Mazie Hirono

I think we share the goal of enabling all these survivors to live, as you put it, sustainable lives.

I certainly applaud Senator Tester's work in leading this effort. It has been a long overdue increase of approximately $300 a month for DIC recipients.

I think we should go ahead with covering this. And, I am pretty much in line with our former Chair in saying that, you know, we should provide the health care that they need.

It took an act of Congress for that to happen. So, it looks as though we are going to need to have an act of Congress again.

I have talked to a lot of veterans, and it is hard enough to show that they do come within the parameters for treatment even without exposure to Agent Orange.

These are some of the thousands of Blue Water Navy Vietnam veterans who have applied for VA health benefits, but were denied because they happened to serve our country at sea rather than on land.

I am proud to join my colleagues and the veteran service organizations here today in support of the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act.

Increasing the amount of DIC benefits payment will help survivors continue to live a sustainable life, which I wholeheartedly agree with.

Exactly. It is a continuation of the cruelty and the dehumanization of children.

I think it is--I don't think it is a constructive course forward to roll back the fuel economy standards that have been planned.

I am particularly concerned with proposals to stop progress on fuel economy standards that can save drivers $8,000 over the lifetime of a new 2025 vehicle.

Earlier in this hearing there were references to the positive effects of the huge tax cuts for the richest one percent of people and corporations in our country.

I would consider to be within a couple of weeks. You should be able to get this answer to me very quickly.

I really wonder how a state like Hawaii that wants to get away from dependence on fossil fuels will be particularly helped, especially with the huge cuts.

I see it is as part of, basically, a radical effort, a desired goal, to shrink the Federal Government and limit its ability to help people solve the problems that face us all.

I totally agree with you, Senator Alexander, that we have to strike while the iron is hot.

I want to thank my colleague, the Senator from Utah, Mr. Lee, for working with me on the act that we just passed. ____________________

This is National Police Week, and I join my colleagues in saluting all of our law enforcement personnel and our brave men and women who have put their lives on the line every single day to keep our communities safe.

I hope that extends to advocating on their behalf and to say that this is not a time to be eliminating net neutrality.

Our immediate response has been focused on relief efforts, but these communities will require additional resources to recover from these disasters.

I want to continue to work with SBA to make sure that whatever resources can be provided to all those affected individuals and businesses can receive those resources.

So small businesses in all of these communities must completely rebuild, and they're severely impacted by losses in visitor revenue.

Everybody heard that? Okay.

Certainly, and we have a lot of 8(a) entities in Hawaii also, so we should contemplate a field hearing in Hawaii also.

I appreciate the fact that you spoke today about SBA's work helping businesses impacted by natural disasters because we've had a number of them, especially in the context of last year's hurricanes and floods, and you mentioned Hawaii.