00:00I would now recognize Senator Collins, the chairwoman of the full committee.
00:03Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I very much appreciate your leadership of this important
00:10subcommittee. Welcome, Attorney General Bondi. It's good to see you. Just yesterday, I met in my
00:20office with the advocates who work with survivors of domestic violence in rural Maine, along with
00:29Chairman Moran and other members of this committee. I was one of the lead sponsors of the Violence
00:38Against Women Act reauthorization of 2022. The programs authorized by this law are critical
00:48to reducing violence against women, ensuring that justice is administered, and strengthening
00:57services to victims and survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault,
01:05and stalking. Despite the vital need of these programs, the department's budget request proposes
01:15to reduce funding for the Office on Violence Against Women from approximately $713 million
01:24in fiscal year 2025 to $505 million in fiscal year 2026. That's a reduction of nearly 30%.
01:36And the reductions include cuts to transitional housing assistance, the sexual assault services
01:46program, the rural victims program, which I heard a lot about yesterday, and many others.
01:54Attorney General Bondi, I know that you care deeply about this issue, as do I. So why is the
02:05department cutting funding to combat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking,
02:13and support of survivors? Was this cut imposed upon the department by the Office of Management and Budget?
02:24Attorney General Bondi, Thank you, Senator Collins. When I began as a prosecutor, I started in the domestic
02:34violence unit. And I say, it's more frightening to prosecute a domestic violence case than a homicide,
02:41because you never know the next day what will happen. We used to wake up and read the newspapers in the morning,
02:51that was before cell phones, to see if someone had been injured or hurt or killed who came in and recanted
02:58from a domestic violence incident. So it's very personally important to me as well. And we also know that many homicides are the result of domestic violence.
03:09This budget includes $505 million to prevent and respond to violence against women, including $190 million for grants to combat violence against women.
03:25Stop. And it also gives $60 million for sexual assault services. This budget is a compromise. It's a leaner budget. We can always do more with more, but we can do more with less.
03:37And you have my word that we will do everything in our power to fight for victims of domestic violence throughout this country, as I have done my entire career, Senator.
03:53I do know and acknowledge that you care deeply about these issues, as do I. I hope we can work together to get to a better place on the budget.
04:08Because I am convinced, from talking with advocacy groups and with survivors themselves, that we need to do more.
04:20And that oftentimes rural areas of America just don't have the services.
04:28And that's why I wanted to bring it up as my first issue with you.
04:33May I respond to that briefly?
04:35And yeah, about the rural issues, I actually, I didn't realize that until I became United States Attorney General and met with you, met with Senator Murkowski.
04:45The rural areas, because Florida is so highly populated, the state in which I come from, and learning that, that is so true.
04:53And not only that, the tribal areas have an extremely high level of domestic violence.
04:59So I'm committed to working with you and every state on all of those issues and fighting domestic violence and sexual violence across this country.
05:09And thank you, Senator Collins.
05:11Let me turn to just one other issue.
05:16It's one that we discussed prior to your confirmation, in which I described to you a very serious problem in Maine, Oklahoma, and some other states.
05:29And that is the proliferation of illegal marijuana-growing operations that are connected to transnational Chinese criminal organizations.
05:43When I raised this issue with the FBI director before this subcommittee in May,
05:49he testified that the FBI planned to direct more resources to the field in Maine and to increase intelligence collection in D.C.
06:02to target these illegal grow operations that are producing tainted marijuana,
06:11that are destroying the houses in which these grow operations occur.
06:18And I'm convinced are involved in human trafficking as well,
06:23because who would want to work in a grow operation with black mold and other dangerous substances everywhere?
06:34I'm also convinced from some of the charges,
06:39and there has been an improvement with this administration over the previous ones,
06:45that money laundering is occurring,
06:48and that it is likely linked to the fentanyl trade as well.
06:54Could you provide me with an update on the deployment of federal resources
07:01so that our sheriffs, which have led the way,
07:05and our state and local law enforcement in Maine,
07:09get the help that they need?
07:11I will say the IRS criminal investigation and FinCent at Treasury have been helpful,
07:20but we do need more help from the Justice Department.
07:26Senator, thank you.
07:27First to the issue regarding the Chinese marijuana growers.
07:32The first thing, one of the first things I did was meet with Director Patel about that.
07:37I met with DEA about that, and ATF about that,
07:41because it all goes together, as we discussed.
07:45I thought you were going to receive a briefing on that.
07:48If not, we will make sure you receive one in a classified setting.
07:52But I can tell you that we are directly involved in many of those cases.
07:59We are looking at that closely,
08:00and we will continue to fight that and research that.
08:05And that was something else that I learned about in Maine from my very first meeting with you,
08:09but we have had multiple discussions about it,
08:12and there are active, ongoing investigations regarding that issue.
08:18As to fentanyl, we will continue to combat fentanyl.
08:22You know, fentanyl first came on the market when I was a state attorney general,
08:26and I fought my own party to get tougher legislation on fentanyl,
08:30because people thought it was something you get in the hospital.
08:32It's apples and oranges. It is completely different.
08:35And as you're well aware, the precursors are made in China,
08:38and they are shipped into our country.
08:40They were, for the last four years, flowing right across through our Mexican border, no longer.
08:45But DEA, FBI, all of our agencies are committed to eradicating fentanyl and other lethal drugs.
08:51Get this poison off our streets.
08:54Kids don't know they're taking it.
08:55They're overdosing every day.
08:57But the Department of Justice has, to combat the drug epidemic, $10.1 billion.
09:04DEA, $3.1 billion.
09:06Total positions, 31,776.
09:11Trial attorneys, over 1,000.
09:13Total agents, almost 7,000.
09:16DEA agents, almost 5,000.
09:18We have had many key successes with the DEA, including Salazar, Emea, and others,
09:26for trafficking millions of fentanyl pills into our country.
09:31March 7th, Gonzalez, a Mexican dual citizen from CJNG, trafficking fentanyl.
09:38Just constant fentanyl cases we've been making, and we've been doing it,
09:43with limited resources, but consolidation of resources and getting our agents back on the street
09:49to keep Americans safe and senator, that is my primary focus as Attorney General.
09:55Thank you, and I look forward to having that briefing.
