Remarks

I would like to thank Secretary Bessent for being here today and for his leadership and steady hand over the last several months. 

Before we wrap up, I want to offer this in closing: our authorizing colleagues are working on reconciliation bills that will provide significant investments in the President’s immigration and border security agenda, including funding to the Coast Guard to secure our maritime border. 

I commend them for their efforts to enable the Department to finish the wall, hire more agents and officers, and bring additional detention beds online. 

I know the Department hopes to be made whole with reconciliation, but in the meantime, you need to live within your means. 

I would like to thank General Hull for being here today. The United States Postal Service is a mainstay for most - if not all - our constituents and communities.  Its operations are vast with 640 thousand employees working to deliver millions of pieces of mail and packages daily. Yet, the Postal Service has faced significant financial challenges over the last several decades. Except for fiscal year 2022, the Postal Service has incurred losses in each fiscal year since 2007. 

The subcommittee will come to order. Good morning. I want to thank all of you for coming to today’s hearing to receive testimony from our colleagues. 

The Subcommittee will come to order. The subject of today’s hearing is the Fiscal Year 2026 request for the Stennis Center for Public Service, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, and the Congressional Office for International Leadership. I’d like to thank Ranking Member Espaillat, Committee Members, and our agency Executive Directors for being here this morning.

This is the Fiscal Year 2026 Legislative Branch Subcommittee Public Witness Day Hearing. I’d like to thank Ranking Member Espaillat and Committee members for being here today.  

A special thank you to our witnesses for being here today. We appreciate your interest in the Legislative Branch and for taking time out of your busy schedules to testify before this subcommittee. In addition to our witnesses here this morning, additional witnesses have submitted testimony for the record, and their statements may be found online. 

Good morning. It is my pleasure to welcome everyone to the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education for a hearing to hear from outside experts and the public.

This is our public witness day – an opportunity for members of the public to come before this panel and draw our attention to issues of importance to them.

I look forward to hearing from our public witnesses as we learn more regarding the challenges facing our constituents and communities across this country, and what this subcommittee can do to help them.

The Government Accountability Office, or GAO, said it best when they described the federal government as quote - “one of the world’s largest and most complex entities.”