Budget Hearing – Fiscal Year 2026 Request for the Federal Bureau of Investigation
House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
2025-05-07
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Source: Congress.gov
Participants
Transcript
Subcommittee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. Good afternoon and welcome to the first fiscal year 2026 budget hearing for the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies. I'll begin by recognizing myself for an opening statement. We want to welcome our witness, the Honorable Kash Patel, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to this subcommittee. Director Patel was sworn in as the FBI's Director on February 21st, 2025. At your swearing in, you stated that there will be accountability within the FBI and outside the FBI and we will do it through rigorous constitutional oversight. That's music to our ears. Americans gave us a clear mandate in November to restore confidence in the FBI and de-weaponize the DOJ, and they haven't minced words. We've heard from communities across the country who want to see a separation between politics and justice. After four long years, I'm confident that you have the ability and sheer determination to reinforce the FBI's mission of protecting the American public and upholding the Constitution. I'm looking forward to your leadership in tackling some of the most important and dangerous issues that our nation is facing. In fact, we are already starting to see progress since you were confirmed for this role earlier in this year.
First and foremost, we finally have secure borders, making our communities safe again. Our borders, when unsecured, provide an express lane directly into our country for fentanyl and other illicit drugs that target our children, our schools, our families, and our neighborhoods. From a crackdown on cartel operations and trafficking to enhanced immigration enforcement, the importance of a strong and secure border cannot be understated. I want to thank you and President Trump for putting our nation's borders front and center. However, your work will never cease. Without taking a day off, your FBI must diligently prevent terrorism from striking our shores, nor can the Bureau allow espionage to overtake our institutions and our people. The constant advancements in technology and artificial intelligence are a double-edged sword, providing new opportunities for economic development in our communities, but also creating new risks for our hospitals, our banks, our educational institutions, and even putting our children in harm's way when it comes to cyber crimes. This is an important job, one of the most important in our nation. Criminals move fast and change methods regularly to evade capture. The FBI must be smarter, faster and anticipate the underworld's next move. That's why I'm looking forward to hearing today from you about your plans to make the Bureau more effective and more efficient at fighting violent crime.
This includes potentially moving agents away from Washington and into FBI field offices to better combat rapid crime. However, just last Friday, the President sent to Congress a preliminary budget that reflects a $545 million cut to the FBI. The information provided was limited in detail, so I look forward to hearing from you about this cut and if enacted, what impact this level of funding would have on the FBI. I know with approximately $36 trillion in debt, our government must think and act differently. That's why I pledged to work with you directly. as you lead the nation's top crime-fighting agency. You have a very important job to do, but I trust that you are up for the task. I think you are. Let me now recognize the ranking member of the subcommittee, Ms. Meng, for any remarks she might wish to make. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I appreciate this opportunity for our subcommittee to examine the work and the budget of one of the subcommittee's largest agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Director Patel, thank you for being here today and for your testimony. As you know, the work of the FBI is of utmost importance to the safety and security of our local communities and the nation as a whole. The FBI's dedicated agents, analysts, and other professional staff perform invaluable work at the FBI's headquarters, field offices, resident agencies, oversee offices, and other critical facilities. They protect the American people not just from violent crime in their local communities, but from cyber attacks and other threats coming from adversaries outside of the United States. That's why I was very disappointed to see that the fiscal year 2026 budget framework released Friday by the Trump administration appears to propose cutting the FBI's operating budget by more than half a billion dollars. The FBI has in the recent past come under harsh and I believe highly unfair criticism by far too many politicians and political campaign operatives. Earlier this year, the Trump administration demanded that the FBI provide the Justice Department with the list of all current and former FBI employees who at any time worked on January 6th related investigations. The list was demanded to quote, determine whether any additional personnel actions are unnecessary, unquote.
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