hirono: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: mr. president, i rise today to speak in support of s.1243, the transportation, housing and urban development and related agencies appropriations act for 2014. i would like to thank senators murray and collins, senators mikulski and shelby for their hard work. the bill before us reflects the bipartisan agreement that funding our nation's transportation and housing infrastructure is vital to creating jobs and supporting strong communities. i'd like to thank the committee for funding programs that support projects that are especially crucial for my home state of hawaii. first, the committee's bill provides nearly $2 billion for capital improvement grants which support transit projects across the country. especially important for hawaii is honolulu's rail transit project which when completed will provide much-needed relieve for oahu commuters. during the morning peak period the travel time is 89 minutes for a 17 mile drive. the rail would turn that into a 40 minute ride above traffic. the pro

senator hirono. >> you definitely see the political spectrum of support represented right here. i'm proud to stand here with not just the colleagues here but there are others who are very much concerned and want to take some specific action relating to sexual trauma in the military. yes, this has been going on far too long. there's no magic bullet answer. one of the responses is to remove the chain of command from making the decision to investigate and go forward. on the other hand, there are plenty of other things we need to do because we're dealing with a culture in the military that has allowed this to occur for decades and decades. so the commander has a responsibility to change that culture. there's a whole huge prevention aspect that the commanders should take hold of. there are education opportunities. there are all of these other things that can happen. the navy is doing some of this starting in a small way where they address the incidents and the use of alcohol, which is very much a part of these kinds of crimes. so there are so many ways we can address this, but this i

the democratic party with the more liberal senators on the services including gillibrand and mazie hirono voted but still, he won on the backs of the republicans. if you have any thought about where the debate is going in the future and how does what in between the women on that. >> until very recently we have a listing of rules regarding the women in combat and that took a long time to get there and a shifting of the culture and of opinion. i think the more of these stories that come out where you have somebody in charge of sexual harassment policy and then we find out that they have been engaged. they are very broad and more something like that that comes out these kind of amendments will end up getting more support and making potential changes already the fact you have this hearing was the first hearing where you have the leaders of the branches of the services coming in to testify on this issue. is a private discussion in the past. so things are changing but slow to change policies of the more attention it gets drawn to it, the more there will be changes. there are 71 of the armed ser

thank you. >> um, just, you know, this is, as senator hirono said, quite a cross-section of the senate. senator paul, senator cruz, maybe you can give us a sense of how you were convinced to sign on it. you know, was it meetings, was it testimony, what was it that brought you? >> i think a what's lost some times up here is people say there's no bipartisanship. senator gillibrand came over to me on the floor and just told me about it. i also saw the news about it, and my first impressions were to be favorably inclined to it and i needed to read a little more about it, and there were a few things that i wanted modified, and it wasn't a big deal to try to get the bill even better. and i think the changes made should bring more conservatives onboard to this. but i don't know, i really, truly don't see things in partisan purpose. i really don't see them that way. i'm more than willing to go against my party anytime or against the other party. we should go for what we think is right. this is anish sue that -- an issue that i think is, obviously, right, and i think we're all trying to get to

thank senators leahy, wyden, brown, whitehouse, gillibrand, merkley, blumenthal, schatz, murphy and hirono for supporting this amendment. i also want to thank the two largest teachers organizations in the country for supporting this amendment. this amendment is very simple. it sunsets this legislation after two years, takes advantage of current relatively low interest rates and gives us the time to reauthorize the higher education act and come up with sensible long-term solutions to the crisis of student indebtedness and college affordability. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. the senator from vermont is recognized. mr. sanders: according to the c.b.o., by the year 2018, under this legislation, undergraduate stafford loans will be 7.25%, graduate stafford loans will be 8.8%, parent loans will be 9.7%. we have a crisis right now in student indebtedness. we need to solve that crisis, not make it worse. i ask for support of this amendment. mr. harkin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: i appreciate what senator sanders is trying to do, b

whitehouse, senator gillibrand, senator blumenthal, senator schatz, senatorrer murphy and senator hirono for their support for this amendment. madam president, i also want to thank the largest educational organization in america, the national educational association, for their support of this amendment and thank the american federation of teachers for their support of this amendment. madam president, the truth of the matter is that if the bill on the floor is passed without amendment, it would be a disaster for the young people of our country who are looking forward to go to college and for the parents who are helping them pay their bills. the job of the united states congress, it seems to me, is to improve upon the dismal situation we face today in terms of student indebtedness and college affordability. these are major crises in this country. millions of kids leaving school deeply in debt. parents borrowing at high interest rates to send their kids to college. we have a crisis. this bill makes a bad situation worse, not better. madam president, i ask my colleagues to support the amendm

paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate i hereby appoint the honorable mazie heurpb know, a -- hirono a senator from the state of hawaii to perform the duties of the chair. duties of the chair. >> so there you are, the senate in and out with a pro forma session on tuesday. we're going to take you back right now to that house veterans affairs subcommittee hearing in progress. live coverage here on c-span2. >> the whistle blower act is a wonderful thing that is out there so that victims can feel confident that if they do decide to report, they won't be retaliated against. but common sense, again, tells us if you can't get a commander to prosecute rape, a crime of violence, why would a victim have any confidence that the commander is going to protect them when they come forward? so thank you for bringing that topic up. at it -- it's important. >> that's my concern. i yield -- >> if i might. miss wilkin is very -- i hate to use the wrong word here but she has seen some measure of justice. a lot of survivors really do not see justice at all. i know in my case i was threatened under the "do