It has to be fair, which means middle-income taxpayers should not pay any more of the cost of our government percentage-wise than they are paying today.

Tax reform, in order to be successful, must have certain conditions met. One is an open process, transparency.

I believe that the only way we can get to strong bipartisan tax reform is by having a public and transparent tax reform process.

These are not confirmed positions, and, therefore, they gain a lot of power at times, where a confirmed person should have personal responsibility.

If we are going to try to work together on this... there are areas that I want to have special attention where I do not think you get it unless there is a point person within the State Department to deal with it.

I want to give the administration maximum flexibility, but where Congress has said that this area... it seems to me that we are the policy arm.

This is an extremely important hearing, the review of the State Department reauthorization bill for fiscal year 2018, as well as the State Department's reorganization plans.

Tonight, there was a press report that the Secretary of State is considering the elimination of the special coordinator for Global Criminal Justice issues, which basically deal with atrocities and war crimes.

Again, Secretary Sullivan, thank you so much for your willingness to take on these responsibilities.

The functions of both the Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) and the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) are vital to the Department's mission to secure our borders and protect the American people.

I am pleased that Secretary Tillerson opposes this shift and believes this work is essential to the Department's mission.

I want to talk about an area that has gotten a lot of attention in this committee, and that is special envoys.

On the other hand, I would like to know what your priorities are.

We are a coequal branch of government. We expect the State Department to implement what Congress has done.

a few weeks ago, I joined Senators Barrasso, Capito, Klobuchar, Boozman, and Baldwin in introducing S. 1514, the Hunting Heritage and Environmental Legacy Preservation-- HELP--for Wildlife Act. This bill represents a more than $100 million…

The U.S. leadership on this globally has made a huge difference.

I question the final judgment.

I think would very much damage the Department of State's core function missions, as well as compromise our ability to get the information we need to deal with the Trafficking in Persons Report.

I think one of the things that absolutely everyone feels is there was no politicization.

We do not think that is a problem. And we want to make sure that this bill is passed as quickly as possible in the House, and in the form that it passed the United States Senate.

I do not think there was a member of this committee after the hearings that was convinced that was made on the merits.

I understand you are saying they are making progress. My understanding of the Child Soldier Prevention Act is that, if they do recruit and use child soldiers, they are listed.

But is it correct? Was the TIP Report correct to say that Burma still recruits and uses child soldiers?

I am troubled, Secretary Sullivan, with your answer there.

I strongly urge that these functions remain within the State Department.