quorum call:

mr. schatz: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. schatz: i ask unanimous consent to vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection, the quorum call be suspended. mr. schatz: thank you 34r-79s. last night the senate passed the native american memorial act of 2013. the bill now heads to the president for his signature. i introduced the native american memorial amendments act in may and worked with representative mull ins since he introduced an identical bill in the house in june. this bill is needed to facilitate construction of a long-awaited native american veterans memorial on the national mall. this memorial has languished for almost 20 years since the passage of the original native american veterans memorial establishments act. this legislation builds off of the great work of senator

mccain, who introduced the initial bill to authorize a native veterans memorial and senator inouye who was the indian affairs chairman who works to enact the law in 1994. my bill continues senator akaka 's promise to fulfill the promise of this memorial. native americans including native hawaiians, alaska natives and american indians serve as and have always served as a higher rate in the armed forces than any other group of americans per capita. in every conflict since the revolutionary war, native americans have answered the call to serve and defend our country. i introduced my bill so our nation can recognize native american service and patriotism with a fitting memorial. a memorial to native veterans will make sure future generations learn about the sacrifices native americans have

made in service to our nation and it will commemorate their exceptional commitment to the principles of freedom and democracy. last month, congress awarded its highest honor, the congressional gold medal, to the american indians we know as code talkers. these brave men played a critical and for too long unacknowledged role in both world wars. the celebration of our legendary code talkers in emancipation hall at the united states capitol was a historic and proud moment. but it's regrettable that most of the 216 honored did not live to see their heroic contributions acknowledged. congress was decades late in recognizing native american code talkers' work when we needed them most. we can't make that mistake again. i believe now is the perfect time to move forward on a lasting tribute to all native

veterans, including the extraordinary contributions of native hawaiians. mr. president, my home tof hawaii is second to none when it comes to patriotism, public service, and personal sacrifice. the heroic deeds of anthony t.kahahano from hawaii proved how true this is. he joined the army to fight in combat in the korean war. he was assigned to company h, 17th infantry regiment, private first class displayed extraordinary heroism in korea on september 1, 1951. due to the enemy's overwhelming numbers, troops were forced to execute a limited withdrawal. as the men fell back, kahahano ordered his squad to take up more defensible positions. he provided cover fire for them.

although painfully wounded in the shoulder during the initial enemy assault he gathered a supply of grenades and ammunition and returned to his original position to face the enemy alone. he delivered deadly accurate fire on to the advancing enemy. after going through all his ammunition, he engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand combat until he paid the ultimate price fighting to protect his fellow soldiers. president obama awarded u.s. army private first class kahahano the presidential medal of honor, our nation's highest military honor, post posthumous. he and thousands of native hawaiians and native americans who have served our country with such honor deserve a memorial on the national mall. my native american memorial amendments act that passed last night will allow for privately funded memorial to be located on

grounds under the jurisdiction of the national museum of the american indian. the human will is have the much-needed flexibility to raise funds and take on a more active role in planning and construction. the native american memorial amendments act of 2013 was endoardz by -- endorsed by the national congress of the american indian, alaska federation of natives and the council for native hawaiian advancements, the largest three native american organizations in the country. the national museum of the american indian and the national park service are in agreement as well. i want to thank the strong support of the bipartisan cosponsors of this bill, senators barrasso, begich, hirono, inhofe, murkowski, tester, thune, and wyden. i also want to thank especially chairwoman maria cantwell for her work to ensure the passage of this bill. it is long past time for our

nation to honor the uncommon contributions of native hawaiians, native alaskans and american indians and other native veterans. these brave men and women have served during war and peace to preserve our freedoms in remarkably high numbers. the valor of hurt native american veterans, their dedication to duty and remarkable record of military service must forever be remembered. this memorial will do just that. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: quorum

call: quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader. mr. durbin: i ask the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to consideration of h.r. 3343 which

was received from the house and is tremendously at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 3343, an act to amend the district of columbia home rule act and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the bill be read three times and passed and the motion to reconsider made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to consideration of h.r. 3487 which was received from the house and is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 3487, an act to amend the federal election campaign act and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the bill be read three times and patched, the motion to reconsider made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number

269, s. res. 75. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 75, condemning the government of iran and so forth. the the clerk: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. durbin: i ask that the resolution being agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration inblock of the following resolutions submitted earlier today: senate resolution 325, 326, and 327. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measures en bloc. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the resolutions be agreed to, the preamble be agreed toed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table en bloc, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed

to senate concurrent resolution 30 which was submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate concurrent resolution 30, providing for a conditional adjournment or recess of the senate and anndjournment of the house of representatives. the presiding officer: without objection,es senate will proceed to the measure. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolutionen agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i understand there are two bills at the desk due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the titles of the bill for the first time. the clerk will read the titles of the bills for the second time. the clerk: s. 1859, a bill to amend the internal revenue code of 1986. s. 1881, a bill to expand sanctions imposed with respect

to iran and so forth and for other purposes. mr. durbin: mr. president, i'd ask to any further proceedings with respect to these bills en bloc. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the bills will be placed on the calendar. mr. durbin: i understand there is a bill desk and i ask for its first readin reading. the presiding officer: the clerk read the tieflt bill for the first time. the clerk: h.r. 20 1-rbg9s an act to eliminate taxpayer financing of political party conventions and so forth and for other purposes. mr. durbin: i now ask for a second reading and in order to plaits bill on the calendar, i object to my own request. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the bill will be read for the second time on the next legislative day. mr. durbin: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the following items be indefinitely postponed: house concurrent resolution 72 and house resolution 219.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president ask unanimous consent that during the adjournment or recess of the senate from friday december 20 through monday, january 6, the majority leader and senators warner and rockefeller be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, as i mentioned earlier today, i spoke with majority leader reid this morning. he sounds hail and hearty and anxious to get home and then back to work. we look afford to that happening when he returns to this desk earl i didn't i early in the ne, 20146789 there are many traditions around the holiday season that i cherish but the tradition of spending christmas or new year's eve on the floor of the senate is not one of those. happily this year we won't be repeating that practice from previous years. we're leaving here shortly. some have already left to spend the holidays at home with family.

as we close this first session of the 113th congress, i want to personally thank our majority leader, senator harry reid, and let me add his wife landra, for their leadership and resolve that have helped to make this senate work. i also twonts thank senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. though we may disagree on many issues and have our debate on the floor of the senate, i have a great respect for my colleagues and particularly their leader, senator mcconnell. we all know that we can't do this work alone. it takes a lot of dedicated people to keep the united states senate functioning. on behalf of leader reid, i would like to acknowledge and thank the senate parliamentarians and clerical staff and doorkeepers. i also want to thank the cloakroom staff, the members of our floor staff who put in longer-than-usual hours these past few weeks and all of the senate staffers, democrat and republican. i want to thank the capitol police officers for keeping us

safe. we have to remember, they risk their lives every day for us and all the people who work and visit this great capitol. a special thanks to our senate pages. we ask a lot of them. long hours for a lot of young people. we know that their -- we want them to know that their work is greatly appreciated. we wish them the best of luck. they will a be coming in january to finish up their current assignment as paifnls i hope they have a great time at home with their families and maybe someday they'll return here, maybe as senators themselves. part of the magic of this holiday season is that it enables many of you even just for a few moments to consider a new world. to look at things with a little less cynicism. i hope my colleagues all will have a few moments like that in the coming holidays, and i hope we're all going to come back and try to preserve some small measure of good will and headache it part of our -- of good will and make it part of our work in the next year of this senate in session.

the budget agreement was a good beginning to a less partisan, more productive senate. i hope that is good things to come. there is a lot more we need to do. the american people are still counting on us to come together on measures that will help to create good jobs and strengthen america's economy, strengthen working families in wisconsin, illinois, and all across america and particularly at this christmastime, let us remember the message of pope francis and religious leaders all over the world to remember the needy and the help that they need that we can provide and must provide in this caring world. we all only serve in this body for a finite period of time. after we're gone and we want to look back on our service in the senate, we all want to be able to say, "i was part of something important. i helped mak meet the great challenges of my time and i helped to preserve the american dream." i hope that's part of our new year's resolve on both sides of the aisle. when we return in january, the

senate will continue working on senate confirmations, starting with the nomination of janet yellen. our first matter of legislative business is to work to extend unemployment benefits. this is a matter of simple fairness. it affects more than 1 million americans and their families. we will not give up on them or on our responsibility to help them through this difficult time. in closing, madam president, i want to wish all my fellow senators, our staff, those who transcribe our remarks, and many others who make the senate work every single day, as well as our felfellow men's, americans, wisa merry christmas and happy new year. i ask that action on senate resolution 5 reflect the following: i ask that the committee-reported amendment to the resolution be agreed to, the resolution ad as amended be agreed to, the

committee-reported amendment to the preamble be agreed to, preamble as amended be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: ask when the senate complete its business today it convene for pro forma sessions on the following dates and times and following each session, the senate adjourn until the next pro forma session unless the senate receives a message from the use this it has adopted senate concurrent resolution 30, the adjournment resolution. tuesday december 24 rat 12 noon. friday december 27 at 12 noon. tuesday december 31 at 12 noon. friday, january 3 at 11:45 a.m. and that when the senate adjourns on friday, january 3, it reconvene on monday, january 6. if the senate receives a message that the house as adopted senate concurrent resolution 30, the

senate reconvene for a pro forma business session only. an adjourn until 2:00 p.m. monday, january 6. on monday, january 6, 2014, following the prayer around plage, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the times for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. following any leader remarks, the senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 1845, the unemployment insurance extension with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. further, that at 3:00 p.m., the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of executive calendar number 452, the nomination of janet yellen to be chairman of the federal reserve system with the time until 5:30 p.m. equally divided and controlled in the usual form prior to the vote on the confirmation of the yellen nomination. finally, that following the vote on the confirmation of the yellen nomination, the senate

resume legislative session, proceed to vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to s. 1845, the unemployment insurance extension bill. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: there will be two roll call votes at 5:30 p.m. -- beginning at 5:30 p.m. on monday, january 6. if there is to further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until tuesday, december 24, at 12 noon. unless the senate receives a message that the house has ado adopted s. con. res. 30. in which the senate stands adjourned until friday, january 3, 2014, at 11:45 a.m.

>> the senate wrapping up their work for the year focusing all their attention today on executive nominations. they voted to confirm the deputy director of homeland security. also approving the head of the irs. the vote to approve janet yellen as an extent of the federal reserve board of governors has been put on hold until january 6 of 2014. >> and news that president obama would nominate max baucus to serve as u.s. ambassador to china became official us white house released a statement expressing the presidents intent to nominate the current chair of the senate finance committee. senator baucus earlier this year announced he would not seek a seventh term in the u.s. senate. senator baucus released a

statement saying the u.s.-china relationship is one of the world's most important bilateral relationships. if confirmed michael would be to further strengthen diplomatic and economic ties between our two nations. we will do from president obama this afternoon. afternoon. is only a news conference with reporters at the white house got his last one of the year before he takes off for a two-week family vacation in hawaii. we will have coverage beginning at 2 p.m. be turned live on c-span. >> if you're a middle or high school student on c-span studentcam video competition wants to know what's the most important issue congress should address next year. make a five to seven minute video and be sure to include c-span programming for your chance to win the grand prize of $5000, with $100,000 in total prizes. the deadline is january 20. get more info at studentcam.org. >> treasury secretary jack lew met with the philippine finance secretary yesterday here in washington. after the meeting the two delivered statements to the

press focusing on the ongoing hurricane recovery reference is the economic relations between the two countries. this is just over five minutes. >> good afternoon. i'm pleased to welcome the secretary back to washington, d.c. and i was pleased to meet with him today and we had an opportunity to exchange views on a variety of topics. first, i want to express my sympathies as to the people of the philippines in the wake of typhoon yolanda. the united states was able to provide assistance and relief in the immediate aftermath of the storm, and we continue to stand with the philippines as they rebuild. in addition, the united states government response, we are

pleased with the past -- fast and we're flexible response from the asian development bank. we look forward to working with the multilateral develop a bank, to move forward with well-designed projects that assist the affected population as they rebuild. today we discuss the outlook for the u.s., the philippine and the asian and global economies, strong economic leadership in the philippines is helping to make the philippine economy more resilient. they're making great strides to improve governance, including fighting corruption and to reform the economy to become one of the fastest-growing economies in the region. i thank the secretary for his effort. during the first term of the obama administration we laid out a vision for the asia-pacific rebounds based on america's safety. in the second for where continue to build on this committee to expand trade and investment, strengthen regional institutions and deepen our engagement with emerging powers in the region.

the united states bilateral relationship with the philippines is an important one in a key region and one that is highlighted by the philippines participation in the obama administration's partnership for growth. the u.s. treasures providing a robust program for technical assistance for limitation of philippine economic policy. this program will become one of the most intensive technical assistance programs of the world in 2014. it was a pleasure meeting with the secretary and i look forward to continuing to work together to boost global growth. mr. secretary. >> thank you, secretary lew. it's a pleasure for me coming thank you virginia opportunity speaker i'm pleased to be here in washington, d.c. at this time with outlook of the u.s. economy. a strong u.s. economy is good or

the global economy as well. your airport is an assurance of america's supreme commitment to the -- in the global landscape and usher in a shared prosperity. since the beginning, the beginning -- [inaudible] in our crusade to institute good governance. our compact program and the partnership of growth is assisting our new frontiers to sustain economic gain. the model of the obama administrators good governance is good economics, and in the three years and a half of the administration has proven that. averaging growth of 6.3 were sent and the support of the u.s. administration in not only technical help but for the our bilateral relations is important in sustaining the.

we once again are deeply thankful also for the assistance extended by the u.s. government to the people -- victims of super storm ivan or yolanda. last month strategy is an eye-opener that global climate change is for real. excuse me. and that the impact of global climate change in our economic development is something that we must be mindful always. and that we need to work on creative solutions to strengthen the resiliency of our communities against natural hazards. we need to face climate change in the front and center of our social can't -- compaq to fight poverty and avoid eroding the gains achieved by the aquino administration. for use we stand ready to work with the u.s. government in developing programs and projects

for sustainable develop and. we need to take drastic measures to make sure that we can make our country climate resilient. the philippines is at the forefront of disasters relating to climate change. of the five strongest typhoons in our history, three has hit us in the last three years. and i think it's important that if we'r we are to maintain our l sustainability, we make sure that we address and work on measures to make sure that we deal with the fiscal impact of future disasters. indeed, we are turning a new page as we improve our partnership for growth, and this i would like to thank secretary lew for his time. and i look forward to working with him closely as we try and work on new instruments that the

global community can work on so that the sharing of the national risk for climate change can be done on a more formal basis. thank you. >> as a moderate in the privacy debate and in the privacy world, i have come to a troubling conclusion. the data broker industry as it is today does not have constraints and does not have chain. it will sell -- any shame. it will sell any information about any person, regardless of sensitivity for 7.9 since a name. which is the price of a list of rates suffers which was recently

sold. lists of rape sufferers, victims of domestic violence, police officers home addresses, people who suffer from genetic illnesses, complete with names, home addresses, ethnicity, gender, and many other factors. this is what's being sold and circulated today. it's a far cry from visiting a website and seeing an ad. what it is is a sale of the personally identifiable information, and highly sensitive information of americans. >> this weekend on c-span, your medical history, income, your lifestyle. the senate commerce committee looks into data mining saturday morning at 10 eastern. on c-span2's booktv, tom --

without a strong middle class the us is heading for an economic implosion that will make the great depression seem tame saturday night at 8:45 p.m. and on c-span3's american history tv, by august 1945 it was already becoming clear that a struggle for global dominance had begun. from world war ii cold war, sunday at 7:30 p.m. eastern. >> she was everyone's soul sister. everybody felt they knew her. and they did pretty much because she laid her life out for everybody to see. and she told us about what life was like in suburbia for women in, oh, the 1960s through the 1990s. and one of the wonderful things about her, you know, she wrote mainly humor, and it was schumer that was accessible to everyone. because it was schumer that happened in everybody's life,

but they might not recognize it until they saw it written on a page or in a newspaper column. because funny things happen to us all the time but we have to be out on the look out for them, and she was the one that focus our attention on the funny things that happen in a family, things that the moment seem like craziness and driving you nuts. but when you look back at them, you think that was pretty funny. that's a real gift. that's a literary gift. >> the life and times of erma bombeck this weekend as booktv and american history tv look at the history and literary life of dayton, ohio. saturday at noon on c-span2 and sunday at 5 p.m. on c-span3. >> a former u.s. ambassador to brazil says despite controversy over u.s. spying on brazil's presidenpresident the two counts

should establish a strategic partnership for his remarks, the former ambassador was introduced by jane harman, president of the woodrow wilson center. >> good morning. good morning too many good friends in the audience. i see ambassador, my different. i see caroline and others. i'm jane harman, president and ceo of the wilson center and delighted to welcome you to this just before the christmas holiday, important event. the wilson center knows a lot about brazil, and so does our keynote speaker and good friend, ambassador tom shannon. our brazil institute is the premier place in washington for dialogue on u.s. brazil policy. we were first to honor dilma rousseff and sponsored the brazil economic conference. we regularly hosted brazilian government and legislative in

our interest a platform to air the good, the bad and the ugly in our relationship. tom shannon qualifies as part of the good. after close -- [laughter] i hope he is related to the. after close to four years as a highly regarded u.s. career foreign service ambassador to brazil, he is back in washington senior advisor to secretary kerry. they are lots of rumors about his future. brazil is the be in brick. president rousseff was also an alleged target of u.s. surveillance. these issues and more will be addressed no doubt by a bachelor shannon. to introduce them is former brazil ambassador, tony herrington, a longtime friend and share of our brazil institute. before asking tony to introduce tom, let me applaud the efforts by washington and brasilia to move past the snowden issues and to reschedule president

rousseff's visit early next year. i know a little bit about surveillance issues, and i strongly disagree with what edward snowden did. nonetheless, i welcome the public debate about how we should restart, reset what we do on surveillance. as the two largest economies and two largest democracies of the americas, the interest of the u.s. and brazil are more convergent and divergent in the realms of business defense, science, education and culture. as tom shannon likes to say, the challenge for the u.s. and brazilian government is to catch up and line it policy to this reality. and that's wh why tom shannon is here today, help us understand the landscape in this hopeful, hopefully post-snowden air. let me now turn the program over to brazil institute chair tony herrington. tony served as u.s. ambassador to brazil in the clinton administration and is chair of the managing board of the

albright group. welcome, tony. >> thank you, jane. >> thank you, jane, and thank you for the fine leadership that you bring to this important institution here in washington, energy and reached of the programs under your leadership. i first met tom shannon in 1999 when i was unexpectedly preparing to go to brasilia as u.s. ambassador. not something i had envisioned, but with a mandate from president clinton to upgrade an important and as most of you know, under attended bilateral relationship. happily, i also met this other fell on the stage, alice otero, about the same time.

to folks who accelerated my appreciation and understanding of brazil. tom was in his seat staff director i think at the time. it was readily apparent to me that tom was not only highly knowledgeable about brazil that had developed an unusual awareness and affection for the country while serving as assistant in a younger age to a prior u.s. ambassador. with tom's advice and help in particular, and of that of many others, we were able to conclude a lot of significant agreements and open new space in u.s. brazil cooperation. since then, tom has been a rising star in our foreign service, serving as white house senior director and assistant secretary of state for the western hemisphere.

with unneeded, probably unneeded interest on my part in seeing him go to brazil, and, frankly, with indications, informal indications from the brazilian government that they would be delighted to see palm come back to brazil. he was been nominated and served as a distinctly accomplished ambassador to brazil, and as you know, returned briefly, well, all while enough to add a couple of gray hairs serving as acting undersecretary for political affairs at the request of secretary clinton. two jobs, one salary is the way it was. last year, tom was nominated and confirmed by the senate to the rank of career ambassador, a

rare recognition, extraordinarily distinguished members of the u.s. foreign service, given to only 53 diplomats over the last 50 years. and as jane noted, secretary kerry has brought tom to the inner circle as senior advisor, and history continues to unfold. as ambassador, tom was the architect of reapproachment between the u.s. and brazil after a period of some malays in the relationship. in march, 2011, less than three months after the presence in a great as the first woman president of are still, president obama made an unprecedented early visit to brasilia. in his address to a very large

congregation in brasilia, president obama observed that it was high time that brazil and the u.s. enjoyed a level of engagement on par with that u.s. maintains with china and india, for example. the presidential visit helped reset the relationship, presidents openness and engagement with president obama was only an important constructive step. then was followed by president rousseff's visit here in april last year. interestingly, she set the theme for her visit as brazil u.s. strategic partnerships for the 21st century your the agenda% of the presidential level, but we need to get on with, so to speak. this kind of mutual high level outreach would not have happened without the skill and diplomacy of our ambassador at work, both

in brazil and back home with the state, white house and the interconnections. as we know, further elevation in the brazil-u.s. relationship was represented by the white house invitation president rousseff plan for a couple months ago, the last such visit by a brazilian president, state visit to washington was more than 18 years ago. all of you are aware of the unfortunate development that led to the two presidents to announce a postponement of the visit. and it's my hope, i'm sure it's all of our hope, that the review by the national security agency of the national security agency intelligence programs ordered by president obama will resolve questions that are recognized as legitimate, raised in brazil or

otherwise despite the unfortunate way that they emerged. and that in so doing that this will permit rescheduling of the visit and moving forward with relationship. have intended and paid attention to the relationship since i was ambassador, i believe the reasons that led president obama to make the invitation and president rousseff to accept remain entirely valid and current. further and deeper engagement is in the interest of both governments. the civil societies in both countries and the business sectors whose interests are remarkably and policy objectives of the u.s. and brazil business communities are remarkably the

same. i heard of this confluence of interest clearly stated, reiterated when i was in brazil last week for the clinton global initiative in rio, and then the largest annual conference held by the national confederation of industry in brazil. both occasions are dressed by president clinton -- president rousseff, president clinton by the way not only opened the very successful clinton global initiative meetings. he was also asked by the national confederation of industry to address the body, but he was unfortunately prevented because of his travel, in connection with memorial for president mandela. as a matter of fact, the leadership of cmi told it was the largest gathering they had,

and several people called up saying they just want to hear bill clinton do his thing. the awkwardness around the nsa issues in no way diminish the extraordinary achievements of the service of our just returned ambassador tom shannon. and were fortunate to have him serving with secretary kerry. generally, and what we trust the steward of you as brazil, relations will have room for continued attention to realizing the potential for engagement, both bilaterally and the things that we can do together, cooperatively on the world stage multilaterally. it's been a personal privilege to work with tom shannon for more than a dozen years as i know it's a pleasure for all of us to have him with us here this

morning to share perspectives that are really unique on the state of relations and the future of relations in u.s.-brazil. and we will have some time for discussion moderated by institute in brazil institute director as well. please join me in welcoming ambassador tom shannon. [applause] >> well, good morning. it's a great pleasure to be here. to jane harman, thank you very much for your warm welcome and thank you to the woodrow wilson center. to tony harrington, thank you for your very kind words. my mother appreciates them. to paulo sotero, thank you for the tremendous work you've done here at the institute. you forget after we were talking

about the great work that the woodrow wilson center and in particular the brazil institute are doing on our larger western hemisphere issues. as many of you know, this is a busy town, and a town with divergent interests and a variety of immediate interests. and keeping our elected leaders and our thought leaders focused on our larger neighborhood, our own hemisphere, sometimes a challenge. but i think the woodrow wilson center, the brazil institute have done spectacular work. and the fact he of institutes like the atlantic council and the german marshall fund expressing interest in the region trying to establish their own focus i think is tribute to the richness of this field and the importance of it. so i personally am very grateful for the tremendous work that's done you. so thank you. and thank you, tony and paula. this was billed as a conversation with me so i would like to make it a conversation

as quickly as possible. and open this up to address your interests and your concerns. but before you do that i wanted to say a few things. share a few thoughts. as many of you know i've spent nearly four years in brazil, leaving in september and coming back here to washington. added that the good fortune of being asked by secretary kerry to work with them on broader issues. i am being globalized. but my interest in brazil has not waned. quite the contrary. as brazil inserts itself even deeper into the world, it will not let me go. and so i will continue to have a profound interest in u.s.-brazil relationships. but especially in the strategic side of that relationship as both brazil and the united states look for ways to share understandings of the world and to chart cooperative past that i was the benefit, benefit both of our countries. nearly four years ago, in february of 2010, actually in

january 2010, i was kind provided i paulo disputed before it went off to brazil as ambassador. and in that instance, i made a few assertions. the first was that although brazil had been described as an emerging power by many analysts, i said i didn't agree with that, that it was not emerging. that, in fact, it had already emerged and is already exercising a role as an important global player. it needed to be recognized and understood. secondly, i said that brazil's emergence was a product of its own domestic transformation as it addressed long-standing social inequities like poverty inequality and social exclusion. build a functioning democracy. and greater one of the largest economies in the world. and economy which was building a large consumer base middle class that was globalizing as it

developed. and that brazil's emergence into the world and its assertion of global ambition was putting brazil and contact with the united states in parts of the world were historically brazil had not been present before. and that this new engagement with brazil, whether it be in the middle east, and africa, asia, or more broadly in the americas such as the caribbean and central america, meant that the united states had to understand brazil in a different light and that brazil also had to rethink its relationship with the united states. look for a way to accommodate this new global interest. and, finally, i noted that while brazil and the united states have been friendly, there's been a certain polite distance both of us ar were going about our business but increasingly we have seen more connectivity between our societies and between our peoples that was going to affect ultimately our

diplomacy and our foreign policy towards each other. and that with time our societies and peoples ar were going to bee the principal drivers of our relationship and not our governments. i would argue that i was right in all of those assertions. and that if anything else, my nearly four years in brazil had convinced me that they are still valid, and actually very still much alive in shaping the u.s.-brazil relationship. although brazil has seen its own fair share of internal political effervescence last june with the many demonstrations we saw across brazil, from our point of view this as evidence of the health of brazilian democracy and the fact there is broad public space for citizens to demonstrate and protest and make their views heard. and that brazilian institutions have the capacity to respond to

them in a meaningful way. and as we look ahead, i think we understand that brazil's domestic transformation, because it was done within a democratic context and done largely within a market context, has shown that democracy markets can deliver development and that brazil has also shown that democracy and markets are not about status quo and are not about protecting privileges. they are about creating space with the right kind of social policy and the right kind of approach to development that the people themselves can have a central role in determining the developmental direction of a country. and this is a powerful message. it's a powerful message from the point of view of the united states and it's a powerful message from the point of view of countries around the world who are facing challenges that brazil has faced, whether it's moving from a authoritarian government to democratic government, whether it's moving from a targeted development

model to one of regional integration. and whether it's moving from isolation to globalization. i think brazil has laid out a pathway or an example of sorts that should be encouraging, not just to the united states as we look ways to influence the world in ways that are meaningful to us, and concurrent with our value. but also as countries try to determine how they can harness the peace and stability that democracies and markets can offer to address really significant social challenges. historic social challenges. and so from our point of view, our ability to work with brazil, to engage with it, not just bilaterally but globally, and to try to shape areas and methods of cooperation, whether it's in foreign assistance, either in agriculture development areas or public health areas, whether it's in promoting proliferation,

addressing peaceful resolutions of dispute over fastening broad trade agreements, how we relate with brazil and how brazil relates with us is going to be increasingly important. but as i noted before, one of the striking things that has happened over the past several years has been their growing connectivity between our societies and our people. and the most evident in dramatic evidence of that is within tourism, and especially the enormous demand for visas that we've seen coming from brazil. and the flow of brazilian tourist to the united states, and brazilian students to the united states. over the past 10 years, our visa demand has increased by over 600%. and it increased by 32% last year, and it continues on an upward swing, even with a brazilian economy that is slowed considerably and an exchange rate that has declined, as far

as brazilian consumers and tourists are concerned, and this indicates that brazilian society is globalizing at a fast clip. that the united states still holds significant fascination for brazilians, and that brazilians are connecting broadly in the united states, whether it be as a tourist, whether it be as investors, or whether it be as exporters or importers. and in this regard i think that what we are seeing increasingly is a response in the united states of growing interest in brazil and increase in tourism, although not at the same level we are seeing on the brazilian side, but certainly a dramatic increase in business and investment areas. the traveled to the u.s. of governors, mayors, state economic development leaders, of businesses has been quite remarkable. we've seen a significant increase in our bilateral trade,

over $76 billion in goods, and well over $100 billion of goods and services. this is a trait potential that is only being barely exploited to in other words, there is a lot more that can and should be done. and the focus of our relationship on building out the commercial and invested relationship has been one of the priorities of this administration, certainly one of the priorities of secretary clinton year and remains a priority of secretary kerry, which he expressed during his visit to brazil. but what is striking about the emergence of this new connectivity is that i believe that, increasingly, our societies will determine the direction of our relationship. and in the process of doing so both of our government, by encouraging this, will build a balance in relationship that help us in rough times, similar to saving for a rainy day by increasing the conductivity between our peoples and our societies we are creating a constituency that will demand of

our governments to resolve problems that our governments might not be either willing or prepared to address in the immediate moment. which will bring me to the disclosure portion eventually. but before i get there, the larger point i wanted to make is that as we look at this relationship over the past several years, our purpose was to build what we call a 21st century partnership. that was what i told the press would arrive in brasilia in early february, and it has become a mantra of the relationship, in fact, it was used as the slogan of our relationship when president rousseff visited the united states the first time. and as we built out of this 21st century partnership, as we realized we needed to build a much worse all the and more robust dialogue structure, we also realized we need to focus on not just the frequency of

dialogue but also the quality of dialogue. we need to connect our governments administer levels and later levels to ensure that our bureaucracies after direction and emphasis to move forward on issues that were important to us. we also discovered that as we talked and as we built a dialogue around key issues of importance to us, that our points of views converge. this is not mean they were always the same. in fact, there are still some stark differences, but what is important is that we did find important areas of cooperation and tension, whether it be around climate change, food security, transactional crime and the proliferation of weapons, just to name a few. but as we do this we also recognize that we need to build a 21st century platform for this relationship. what i mean by that is that those of you who are real brazilians and can remember the

good old days know that at one point in time we had conflicts in many cities, along with our embassy in rio de janeiro and our consulates in são paulo. overtime, that had shrunk down to an embassy in brasilia and consulates or consulate generals in são paulo and rio and they consulate. if you think about it, that structure, having consulates on the coast and having an embassy in brasilia would be like trying to cover united states in boston, washington and miami with maybe an industry in cleveland. it doesn't work. not only diplomatically and in terms of our commercial activities but also in terms of what we can do other people to people outreach. so the president's decision to authorize us to reopen consulates in two cities was an

important first step towards expanding our presence on the ground, and to tapping not only into i think a very large passive population of potential visitors to the united states who just had not been able to travel because they were unwilling to travel all the way to the coast or to brasilia to look for visas, but also expands our commercial investment outreach. it's my hope overtime will be able to expand our presence even further and build back the kind of geographic presence that we need to address successfully a country of continental proportions, like the united states. but also another important component of our 21st century platform is rebuilding our cadre of brazil exports. for those of you who follow this, brazil was a centerpiece of our hemispheric diplomacy for a long time, and because of the

many consulates we had in the region, because of our usaid presence and her peace corps presence, the u.s. government had a large country of portuguese speakers, a large cadre of her silliness to understood the country, who had lived there and sometimes stay there for several iterations and to the u.s. government could call upon to help it understand what was happening in brazil. through the 1980s and 90s and through attrition, that changed. because of the crisis in the andes, much of our hemispheric policy really became spanish speaking focused. and because of the decline in usaid presence, the exit of the peace corps, and the decline in our geographic presence, we actually began to lose our western hemisphere affairs, and we ended up drawing upon many of our officers from angola and mozambique and portugal.

but that has all changed and it's change because of the enormous demand for visas, the demand for personal demand that we have, and we now have hundreds of young officers who have done the first and second tours in brazil who speak portuguese, have traveled to other countries you know it well. and as we open a new consulate for creating new spaces for them to travel through brazil, for several towards. so we are replicating what we have several decades ago. and i think this is going to be very important for our diplomacy because is going to great not only familiar do with brazil but in understand how we need to deal with brazil over time. and, obviously, as we look ahead, we remain convinced that the united states in brazil continued to build a strategic partnership, and one of 21st century proportions. of our strategic partnership want to mean something to go beyond a transactional relationship.

which is defined the u.s. was a relationship for so long. in other words, what can't be the country get from each other. how things change with a strategic partnership is the transactional nature remains to a certain extent, but why it is strategic is because both countries work together to shape common understandings of the world, common understandings of how we are to operate in the world. this can only be done through the kind of dialogue we've been building over time. now, unfortunately, the decision by both presidents to postpone a state visit was a product of the snowden disclosures. this great a significant challenge in our efforts to build this type of strategic partnership because it interrupted a dialogue that was nascent but growing importance. and which held huge potential. i believe that we can recover that moment and that we have to recover that moment for the

benefit of both countries. not just our government and not just how our states positioned himself in the world. but more important for our own citizens as we try to understand how brazilian investing in united states and u.s. invest in brazil and the connectivity can enrich the lives of our citizens and how we can show that diplomacy has a relevancy to the daily lives of our citizens. that really will make it unique in our larger diplomatic efforts in the hemisphere. and in many ways in the world. and underscore the importance of what i call social diplomacy. as we've attempted to deal with the disclosure -- the snowden issue we have of course engage with brazil in several levels. many of which are well known. we engage with them technically with our intelligence community led by director of national intelligence james clapper. meeting with the brazilian delegation to address their immediate concerns about the disclosures. there was also what was called a

political engagement in which the ministry of justice traveled to the united states to meet with u.s. officials, including the vice president of the united states to express brazil's political concerns. several conversations and bays between trenton and president obama as they try to sketch out a pathway forward out of this challenge in the larger relationship. and as many of you are aware, yesterday the white house released the results of the presidential review group that was investigating the impact of technology on information intelligence gathering. which is really the first step towards a larger review of how the united states does use intelligence and which will ultimately form the basis for us to reengage with the brazilians and make her own suggestions about the best way forward in that relationship. as we have done this, the

brilliance -- resilience have been attempted and avoided with certain expectation to what we're going to be able to offer them. and how we'll be able to move forward in the aftermath of the disclosures. problem and challenge. we don't have that clear pathway yet, but we will. sometime in the new year when we finished our larger inner agents review. and have a chance to take a look at the recommendations that have been issued by the review group of to this point. i don't have a whole lot more to say in that regard yet because this is a work in progress. but it is worth noting that as the united states and brazil have engaged on disclosures related issues, an international forum, whether it be unicef's general assembly in paris, or whether it be in the third committee at the u.n. general a summit, by second committee of

the u.n. general assembly where resolutions related to disclosures have been presented, the united states in brazil, along with our other partners who are interested in things like the internet governance, privacy as a human right, and the role of espionage within the structures of international law and regulation. we've been able to fashion tax that the united states has joined consensus on. and this i think is a significant and important step because it realizes that both of our governments have the capability of understanding the concerns of the other and addressing them with their larger international and private with our many equities at play. and so just yesterday, the u.n. general assembly voted on a resolution that came out of the third committee in which again were able to join consensus. and i believe that is a very positive sign. we are also appreciative of the way in which the brazilian

government has handled the most recent communication from edward snowden to the brazilian people, and his effort to solicit asylum from brazil, the response of the brazilian government is noted and welcomed by the united states. but as we look ahead, it's evident that what the snowden disclosures have done, aside from creating a level of cause at one part of our relationship, it has large are not affected his broader people to people and society to society engagement. in fact, what we have found both among u.s. businesses and brazilian businesses is a deep and abiding hunger to continue our engagement, to continue to look for ways to fashion even a more fluid and more productive business and investment relationship between the two

countries. and in this regard i think we have an awful lot to work from. we continue to see a huge flow of brazilian students to the united states, which is going to continue to have a big impact on an american universities, especially american graduate programs. because the influx of brazilian students were really be the largest influx of students from the western hemisphere that we've seen so far in the 21st century. and in that sense i think that the impact of brazilian students on american universities and american graduate programs is going to continue to be large. of course, as i indicated earlier, the visa demand has not slacked off at all. it continues to grow at an important rates. and this i think it creates a certain urgency for both governments to find a way to address the problems and the questions raised by the snowden disclosures. and this is what we are committed to you, and we are

committed to a larger relationship with brazil that understands that we occupy different places in the world, that we have in some instance different sets of interests but that ultimately we are committed, broadly, the interests that are similar and compatible. and as we think about the u.s.-brazil relationship, it's really worthwhile to take a step back and understand how it fits into a larger international environment. many of you as my your with the phrase the long war, by general, who in the aftermath of 9/11 said that while we might walk away from our enemies, our enemies will not walk away from us. we need to be prepared to fight them whenever they appear and in whatever form they appear. i would argue that although the united states still faces a significant security challenges around the world, and that while we still have any me to will pursue us where ever we are, we are in a different kind of an

environment right now, and that, in fact, given what we have seen with the rise of china and india, the insertion of these giant societies into international economies, the emergence of significant countries such as brazil, turkey, south africa, mexico, indonesia as major regional powers with global ambition, and the emergence of people and societies as major drivers and the finders of so much of our foreign policy and diplomacy, that we are at a time and space where while we protect our security, you need to understand that our future will bring us all going to be about building partnerships and building alliances. and this will require a new focus and a new energy in our diplomacy. ..