the Treasury.
10:01And one more thing on Phil Bolton.
10:03The President posted on your social media and he had gotten information about Senator Schiff's mortgages
