Mazie Hirono

Do you think that it would be helpful that federal agencies...formed a watershed protection council at the federal level?

In line with that comment we have huge infrastructure needs throughout our country to the tune of trillions. We need to address those.

Thank you for maximizing what you did with that money.

It was a one shot deal.

Are you talking about the ARRA?

I will get back to you after the other two witnesses have made a comment.

Thank you very much.

Twenty million, I think it is.

I would like to work with you on a number of those issues including enabling the State of Hawaii to access all of these programs that other Western states have access to.

Unfortunately, Hawaii is not eligible for many of these programs because Hawaii is not a traditional Reclamation state.

Do you think this partnership should be made permanent because right now it is a pilot program?

I know Senator Gabbard, for instance, and Rep. Yamane are very keenly aware of the water conservation side of the equation.

And in that we probably could use more help from the Federal agencies.

The partnership with the Federal Government becomes even more important.

This continual fire borrowing is very detrimental.

I would like to start by thanking the Committee Chair, Senator Lisa Murkowski, and Ranking Member, Senator Maria Cantwell, for recognizing the importance of this issue for Hawaii and scheduling this field hearing.

Is it going to be easy? No. It's not going to be easy.

Yes, I do think it's achievable.

It would help if everything were, sort of, put in one place

The whole idea is to break through the silos?

It is important to have a strong and stable presence in the Asia-Pacific region in light of the actions of China in the South China Sea and the unpredictable threats posed by North Korea.

As you know, a combined force of Active, Guard, and Reserve components is imperative to the defense of our country.

I share your concerns because there are a number of moving parts with regard to the move out of Futenma and Henoko, and there are now delays there.

This issue is critical to ending veteran homelessness given the significant population of veterans with PTSD.

I would anticipate that the VA would continue to push for this because I think that, at this point, especially those of us who represent rural areas--and basically all of the neighbor islands, apart from Oahu, are rural areas.