Mazie Hirono

You probably know, Senator Sessions, that I am an immigrant, and you indicated in one response that you would want immigration reform to center around skills-based immigration reform.

You indicated that I think at that point the AG's office has only so many resources and that may not be a high priority for you.

I have heard from immigrants in this country, LGBT Americans, women, and religious minorities who are terrified that they will have no place in President-elect Trump's vision of America.

It is not just compensation that attracts people to what we are doing in our intelligence community because service to the country is a very important motivation.

I think it is clear that we have tremendous concerns about the Russian hacking in our elections.

Our rebalance to the Asia-Pacific appears to gain in importance, given recent actions of North Korea and China.

I am concerned about the issue raised in the testimony of Paul Francis of the Government Accountability Office stating that committing to the block buy of the frigate variant of Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) at this point in time would be…

Should conflict arise, the reduced SSC inventory would result in delays for the arrival of required forces and/or risk to other missions.

A reduction to 40 ships, employed under the same operating constructs, would result in about six fewer ships deployed globally conducting steady state theater security operations.

The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program was scheduled to produce 52 ships. However, in December of 2015, the Secretary of Defense directed the Navy to reduce the LCS buy from 52 ships to 40.

I think it is really important that we have those kinds of very specific items that you are going to follow.

When we okay a block buy, then we are letting go of the oversight responsibilities that this Congress has.

I really wanted to bring focus on the importance of our forested watersheds and that it is a part of the Energy Committee's jurisdiction.

I very much welcome the opportunity for Members of the Administration to come to Hawaii and to see that Hawaii is much more than a tourism and military place, important as those activities are to the State of Hawaii.

I think that's a very important opportunity to re-envision how we can be a green community and a model moving forward.

Yes, thank you for pointing that out.

The cultural aspects of how the people of Hawaii feel about our environment are very unique.

I think there is more we can do along those lines.

Therefore, the recent droughts on Maui and Hawaii, in particular, are beginning to draw attention to the fact that one size does not fit all across the archipelago.

I am just not sure whether there is that connection from a consumer standpoint, because don't we consume more water in the state per capita than any other state?

I think that there are huge opportunities in Hawaii for the application of those funds.

I have a question for you, Dr. Gon.

How do we incentivize them to work with all of you to protect our watersheds?

I think that the reason I believe it's achievable is, like I said, we've achieved that in the last five years we've got that five percent.

Do you think that the state's goal of protecting 30 percent of Hawaii's priority watersheds by 2030 is adequate and achievable?