Dianne Feinstein

As you know, Title VII of FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, expires December 31st of this year.

I ask I be permitted to speak as in morning business. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. Arrest and Detention of Nambaryn Enkhbayar

We are deeply troubled by the claims of the CIA's former Deputy Director of Operations Jose Rodriguez regarding the effectiveness of the CIA's coercive interrogation techniques.

Statements made by Mr. Rodriguez and other former senior government officials about the role of the CIA interrogation program in locating Usama bin Laden (UBL) are inconsistent with CIA records.

If ICE swoops in, farmers cannot plant, they cannot harvest, they cannot can.

If this body will not take action, we are going to put ag out of business.

I think we have to remember the 9/11 hijackers came in on student visas, went to schools that taught them how to fly but not to land.

I have tried for 10 years to get an ag jobs bill through, and I cannot get it through.

I hope, and I still hope, at least while I am still in the Senate, that we will have comprehensive immigration policy.

Is it your intention in a wildfire, wildland fire on Federal land, to let the land burn or to attack it at its beginning?

Well, I'm going to follow this fire season very carefully and come back and look at this transcript.

I think the decision was made in the Station Fire, not to attack early. And I think that was a mistake.

I'm concerned because I know CAL FIRE, and they don't say things that they don't mean.

I'm concerned that during periods of multiple large fires in other regions, California will be left with an insufficient number of Federal aircraft to meet the normal initial and extended attack workload.

The USDA Forest Service Large Airtanker Modernization Strategy is long overdue and is a critical step toward identifying the next-generation large airtanker platform.

I think we're all really very concerned about what's happening.

I don't want to go through another Station Fire.

Will you make a commitment that there are adequate Federal firefighting resources for Federal land in California this next firefighting season?

How many will be available during fire season in California?

The reduction in the number of Federal airtankers from 43 in 2000, to 11 in 2011, has resulted in significant impacts on this integrated system.

I'd appreciate it. Thank you. I'm sorry I took so much time.

The Strategy does not reference the individual needs of the States.

Senator Feinstein, Senator Murkowski, and I, all have mentioned the issue of fire suppression.

This year's budget provides you with $24 million to contract for new firefighting aircraft.

Unless there are a sufficient number of Federal airtankers, CAL FIRE cannot continue to support extended attack fires on Federal lands without adversely affecting our aviation program.