00:00But how do you plan to use those supplemental funds to address recruitment and detention of staff at facilities like
00:07FCI Berlin?
00:08The crisis on staffing is twofold. One is we're not paying them enough.
00:12They can walk across the street to county jails and make more money.
00:15And two, because we're not paying them enough, there's shortages, so they're required to work overtime.
00:20Grants that were canceled, I believe 330-some were canceled, just about 5 or 6 percent of the overall grants
00:28awarded.
00:28For various reasons. But grants that were, more than that were initially canceled.
00:34But those are grants that had been approved by Congress that had already been sent out.
00:39Why is the department canceling funding that our organizations are depending on in order to help survivors?
00:45Well, it's not that they were approved by Congress. The money was.
00:47And so for a very small portion of grants, they simply, they were canceled for various reasons.
00:54Well, they were canceled because Doge came in and made significant cuts.
00:58And the department, the administration has made cuts.
01:01I guess, I'm not going to argue with you about why that happened.
01:05I think it was wrong.
01:06I'm going to acknowledge your commitment to ensure that those funds are going to go out to the organizations,
01:13that they're depending on them so that they can serve the people who need it.
01:17I commit to that.
01:18As you alluded to in your opening statement, there is an acute staffing shortage at the Bureau of Prisons.
01:24At FCI Berlin in New Hampshire, staffing levels have dropped to 58 percent of authorized levels.
01:32And that's at a time when correctional officers are being asked to take on added duties where they have detainees
01:38being sent to our federal prison.
01:41And the retention incentives have dropped significantly.
01:46So as you point out, the Bureau received an additional $3 billion in the reconciliation bill to address staffing issues.
01:54And you're asking for additional funding, which I appreciate.
01:57But how do you plan to use those supplemental funds to address recruitment and detention of staff at facilities like
02:05FCI Berlin?
02:05Thank you for that question.
02:07It is a crisis.
02:08And the crisis on staffing is twofold.
02:11One is we're not paying them enough.
02:13They can walk across the street to county jails and make more money.
02:16And two, because we're not paying them enough, there's shortages.
02:19So they're required to work overtime.
02:21They're required to actually...
02:23I understand the problem.
02:24Can you explain what you're going to do to address it?
02:26We're doing both.
02:27I mean, we're addressing the compensation.
02:28And we've already worked with Director Marshall over the past several months to give some retention money
02:35to officers who are staying.
02:37But we have to pay them more.
02:38And we have to make it worthwhile for them to stay.
02:41And the only way to do that is with money.
02:43The only way to do that is people who are hiring.
02:44Well, I can tell you that FCI Berlin has not seen that money yet.
02:47And it's going to be critical to get it out.
02:50Let me change to another topic.
02:52Because we have a new DEA drug lab in Londonderry, New Hampshire.
02:57I'm very pleased that we've got that New England regional drug lab.
03:01I worked hard to try and support the effort to get it there.
03:05But I'm concerned now that DEA doesn't have the personnel that they need in order to fully operate it.
03:10And when we raised this at hearings, both in the House and Senate, with DEA,
03:16what they told us was that DOJ has routinely denied its request for greater allocations of personnel,
03:24meaning that they are going to have difficulties hiring the sufficient personnel they need to fully operate this new lab.
03:30So can you commit that you will ensure that the personnel that are needed to operate the lab are able
03:37to be hired?
03:39Yes.
03:39And our budget asks for that funding.
03:41And I agree with you, Senator, that it's crucial to have that.
03:45And that there are shortages.
03:46You're right.
03:47So let me weigh in on with Senator Collins and Senator Murkowski and their concerns about the Office of Violence
03:57Against Women and the grants.
03:58I don't support the cut of 25 percent for that budget.
04:03But we have a greater issue because my staff has heard from organizations in New Hampshire working on domestic violence
04:12concerns
04:12that the department is continuing to hold fiscal year 25 funding for the office.
04:19And for some of these organizations, they had their grants canceled early in 2025.
04:25This disruption has caused those organizations to scale back to start laying off staff,
04:30which limits their ability to help survivors.
04:33So when is the department going to make available the fiscal year 25 and 26 grant funds that have already
04:41been approved by Congress?
04:42So we, the NOFOs for two of the three agencies are all out and back.
04:48There's one NOFO that's pending from 25 that we expect to get out any day now.
04:55And then we'll start working on 26.
04:58And so it's done on a rolling basis.
05:00And we, and we're working every day very hard to get that money out.
05:06As far as grants that were canceled,
05:09I believe 330 some were canceled,
05:14just about five or 6 percent of the overall grants awarded for various reasons.
05:19But grants that were, more than that were initially canceled.
05:22And, and the grant.
05:23But those are grants that had been approved by Congress that had already been sent out.
05:27Why is the department canceling funding that our organizations are depending on in order to help survivors?
05:33Well, it's not that they were approved by Congress.
05:35The money was.
05:35And, and so for, for a very small portion of, a very small portion of grants,
05:40they simply, they were canceled for various reasons.
05:42So.
05:42Well, they were canceled because DOGE came in and made significant cuts.
05:46And the department, the administration has made cuts.
05:49I, I guess the, I'm not going to argue with you about why that happened.
05:53I think it was wrong.
05:54I'm going to acknowledge your commitment to ensure that those funds are going to go out
06:00to the organizations that are depending on them so that they can serve the people who need it.
06:05I commit to that.
06:08Last fall, the U.S. trustee for region one didn't name a new chapter 13 standing trustee for New Hampshire.
06:15Instead, he assigned New Hampshire's duties to Maine's standing trustee over the objections
06:21of the New Hampshire bankruptcy bar.
06:23The transition from New Hampshire's standing trustee to the new Maine trustee who's supposed
06:30to be serving both states has not gone well.
06:33Debtors who had completed their payments were not being discharged from bankruptcy.
06:37Creditors and attorneys were not getting paid.
06:40In fact, a motion to remove the New Hampshire and Maine trustee was filed.
06:44And the New Hampshire bankruptcy judge admonished the trustee, but unfortunately didn't ultimately
06:51remove him.
06:52I am very concerned that we have granted staters who need to use the chapter 13 bankruptcy and
06:59that they're being disadvantaged because of this decision for whatever reason.
07:03We have no idea because the U.S. government doesn't pay those standing trustees.
07:11There's no reason.
07:11That's not a benefit in terms of savings.
07:15So I don't know if it was a shot at New Hampshire or what the issue was, but will you
07:20commit to
07:21naming a New Hampshire only chapter 13 standing trustee and look into this because it's a real
07:26problem?
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