LIVE: Hakeem Jeffries Holds Press Conference After FISA Extension Fails In The House

Hey, he hasn't started yet, I'm sorry. Oh, he is? You think I should just hang here? I would also ask you. Yeah, I'm here. We should also ask her. Okay, cool. Okay, alright. What are you studying? Photoscience and life sciences. Are you a photoscientist? So, where am I going to meet him? He's never asleep. I don't really know where they are, though. MJ, I'm going to call you. Okay. I mean, my files are arranged. No, I get the ability. It's a regime. So, I get a mainly room. Um, so... So, that gives you kind of an idea of, like... How many students? Oh, wow. Do you think you'd know everyone at your school from this far? Oh, for sure. Yeah, for now, but I barely knew this person. Yeah. No, I will anyway. Yeah. I was wondering when people are going to come. No, I was coming from... No, but I think they're coming from the picture, too. Sorry, we're going to start a few minutes late. You are a gravitational puller? Call me or something, and I'll come. I'm going to run out. Good morning. How's everyone doing this morning? The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology will now come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare recess of the Committee at any time. Welcome to today's hearing entitled, An Overview of the Department of Energy's Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request. I'd like to recognize myself for five minutes for an opening statement. Thank you for joining us here today. An Overview of the Department of Energy's Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request. It is a pleasure to have the Secretary of Energy, Secretary Wright, with us this morning as we examine the Department's priorities, ongoing reforms, and vision for America's energy future. Over the past year, the Department of Energy has undergone a dramatic transformation. The current administration of the energy department has shifted away from its traditional focus on basic science toward a greater emphasis on applied research. The basic research serves as the backbone of scientific and technological breakthroughs. However, because those breakthroughs are often years away from commercialization, industry frequently struggles to justify funding. Applied research, by contrast, focuses on solving specific challenges and bridging the gap between scientific discovery and practical application. To address this imbalance, DOE announced a sweeping reorganization in November and led by Secretary Wright, the effort sought to refocus the Department on its core mission and improve its ability to deliver for the American people. As a result, new offices were created and the Undersecretary of Science and Undersecretary of Energy portfolios were rebalanced. Grocery costs out of control. Gas prices out of control. Health care premiums and insurance out of control. And child care and utility bills. And everyday goods out of control. America is far too expensive. The affordability crisis is not a hoax. House Democrats care about the personal finances of the American people. We're committed to driving down the high cost of living. And we do not, under any circumstances, love the inflation that Donald Trump and Republicans have visited on the American people. Questions? Oh, wonderful. First, I'm a New Yorker, so I feel like, can I get your comments on the big win last night? And then I do have an actual question. It was an epic win last night by the New York Knicks. One for the ages. A handful of members, most of whom were from New York, or who had ties to New York, watched the game all the way through the historic comeback that took place in the second half. I do think the beginning of the comeback began when the Wu-Tang Clan performed at halftime and changed the trajectory of what had occurred in that first half. But the people of New York have fallen in love with this particular team because they have the heart of New Yorkers. They never give up. New York City, the concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do, as the Knicks demonstrated yesterday. Thank you, and nice shout-out to Alicia Keys as well. In terms of FISA, obviously the bill just failed, you know, Democrats mostly vote against it, but Speaker Johnson just said, you know, there's no reason to pull Bill Pulte because he's going to be there such a short time. What's your response to that? If there's no reason to pull Bill Pulte according to Speaker Johnson, based on the fact that Bill Pulte is only scheduled to be there for a short period of time, then that's the reason to pull Bill Pulte. He's deeply unqualified, deeply unserious, and deeply dangerous. We've made clear, publicly and directly, to Republicans in the Congress and certainly to the administration, that in order to get back to good-faith negotiations about surveillance authority, the proposed elevation of Bill Pulte needs to be reversed. Bill Pulte is not qualified to be the Acting Director of National Intelligence. Based on the statute, national security experience is required. Bill Pulte has no national security experience, no law enforcement experience, and no military experience. And so it is highly irresponsible to try to elevate Bill Pulte, as we've made publicly clear, repeatedly, to Republicans and to the administration. Earlier today, it was a show vote that House Republican leadership brought to the floor today because they knew the bill would go down in flames. House Republicans, 19 of them voted against the temporary extension of surveillance authority in the absence of meaningful reforms to protect the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. There is bipartisan opposition to temporarily extending surveillance authority and putting it in the hands of Donald Trump, Cash Patel, and Bill Pulte. That's a completely untenable situation. And hopefully Republicans will learn that lesson. Mr. Lear? Mr. Lear, so if the President were to pull Pulte, would Democrats be willing to come back to Washington during the recess to vote again on FISA? And do you have any concerns about a lapse, particularly as the President threatens more strikes against Iran? And we have the World Cup starting here today. Donald Trump has plunged America into a reckless and costly war of choice in the Middle East. Iran is stronger now after 100 days of this war than they were before Donald Trump got us into a conflict that he said he would never get us into in the Middle East. Donald Trump said that he was elected to stop wars, not start them. And then he turned around, got us into this reckless and costly war of choice against Iran, and gas prices, food prices, and the prices of everyday goods have skyrocketed as a result of what Donald Trump has done. And this war hasn't strengthened America's national security. It's weakened it. Iran is stronger now, and everybody in the world knows it because of their control of the Strait of Hormuz, which was not the case before Donald Trump started this war. In terms of what's possible moving forward, the first step has to be pulling back on the decision to elevate Bill Pulte as the Acting Director of National Intelligence. House Democrats are unified in that position, and so are Senate Democrats. And that's been made clear to the administration. If that happens, we look forward to reopening good-faith negotiations designed to protect the national security of the American people, and at the same time, strengthen protections related to privacy and civil liberties, which are embedded in the Constitution, including, but not limited to, the Fourth Amendment, because privacy is a value important to this country, and that's been the case for 250 years. Thank you. Good morning. Two-part question here. There was another game played last night. Did the Democrats not launch a big comeback because Wu-Tang Clan did not perform in Nash Park last night? Well, certainly, the combination of Taylor Swift and Wu-Tang Clan gave us a lot of momentum in New York as it relates to the next comeback, and so we'll have to revisit what our options are moving forward. Listen, it was a challenging situation. The Democrats fought hard. I give the Republicans on the Congressional Baseball Team credit. They played incredibly well, and the reality is what we've seen over the last decade or so, there have been periods of time when Democrats have been dominant. I think when I played, we won nine out of ten games. I'm not saying that was the reason. My good friend Cedric Richmond was incredible, but there have been periods of Democratic dominance, and now we're in a moment where Republicans have won, I think, five or six in a row. We'll get this thing turned around sooner rather than later. And back to Pfizer here. Do Democrats not lose sleep at night? God forbid there's something that happens with Pfizer turned off? Donald Trump should lose sleep, and Republicans should lose sleep, because in the middle of sensitive negotiations to reauthorize surveillance authority, which they knew were challenging, Donald Trump decides to toss a hand grenade into the middle of those negotiations to blow them up, because Donald Trump decided he wants to elevate Bill Pulte, who is nothing more than a malignant political hack, who is in no way, shape, or form qualified to lead our national security efforts in terms of the administration. That's the problem, and the reason why we find ourselves in this situation. And maybe that's a question you should go ask the 19 Republicans in the House who today voted against a temporary extension of surveillance authority. Why? Because they also believe that we need meaningful protections in order to support the privacy rights and civil liberties interests of the American people. Thank you so much. Earlier in the week, you told me that there is no election fraud happening in California and that anyone who questions the outcome of the election is a conspiracy theorist. However, there are now homeless people on Skid Row admitting they were bribed with cash, drugs, other incentives to vote Democrat in elections. Does that change your stance at all on whether or not these elections are rigged? Listen, I'm unfamiliar with those reports, and I wouldn't be surprised if those are part of some far-right conspiracy theory being peddled on the Internet to try to convince the American people that there's evidence of fraud in California. By the way, Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, when asked about the situation in California, couldn't produce any evidence. Said there was none. And yet still, in my view, irresponsibly, tried to peddle and fan the flames of a conspiracy theory in terms of California. Why are they doing this? Why don't Republicans just actually focus on trying to convince the American people that Republicans are committed to turning their lives around? It's because Republicans have been such a disaster in terms of the economy, health care, immigration enforcement, the Epstein scandal, and the ongoing cover-up that is being led by the Trump administration, and, of course, the reckless and costly Republican war of choice that is failing in real time, as the American people have concluded in the Middle East. So instead of Republicans actually trying to make a difference in the lives of the American people, which we are committed to doing as House Democrats, Republicans are peddling conspiracy theories and then actually saying we don't have any evidence to support our claims, which is what Speaker Mike Johnson had to say the other day. On Iran, the president's saying he wants to occupy Karg Island and seize Iran's oil infrastructure. Would you urge the president not to escalate in that way? We believe that Donald Trump needs to end this reckless and costly war of choice, and there's a bipartisan resolution that passed the House of Representatives making that point. House Democrats, joined by four Republicans, passed the War Powers resolution to end this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran. And what we need to see happen is the Senate take that resolution up so we can end this conflict and focus on actually trying to make life better for the American people. The last thing the country needs right now is for Donald Trump to put boots on the ground in the Middle East. That's the last thing that we need. And it will run directly contrary to a promise that he made with respect to keeping our country out of quagmires in perhaps the most challenging neighborhood in the world, the Middle East. Thank you, Mr. Leader. As we get close to America 250, I'm curious how do you and House Democrats celebrate America while warning, as you all often have done so, that democracy is under threat? How do you reconcile those two as we get closer to America 250? The America 250 celebration, it's not about one man. It's not about the current occupant of the White House. It's about the country, our journey, and the American people. And House Democrats are looking forward to holding America 250 events all across the country. Many have already done so. So we can celebrate the journey of the last 250 years. The framers didn't give us a perfect country, but they gave us a march toward a more perfect union. And our responsibility will continue to be year after year, decade after decade, century into century to continue that long, majestic march toward making this country the best version of herself. And that's something to celebrate. I'm looking forward as part of that journey in this moment to celebrating the opening of President Obama's library on the south side of Chicago. That is just another data point in what the majesty of the American journey has been. While we will still be clear-eyed in recognizing the challenges that we have at this moment in time based on the extremism that Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are unleashing on the American people. Thank you, Mr. Leader. Back on FISA real quick. If the law, the 702 provision, is to lapse, are you concerned about that? We're concerned that Donald Trump has decided to elevate as the acting Director of National Intelligence, Bill Pulte, someone who is a partisan political hack whose resume, as far as we can tell, contains only a few things that apparently appeal to Donald Trump, which is that Bill Pulte was willing to weaponize his position in the federal government to target Lisa Cook, Tish James, and Adam Schiff. Those efforts are all falling apart because they were baseless political attacks. But it is a window into this administration's thinking about national security and the sensitivity of a position like the acting Director of National Intelligence that you would think that you could put Bill Pulte forward and the country wouldn't react adversely to it. We have, we said, we were against moving forward with surveillance authority as long as Bill Pulte remained Donald Trump's choice to be the acting Director of National Intelligence. We said it and we meant it. And how concerned are you about the potential lapse now in this surveillance tool? We're going to have to cross that bridge when we get to it. I trust our national security professionals to continue to do all they can to protect the safety, well-being, and national security interests of the American people. But it's incumbent on the President to come to the table and demonstrate leadership so we can reopen good faith negotiations about how best to extend surveillance authority. Thank you, everyone. Thank you.