00:00Thank you, Senator Welch.
00:04Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
00:08And Dr. Adams, I want to ask you a few questions.
00:11I understand you're from the great state of Idaho?
00:14Yes, sir.
00:15Should we?
00:18You know that guy?
00:23LIHEAP is an incredibly important program.
00:26It's getting zeroed under the budget.
00:27I know that you've played a major role in Idaho in administering the LIHEAP program there.
00:33It's really, really important in Vermont in those cold winters.
00:37I mean, what's your view on zeroing out the budget for LIHEAP?
00:40Well, Mr. Senator, as the nominee, I'm not involved in any of the budget discussions that have occurred to date.
00:46My understanding from the congressional justification is that the Trump administration...
00:50I'm not asking you what the congressional justification is.
00:53I'm asking you, your position on zeroing out a program that you administered in your state of Idaho
01:02and presumably thought was beneficial to the citizens of Idaho.
01:07That's what I'm asking.
01:08Senator, I would characterize my position as similar to what the secretary has told the Senate,
01:12which is LIHEAP, the administration is trying to lower energy prices for all Americans,
01:19if that doesn't happen in Congress.
01:22No, no.
01:22Look, you spent a lot of your professional career helping folks who needed low-income heating assistance.
01:30So you have a view about the program.
01:32You committed yourself to the administration of this.
01:36So I understand you're not the boss in terms of what the overall budget is,
01:40and you'll have to go along with the program.
01:42But I'm asking you, as a person who did really good work for the people of Idaho,
01:48administering the LIHEAP program, what do you think about zeroing out that program?
01:54Senator, I'll reiterate what the secretary said.
01:56If Congress funds it, we'll get the money out the door.
01:59But the president is zeroing it out, and you're not in Congress.
02:04You're not working for Senator Crapo.
02:05You're working for President Trump, right?
02:08So my question goes back to what's your view about zeroing out the LIHEAP program?
02:17So as a former state budget director, I would say no budget decision is ever made in a vacuum.
02:22It has to look at the total picture.
02:24And because this is an administration that's committed to energy policies,
02:27more permits than any administration.
02:29So you won't answer basically.
02:30You know, when you started talking about the market,
02:32the whole point of LIHEAP is it's people who don't have the resources to participate in the market.
02:38They have no control over, A, the weather, and B, the price of home heating fuel, right?
02:44Senator, you know, I think, you know, in states like mine,
02:47we have policies that prohibit shutting off of utilities for certain critical months.
02:51I think you're going to have to take into account the nuances and all the other factors in the market.
02:55I'm, you know, I'll just say candidly, I really admire the work you did in Idaho.
03:01On the LIHEAP program and my other things.
03:03And I'm really disappointed in your, from my perspective, lack of candor,
03:07about what your view is about zeroing out a program you work really hard on.
03:12Mr. McCarronin, the, my colleague from Nevada was asking you questions about the debt
03:22and interest rates are persistently high.
03:26And you're talking about pro-growth.
03:28Everybody's for pro-growth.
03:30But isn't the debt of $37 trillion an impediment to growth?
03:36Senator, I think the idea here is to use growth to drive changes to the debt dynamics.
03:44We've got to grow the economy faster than we grow the debt.
03:47No, I get that.
03:48But I'm asking, I'm asking a basic question that a lot of very serious economists are concerned about.
03:55Some Republicans, some Democrats.
03:57And that is, we've got about $37 trillion in debt.
04:00We just passed a bill that added $4 trillion in debt.
04:03And is it your position that there is, there's no problem with that or it can easily be solved
04:12by just making up an aspirational goal of higher growth?
04:17Oh, no, Senator.
04:18My position is that our, we are, we have a fiscal trajectory that is not sustainable
04:25and indeed is a, really a test of our national character, how we deal with our fiscal challenges.
04:30But I'm suggesting that growth is a central part of our path to the solution.
04:35Well, you know, I'm pro-growth.
04:36I think everybody on this committee probably is.
04:38How we get there is obviously a debate.
04:41But our debt service, quarter 20, in 2021, first quarter was $700 billion.
04:48In the first quarter of 2025, it was $1.114 billion.
04:52And it's going to be higher than what we spend on anything else in government very, very soon.
04:58Is that a concern to you?
05:00Senator, the growth in interest expenses is just another indicator of the fiscal,
05:06it's unsustainable path that we are on.
05:08And we've got to address the debt dynamic.
05:10And it was made more intensely, more intense by the passage of the recent legislation.
05:17I see my time is up, Mr. Chairman.
05:19Thank you for your consideration.
05:20Thank you, sir.
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