Mazie Hirono

Notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the following bills, en bloc: Calendar No. 617, H.R. 6062, and Calendar No. 393, S. 2615. There being no objection, the Senate…

I want to start by thanking my colleague from Maryland, Senator Cardin, for pointing out the need for mental health services in our country and the disparities that exist in our country in providing such services. I thank Senator Cardin.

I have to say that I sit on five committees in the Senate, and the Veterans Committee is one that really is characterized by bipartisanship.

I have heard from those who oversee our State veterans cemeteries that they do struggle year after year with two key issues, one, to ensure enough funding is available for day-to-day operations, and two, to maintain proper training for…

The First Step Act has seen a lot of success, and it was done in a bipartisan way.

If we have clarity that current law applies to Generative AI, then let's let the marketplace work.

It just seems to make sense that the creators of the content should get some kind of compensation for the use of their material in training the AI platforms.

These technologies should be licensing our content. If they're not, Congress should act.

As far as I'm concerned, we did not do that adequately during the Kavanaugh hearings.

As the only Buddhist ever to be elected to the United States Senate, thank you for your advocacy on behalf of religious diversity.

I believe that both of you would be able to do that.

Judicial appointments should not be politicized; they must be based on merit.

I am a person who understands how important representation is.

So can somebody respond to me, do you have something in writing that says here are all the different things that we're going to need to do to mitigate what happens in a disaster so that you can continue to provide services to the Veterans?

In August, Hawaii experienced our worst natural disaster since becoming a State in 1959 and the deadliest wildfire in our country since 1918.

And that includes instances where your infrastructure and facilities are destroyed during a natural disaster. There's a plan B?

Thank you. This is for Dr. Balbus--am I pronouncing correctly? So in your testimony, you stated that the climate-related extreme weather events and disasters can disrupt healthcare systems at multiple points, creating a surge in healthcare…

I don't imagine that you have a lot of Asian Native Hawaiian cohorts in this 1 million population.

I would be very interested in knowing how many, because it seems to me that clinical trials is one of the ways that people sign up for these trials.

So when you say the VA funded clinical trials, how many VA funded clinical trials are there?

I think diversity in its broadest sense is very important.

The Sixth Amendment requires that there is a right to counsel.

I think diversity is important, both personal and professional diversity on the bench, because a diverse bench represents the community that it serves.

It is necessary to have attorneys represent these individuals in order to hold the Government to that high burden of proof.

I urge their swift consideration and confirmation.