Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Let me be clear, a border wall would not stop illegal drugs from coming into Florida.

But the administration's own statistics show that crossing and apprehensions are at historic lows.

At Port Everglades in my district, the Coast Guard had intercepted $500 million.

A few minutes ago --

How can they be justified?

The vast majority of illegal drugs are coming into our country through our ports of entry.

These cuts would be to critical military projects and our service members.

A border wall would not stop illegal drugs from coming into Florida.

Great. And I look forward to working with you as we discussed on my legislation so that we can further actualize that concept.

Absolutely. And, Madam Chair, I think it is important to just remind people, as we got a very unfortunate reminder at FLL, that our transportation security officers are part of the layers of protection.

Congressman Wasserman Schultz talked about the Federal Air Marshal Service. They are designed to be not visible to passengers.

Abuse and ridicule is not in their job description, but one would think it was.

They are trying to create havoc. They are trying to undermine the American people's confidence in our system of democracy.

Given President Trump's insistence that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 election, how can we have confidence that this administration is taking the threat seriously?

They are absolutely engaging and influencing the political process.

So you would not believe Vladimir Putin if he denied their intentions.

One of the highest profile threats we face today is attempts by nation state actors to maliciously interfere in our democratic elections.

What is FEMA doing to simplify and streamline the process for reimbursements for emergency healthcare providers like Memorial?

15 months after their initial application with FEMA for the total reimbursement request of approximately $7 million, Memorial Healthcare has received not $1.

What consequences are there--piggybacking on what Congressman Rutherford asked you, what consequences are for this kind of waste, fraud, and abuse practices?

But what are you doing to make sure that mistakes--grave, gross mistakes like that don't happen again?

I will be honest with you, your response doesn't really give me a lot of confidence that you have got a system in place that is headed towards improving the situation.

So if Vladimir Putin denied that they were attempting to interfere in our elections, would you believe him?

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I yield back.

And that's why this committee, under Chairman Cummings, is trying to get information from the White House, which they have not yet sent, because we do need to get to the bottom of how those security clearances were granted, because as you…