Thank you again for this historic hearing. Thank you to the witnesses for being here. Happy Pride.

I think a lot of people are watching with some concern that in Ukraine, the ultra conservative far right is retaining a lot of influence and a lot of power, risking not only the rights of LGBTQI people but also Ukraine's democratic future.

In Hungary, Viktor Orban scapegoats the LGBTQI+ community to continue his assaults on the freedoms of Hungarian.

In Poland, LGBTQI+ people must live in fear in LGBTQI+ free zones that deny them their very humanity.

With the legislation on the Global Respect Act and the GLOBE Act, we can once again demonstrate our commitment to leading on behalf of some of the world's most vulnerable people.

Discrimination against any person is intolerable and cannot stand.

the Russian Federation is obviously a global leader in the persecution of LGBTQI+ persons and persuades Nations and individuals within its sphere of influence to adopt their hateful doctrine as their own.

There's no question that this problem has gotten worse during the COVID-19 pandemic.

How is the FBI reallocating this support to State and local partners to address the rise of White supremacists and anti-government groups?

Gun violence is an epidemic in our country.

I hope that you can shed some light on what the FBI can do and how Congress can support the agency to fight an epidemic that will claim 40,000 American lives this year.

So, my question is, how is the FBI supporting the ATF's recovery of firearms found to be transferred to a prohibited purchaser?

I've actually introduced a bill, the Unlawful Gun Buyer Alert, that would require local law enforcement be notified if firearms are delivered to a prohibited purchaser.

It is our responsibility to ask for the information we require to do our jobs effectively, and the Constitution empowers us to enforce those requests if we are at first denied.

We made clear that the Executive Branch must respect our subpoenas, that there is no such thing as absolute immunity from congressional testimony.

I appreciate this hearing coming in the early part of this Congress so that hopefully, before this Congress is over, we can, in fact, on a bipartisan basis, once and for all move ourselves toward a predictable process for discovery.

If Congress cannot reliably enforce its lawfully issued subpoenas, our constitutional structure has been profoundly undermined.

I believe there is a consensus within the Congress that, in fact, even if we disagree with one Chair or another Chair's subpoena, that we would like it handled quickly and in a way that we can believe is just and not partisan.

the budget requests that we're making answers the needs that we have, the gaps that need to be filled.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for being back before the committee and for your extraordinary work.

The influence of Russia and its leadership under the long rule of Vladimir Putin on global democratic backsliding and corrupt governance cannot be overStated.

This is a person who has said the most outrageous anti-Semitic things, comparing the death of six million Jews to following the public health guidance of the attending physician is an outrage.

It's disgraceful. I mean, as you said, it took them five days, it should have taken them five minutes.

They moved quickly to remove Liz Cheney from a leadership position in their conference because she had the audacity to tell the truth, to call out the big lie.

Kevin McCarthy has lost control of his caucus.