Mazie Hirono

I would like to echo her suggestion and her strong urging to Treasury that you be aggressive in doing what you can.

My hope is that there will be a compromise that will achieve sequester relief for both sides, both segments, because national security is more than just defense.

I agree with you there. Perhaps one of the areas of the world where we do have what I would consider a strategy is in the Asia-Pacific area with the Indo-Asia-Pacific rebalance.

Thank you very much for your very strong statement about Congress's responsibility to govern through compromise.

There is a desire that boots on the ground in the Middle East should not be United States boots.

Thank you very much because this, as in so many other areas, requires a lot of collaboration at all levels including, as you say, the citizens, citizen scientists.

I emphasize how important it is to have an acquisition team that we can rely upon.

This agreement may create the space for us to have a--more than a conversation, but one that would lead to some kind of a change in behavior on the part of these state actors.

Considering that this is another group that is seeking a certain kind of status as atomic veterans, then I would be interested to know how many people you have already assessed as having shown that connection.

It seems as though if there is no presumption, then it is a pretty high burden for the individual veteran to make the connection claim.

I realize that it is very challenging to determine the causal effect of exposure to a substance and subsequent health of concerns.

Because we know that exposure to the environment, especially after 9/11 and what happened to the 9/11 first responders, all kinds of health issues that arose.

Whatever it is, that we come to some kind of understanding so that state actors do not engage in manipulation and destruction of data.

Has the Department given any consideration to what losing the support of Palau or the other freely associated states would mean for the security of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam, or Hawaii?

I've also recently met with businessmen from the CNMI, who discussed concerns with Chinese economic expansion in their territory.

Does the Department share my concerns, which echo those of President Remengesau, about China's expansion into this region?

Last year I had the opportunity to speak with Secretary Carter, prior to his confirmation, about my concerns regarding our compacts of free association with the freely associated states (FAS) of the Federated States of Micronesia, the…

Would the Department consider economic expansion to CNMI a threat to security in the Pacific region?

In July I introduced a bipartisan bill that would include the Philippines in the group of allied nations eligible for expedited consideration provided by law of foreign military sales.

I do share the concern that Admiral Harris raised that we are at a disadvantage by not being signatories to the Law of the Sea.

We would be concerned if the Russians used this infrastructure to further militarize or to bolster their military strength in the region.

I have introduced the VA's proposal (S. 1693) to exempt newly enrolled veterans from this requirement.

That's good, because we're all in it together.

Clearly, our shipyards are essential to sustaining our fleets and ensuring the readiness of our forces.

There are a lot of questions as to whether or not our P5+1 partners would even get back to the table.