Attorney General Pam Bondi Responds To Concerns About Proposed Merger Of ATF And DEA

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At Wednesday's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Chairman, and thank the ranking member, and I thank General Bondi for being here today.

00:05And I want to pay you a compliment to begin, because you speak with such forceful clarity.

00:10It's very nice to hear exactly where you want to go, how you're going to get there,

00:16and how important it is to uphold the laws in this country. So thank you for that.

00:20Thank you, Senator.

00:20I wanted to point out the ATF's National Tracing Center, which is in West Virginia,

00:25is the only one of its kind, to trace U.S. and foreign manufactured firearms.

00:31The facility provides critical information and helps solve crimes, detect trafficking,

00:35and track the movement of crime-related firearms.

00:38In 2024, that National Tracing Center processed more than 600,000 requests.

00:45I just want to make certain that in the budget, that there is enough in the budget to meet the demands

00:52and that these critical services can be sustained with the budget requests that you've made.

00:58Senator, our budget continues to fully fund the National Tracing Center.

01:05I will personally make sure that that is funded.

01:09It will continue to be operated by ATF as well, and it does such important work.

01:15Even in my years in a courtroom, they do amazing work.

01:20I've seen the work they do firsthand, and I would also, in all my spare time, I would love to visit that center.

01:26That would be great.

01:27I really want to visit that center and see what we can do also to enhance it and work with you on that.

01:33It's so important.

01:35You know, these are issues that cross party lines.

01:38I mean, this is what every American in our country, we should be working together on,

01:43and I'm glad Senator Van Hollen has stayed.

01:45I know others have other committee meetings, but he's stayed here.

01:48And listen to this.

01:49You know, this tracing work helps every American, Democrat and Republican, victims,

01:56all victims across every state alike, and it's such important work,

02:01and you have been a true advocate for it for your state.

02:03And thank you for that, Senator.

02:06And I look forward to having you visit.

02:08That would be a wonderful experience.

02:11Good to see it firsthand.

02:12I am a little bit concerned about the ATF proposed merger with DEA.

02:18I'm not going to ask a question on that so much, but I do have,

02:22we have received a lot of concern from constituents if that would dilute any of the different functions

02:28that each one of those does.

02:30Also, on the HIDA task force, there's a proposal to move that over from ONDCP to DOJ.

02:38Oh, well, Maryland, we share a HIDA task force out of the Baltimore region into the panhandle.

02:44We have one in southern West Virginia.

02:47This is critical for our area, the coordination of resources.

02:51I got it.

02:51How are you seeing that in terms of bringing it?

02:54I know it's been proposed in the past.

02:57What's your perspective on bringing HIDA within the DOJ?

03:00Yeah, it will go under Office of Justice Programs, OJP, but it will continue to help Americans.

03:08I don't think you were here when we spoke about it earlier, but it transfers $196 million to the HIDA areas.

03:15And I will do everything in my power to be sure that those areas and those local law enforcement officers are funded.

03:22And I see why people are concerned to go back to the ATF-DEA merger.

03:27Change is hard.

03:28And what we want to do with ATF, Senator, we want to put them back on the streets.

03:33Instead of going to the homes of lawful gun owners in the middle of the night,

03:37we want them to be out arresting the bad guys for illegal firearms.

03:43We're doing away with the bureaucracy at the top.

03:47It's being streamlined, but ATF will go back to its core function.

03:51Those agents will be on the street going after the guns, the drugs working hand-in-hand with DEA.

04:00And they will continue to do great work.

04:02And I frankly think they're excited to be out there doing cops' work, what they signed up to do.

04:07Well, we'll see how that evolves, and I appreciate your response there.

04:11Hazleton is also in my district, which is a very large prison with over 3,000 inmates.

04:20We've had – they've had some issues out there, big issues out there, allegations of, you know, with staff shortages,

04:27grossness management, abuse, cover-up, falsifying documents.

04:30I'm sure you're tracking these issues.

04:32I do want to compliment the president on his appointment of William Marshall, a West Virginian, former state trooper from the state of West Virginia.

04:42He's going to do a fantastic job.

04:43So thank you for bringing in such a strong advocate.

04:47He's already been very responsive to us on Hazleton, which has had kind of chronic issues throughout the last several years,

04:54regardless of what administration it's been.

04:57So I want to put that on your radar screen.

04:59And lastly, I will say I've been a big supporter of the Violence Against Women Act.

05:06I'm proud of the work that we've championed here on the Appropriations Committee for this.

05:10It's really sad when you think of what happens in families sometimes.

05:14And the proliferation of violence is extremely concerning to me.

05:20I've worked in this area for a long time.

05:22So I just wanted to let you know my passion in this area.

05:25And again, thank you for being here.

05:26And thank you all.

05:27Thank you, Senator.

05:28And thank you for letting us steal Bill Marshall.

05:31I think all of you will think the world of him, our new director of Bureau of Prisons.

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