00:00Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Just a quick note before I get to my questions.
00:04Fentanyl seizures are down 30% compared to last year, and that data is coming from the Customs and Border Patrol, CBP.
00:15I don't make it up, but fentanyl seizures are down.
00:20At your confirmation hearing, you asserted that you will do everything in your power to prevent illegal gun runners in our country.
00:26Your budget request for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, ATF, proposes a cut of 26% below the current level.
00:35How can you justify such a massive cut without inevitably weakening ATF's ability to help our state and local law enforcement fight illegal gun trafficking?
00:44How many ATF law enforcement officers and industry operations investigators do you anticipate will be lost to attrition as a result of this funding reduction you are proposing?
00:56So, I am a career prosecutor, and I believe in keeping America safe, making America safe.
01:07First, what we're doing is ATF is going to be brought over with DEA.
01:14Everyone knows, everyone sitting up here, guns and drugs go together.
01:19They go together.
01:20We're going to make it more efficient.
01:21What I will tell you will not be happening is ATF agents will not be knocking on the doors of legal gun owners in the middle of the night asking them about their guns.
01:31They're going to be out on the streets.
01:33If I can finish, they're going to be out on the streets.
01:36I have three minutes.
01:37No, no, no.
01:37You asked me a question.
01:38I did.
01:39You asked me a question.
01:39And you haven't answered my question.
01:41So, they're going to be out on the streets working hand in hand with DEA to violate.
01:45Mr. Chairman, I'd like an answer to my question, and the question is not being answered.
01:51How many ATF law enforcement officers and industry operations investigators do anticipate will be lost to attrition as a result of the funding reduction you are proposing?
02:04You are proposing a 26% cut to ATF for fiscal year 2026, as well as a 4.4% cut to DEA.
02:13So, you're going to merge the two agencies together, and then you're going to shortchange their resources so neither one of them will be able to do the job that they have been designed to do.
02:22You've got a 34% cut to the high-intensity drug trafficking areas program.
02:26No dedicated money at all for the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.
02:31So, my view is fair to say that the Trump administration proposal shortchanges federal efforts to stop illegal gun trafficking and federal efforts to stop the flow of dangerous illegal drugs like fentanyl.
02:46As I was attempting to answer your question very calmly, unlike you, what I was saying...
02:54Excuse me, Madam Attorney General.
02:58Yes or no?
02:59Tell me what the numbers are.
03:00I don't want to hear all of your filibuster about this.
03:03Go ahead.
03:04Please.
03:04Tell us the numbers.
03:05So, we are reorganizing.
03:07ATF agents want to be out on the street working with DEA agents.
03:11Let me answer the question for you.
03:13I'm going to answer it for you.
03:15Page...
03:15You know, Mr. Chairman, you give me a certain amount of time, and I have a high respect for you, but I don't have to listen, nor do my colleagues have to listen to a filibuster when it's a simple question.
03:27But I have an answer to your question.
03:29It's page 146 of the department's fiscal year 2026 budget.
03:34And the performance summary explicitly says, and let me quote.
03:38ATF will eliminate 541 industry operation investigators, reducing ATF's capacity to regulate the firearms and explosive industries by approximately 40% in fiscal year 2026.
03:57ATF will perform fewer regulatory inspections.
04:03And the department summary goes on to say, and let me quote, ATF anticipates a reduction of approximately 284 support personnel and 186 agents based on historical attrition patterns.
04:18And these personnel cuts will impact ATF across various functions, unquote.
04:24If the capacity to regulate firearms industry is reduced by 40%, if you are losing 186 ATF law enforcement agents, on top of that, it is clear the direction you are headed with this budget.
04:37And that's what it is, isn't it?
04:40The proposal will weaken our ability to stop gun trafficking, and it will greatly reduce ATF support for state and local law enforcement that helps them prevent and solve violent crimes.
04:53It's a bad proposal.
04:54Do you want to hear my answer in three seconds?
04:57You mentioned regulatory functions.
04:59That's, we will not be having ATF agents go to the doors of gun owners in the middle of the night, asking them about their guns, period.
05:08They will be out on the streets with DEA, guns and drugs.
05:12How many are gone?
05:13They will, we are not, it will be attrition.
05:16We are not firing agents.
05:18They will be working.
05:19How many have taken attrition?
05:20Can I tell you that they all want to be on the streets?
05:24They want to be doing their jobs.
05:26They want to be using guns.
05:26But you're getting them off the streets.
05:28They want to, we're putting them on the streets.
05:30They want to be working with DEA.
05:32You are getting them off the streets.
05:34There is no clear, and Mr. Chairman, I yield back my time.
