Mazie Hirono

The bill that is before us, S. 2240, mandates that no less than 75 percent of funds appropriated be used for on the ground control management...

I agree that more coordination and resources on the federal level are necessary to effectively prevent, control and mitigate invasive species.

I think Hawaii is known as the invasive species capital of the country, so this is a topic that is really important to us.

I thank Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas. Her legislation laid the groundwork for the STEM Opportunities Act. I also wish to thank Senators Peters, Murray, Gillibrand, Blumenthal, Markey, Cantwell, Booker, Schatz, and Merkley…

The President's proposed budget for 2017 actually puts into our proposed base funding those funding levels that Congress has put in as one-time increases over the past two years.

We are absolutely committed to enhancing and providing additional assistance for volcano monitoring.

This particular Committee, in providing bipartisan proposed legislation to establish volcano early warning and volcano monitoring systems, is going a long way toward elevating the need and the kinds of activities that need to take place in…

Given the increased seismic activity at Mauna Loa on the Big Island, can you discuss any ways that Congress can continue to provide support to this critical work to ensure public safety due to active volcanoes?

Your organization's Hawaii Volcanoes Observatory plays a crucial role in monitoring Hawaii's active volcanoes, and as you know, Kilauea has been active for decades.

I think that you mentioned that at some point you would want the F-35 program to become a multiyear contract program so that we can lower the cost, which I think is a good thing.

Both of us talked about the strike fighter shortfall. I just need to know--this is probably for Admiral Manazir--what is the Department of the Navy's current estimate of the strike fighter shortfall because we have had different numbers…

I am wondering what the Navy plans to do with the need that is going to arise at Kaneohe Bay.

That is music to my ears.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I too want to welcome our witnesses to the hearing this afternoon.

If one characteristic defines the future operating environment, it is uncertainty.

I commend the Department for the continuing emphasis and commitment on the rebalance.

Everybody understands, including the Governor of Okinawa, that if we can't build the facility in Henoko, we will be in Futenma.

The idea is to minimize any kind of a potential for protest, even though we know that they will occur, because we're talking about a lot of money and contracts at stake.

With both Russia and China really increasing and modernizing and adding to their military assets, one wonders whether 308 ships is really, you know, what we should be talking about.

As long as we are on the subject of the LX(R), I know that the Navy announced an intention to compete a package of ship contracts, including the T-AO(X) oiler, the LHAR, and the LX(R) ships.

We will stay in touch with you on all of that.

I think that is a worthy goal to follow.

These caps already seriously challenge our ability to meet our national security needs, and have already forced all of the military departments to make painful tradeoffs.

Unless modified for the years after fiscal year 2018 and later, I believe that these caps will threaten our long-term national security interests.

I think that we need to restore some of the eligibility of our compact citizens for particularly three programs, Medicare, TANF and SNAP.