00:03This just, look, this is obviously really important.
00:06And by the way, I made a decision to sell every single one of my assets before the primary.
00:10Just be clear on that.
00:12But here's my question.
00:14Is this really the right way to run a railroad?
00:17We're being thrown at us reams of paper, lots of dialogue, and then we're taking a vote.
00:23If you had a gun to my head, I could not tell you what we're about to vote for.
00:26I have no idea what we're voting for.
00:28I was a co-sponsor with Senator Hawley on the Pelosi Act.
00:31Pretty straightforward.
00:32I read that bill.
00:33I have not read the mountains of paper that's in front of me.
00:36And I think it's wholly irresponsible for us to sit here, pretty much, let's be honest, this is a publicity show,
00:42and then be asked to vote on something where we have literally no idea what we're voting on.
00:49I'm sitting here asking my fellow senators, is there an underlying amendment, substitute amendment?
00:54These are all words that you guys use every day.
00:56But for normal people, these are not normal words.
01:00So if there's a way to actually have a conversation in which we understand, hey, here's the bill, you've read it,
01:06you understand the implications one way or the other, and then we can have an adult, intelligent conversation,
01:11we pass it.
01:11I think it is important for us to restore faith in our institutions.
01:15But to just put a vote out there, we have literally no idea what we're voting for, is gross incompetence and irresponsibility.
01:22So first off, if I may, Mr. Chairman, the substitute was put out Friday.
01:29So you've had several days to look at the substitute.
01:32This is just a very minor change.
01:33The text was just handed to us.
01:35Well, it is everything that went to your office on Friday with one minor change, is my understanding.
01:40We got it when we arrived in the committee.
01:42Hold on one second.
01:45Senator, with all due respect, look, sending something out Friday through some random computer system is also disrespectful to the people on this committee.
01:56Why wouldn't you, if we're going to pass something, why wouldn't we have an intelligent conversation that says,
02:00hey, I'm the co-sponsor of the bill that says, hey, this is what we're looking to change, and here's what it is, and read through it,
02:07and this is why we thought about it, or let's have a thoughtful meeting.
02:09Look, if we ran businesses this way, you wouldn't have to be an entrepreneur to run for office.
02:14You'd be flat broke.
02:15This is the most absurd process I've ever seen.
02:19And again, we're talking about having faith in our institutions.
02:22This is, if you guys think this is normal, all of you have been here too long.
02:26Senator, we do use computers in the Senate.
02:28I know that might be kind of weird for you, but we do use those.
02:32And we send them to your staff, and your staff, my staff looks at the things that come in because it's on a markup,
02:38and we go through it.
02:39It's actually the bill that passed last session, too, if I may finish, Mr. Chairman.
02:44And so this is only a change.
02:46It was a date certain as to, what is it, 27, I think, and instead it was changed to the term of an individual.
02:54And then let me go back to, I mean, President Trump is treated like every other member.
02:58There's no trading within 90 days.
02:59We deal with the trading issue right away, which I think is probably 95% of the problem is the trading.
03:05And this bill, this substitute deals with it after 90 days.
03:09The President, members of the Senate, members of the House are all going to be impacted by it.
03:13And that's what passed last Congress.
03:15This is what was in the substitute via computer, as odd as that may be for you, went via computer to your office.
03:22Your staff had a chance to look at.
03:23This is a minor change.
03:24That's what we're talking about.
03:25Before we're going to be disdainful of the point, we got the substitute on Friday.
03:30We got the modification when we walked in.
03:32The modification is what removes Donald Trump from the bill.
03:35It's a big change.
03:36The modification vote is what we're going to have.
03:38You're right.
03:39Substitute didn't include the president.
03:40Yes, the bill will treat Congress and the president equally in the bill with the modification.
03:47Without the modification, it treats the president immediately.
03:50We will be voting to modify the substitute to not have this bill apply to Donald Trump while he's in office.
03:57That is what the vote is before us.
03:58But I sort of resent you treating our members by saying, oh, you don't know about a computer?
04:03I mean, you know better than that.
04:04He complained and came via computer, Mr. Chairman.
04:06Mr. Peterson, if you want to have a who-knows-more-about-technology battle, let's have that battle.
04:14I know more about technology in my pinky than you do.
04:17Can you explain on page 4 and 5 what the changes are?
04:20Could you walk me through the changes that were made on pages 4 and 5?
04:24Because you know this bill off the top of your head.
04:26The changes with the times.
04:28So what's the changes in page 4?
04:30The change that was made, my understanding is the change, was just on the date.
04:36That's incorrect.
04:37All right, how about the changes on page 5?
04:39Take a look at it.
04:40So you don't know.
04:41It was delivered to you on a computer.
04:42You didn't read it over the weekend?
04:45So what were the changes on page 5?
04:47The dates were changed throughout, Senator.
04:48That's not the dates.
04:50It's not true at all.
04:50I got this from Senator Hawley's staff, who gave it to us, and that was the change that they said was the only change.
04:56When did you get the modifications?
04:58Page 4 or page 5.
04:59Could I just, Mr. Chair, I just want to take a step back.
05:06Our staffs did get the substitute.
05:08They did brief.
05:09At least I got briefed on what it was, and I got briefed on the change that was handed to us this morning.
05:14But the bigger picture, it seems to me, and I just want to be clear, what this bill would do is apply to the president,
05:21as well as members of Congress, to prevent them from trading the stocks they currently hold within 90 days of the passage of this bill.
05:29So that is, in fact, applying to Donald Trump in the present, and I want to be very clear about that.
05:35Like all members of Congress in this legislation, Donald Trump does not have to divest unless he were to start another presidential term.
05:44And the reality is that he is in his second term, so the Constitution prevents that.
05:49But the vice president would have to do the same thing if he were to have another term.
05:54We would all have to do the same thing.
05:56But it gives members the choice to decide whether they are going to divest or run for office.
06:02And that seems to me to be a fair way of addressing some of the concerns that we've heard from opponents of this bill.
06:08So I just want to take a step back and be real about what does and doesn't apply to the president right now and what is in this bill
06:15and echo Senator Slotkin's and others' view that this is a major and important step forward.
06:23To my colleague from Ohio, we have debated this issue on this committee now for several rounds,
06:31including in the last Congress, and there's always somebody who finds some small thing to say,
06:36well, let's just wait, let's just delay it.
06:38I think the work here has been really good.
06:41I think you've heard Senator Hawley agree that as it comes to the floor,
06:44if there are other changes or clarifications people want, he will work with them on that.
06:49And there is still a chance to vote against it on the floor should it get to the floor.
06:54But I just want to echo that I think this is a major step forward
06:58and an important piece of legislation to make sure that the American public knows
07:03that members of Congress and the President of the United States are not spending their time trading stocks
07:08when they are supposed to be working here full time.
07:11Let's be very clear about the timeline.
07:14The substitute was distributed on Friday.
07:17The modification, most of us, other than Senator Peters, didn't get it.
