hirono. mr. hoeven. mr. husted. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. & mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. sheehy. ms. slotkin. ms. smith. mr. sullivan. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. senators voting in the affirmative -- alsobrooks, baldwin, bennet, blumenthal, blunt rochester, booker, cantwell, fetterman, gallego, gillibrand, hassan, heinrich, hickenlooper, hirono, kaine, kim, king, klobuchar, lujan, markey, merkley, murphy, murray, ossoff, peters, reed, rosen, sanders, schatz, schiff, schumer, shaheen

i hand this now to senator hirono. senator hirono: thank you. it's just awesome what's happening to both the d.o.j. and the f.b.i. you heard us talking about how important the independence of these agencies are to the safety of our country. and if we cannot trust the people who are leading the d.o.j. for example, the highest ranking law enforcement officers in our country, the f.b.i. has all the levers and tools to investigate and go after people who are potentially harmful to our country, if we can't rely on these people to keep us safe, then we are in very deep trouble. as you have heard from my colleagues, there are literally thousands of potential people who are working at the d.o.j. who worked on potentially the january 6 investigations who could be fired. what is going on? i remember asking chris wray, the f.b.i. is supposed to be caring about domestic terrorism and keeping us safe domestically. how many people lone wolves, for example, is the f.b.i. keeping track of? he said hundreds in every state. i'd like to have a f.b.i. director who

chair lee: senator hirono. sen. hirono: mr. patel, as part of my response ability as a member of this committee i ask the following two questions of all nominees before any committees. since he became a legal adult, have you ever made a monetary request for sexual favors or committed verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature? mr. patel: no, i have not. sen. hirono: have you faced discipline or entered into a settlement relating to this kind of conduct? mr. patel: sen. hirono: i have not. you have been a champion of the january 6 prison choir. you have stated its members were incarcerated as a result of their involvement in the january 2021 protest for election integrity. one of the choir members is julian khater, who pled guilty to assaulting officers with a deadly weapon on january 6. he attacked capitol police officer brian sicknick with pepper spray and the next day officer sicknick suffered two strokes and died. was mr. khater protesting for election integrity? mr. patel: i don't know who that is. sen. hir

i now recognize senator hirono. senator hirono: as part of my responsibility as a member of this committee as well as other companies on which i serve, i asked questions of all nominees, so i will ask you, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any physical harassment? ms. loeffler: no, senator. senator hirono: have you ever entered a settlement regarding this conduct? ms. loeffler: no, senator. senator hirono: you opposed planned parenthood receiving funds for ideological reasons even though other nonprofits work eligible, as later determined by sba's own inspector general. last week, the president fired the ig without proper notice as required by law. it is clear that president trump believes he can do whatever he wants. as administrator, should you be confirmed, would you commit to implementing sba programs in a fair and impartial manner? ms. loeffler: let me first say i hope that we could be able to meet. i have requested several meetings. i keep the people of maui in my prayers. i k

. >> senator hirono: so you would allow the state to enforce their own child protection laws? >> professor leary: 100%. my written testimony has a quote from a letter the national attorney general laying out again for the third times, i believe and i don't know how you can have over 50 attorney generals, i believe it is a territory as well. all in agreement on this point. >> senator h hirono: you would believe we need to do something to support the law? >> mr. guffey: yes, states need to be able to have the tools. >> senator hirono: could you provide some background on the case and how section 230 was involved and what you think it demonstrates of the law around section 230? >> ms. goldberg: yes, it accuses the dating of advertisements to children using instagram and tiktok with child models in school settings and luring them onto the dating app. as i said in my complaint that statistics of 50% of gay kids who were active and had their first sexual experience with an adult that they meet on grinder. grinder has no age verifications and just absolutely turns a blind eye to the

senator hirono. sen. hirono:, thank you, madam chair. my sympathies to mr. puerta and ms. norring. this is a complicated question in the sense that we have disagreements on who is bringing in fentanyl into our country, but we all know that it is creating havoc. i was particularly interested in noting how we can prevent young people from getting access to fentanyl. at the same time we need a justice department that is stable. right now, there is chaos as this administration tries to eliminate anyone who can stand up to them. in addition, when they want the names of everyone who had anything to do with the january 6 investigations and prosecutions, we are talking about potentially thousands of fbi agents. you can imagine the chaos that is going on in that department. mr. puerta, i know that you mentioned "dead on arrival" as a documentary that is shown. what age do you think children should be when they are alerted to not buying anything on the internet? this goes to ms. norring as well in terms of prevention. a documentary like the one that you mentioned, does it really impact the y

senator hirono: that is yes or no. mr. phelan: i don't know what doge is doing. senator hirono: you are going to be the navy and i don't think you need a lot of information to conclude that a slash and burn approach to programs and personnel is the way to go. in 2021, a massive leak contaminated along with drinking water, 93,000 people were affected. they had to move to hotels and some left the state all together and hurt the military's reputation although it was a naval facility. for people of hawaii they don't make a distinction that the navy was responsible for that the navy, army or air force or marines. it is taking a lot to rebuild the confidence in our navy. so ultimately the d.o.d. leaders made the correct decision to defuel and close the fall silt as complicated as you can imagine. and scheduled to complete in 20828. i would like to see through the completion of the transparent closure of red hill which involves not only the adequate resources and manpower, but also post collaboration with the state government officials to restore trust and faith in the

senator hirono. sen. hirono: as one of the authors of the recently released blueprint for breakthroughs in the defense innovation report, you recommend getting the combatant commanders specific funding to accelerate the rapid fueling of new technologies to solve theater specific problems. what advantages would such a change inject into the defense acquisition system? and how would you address concerns from those who argue the combatant commanders already have a say in how dod prioritizes and procures emerging technologies? >> those recommendations were specifically building on the success that chairman calvert on the house appropriations committee championed when he added to 20 million. there is incredible >> there has been incredible success -- to the combatant command, who right now is urgently developing capabilities to ensure the 2027 risk is deterred. to make sure there is proper balance, this was specifically having moved into 21st century acquisitions of making sure there is a digital thread, digit

hirono: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: mr. president, we are less than three weeks into the trump administration, and already americans across the country are reeling from the chaos. trump administration ran on lowering costs for working americans, an admirable goal, but one he clearly had no intention of making good on. instead he's hell-bent on sowing chaos and making life harder for the american people while he pushes through massive tax cuts for his billionaire buddies. in just over the last two weeks, here's what trump did. he threatened tariffs on canada and mexico that will do nothing but raise costs on everyday essentials like food and gasoline, estimated to increase costs for the average household by nearly $1,200 a year. so much for lowering costs for the american people. he put a freeze on all federal funds, creating such uncertainty that seniors in hawaii were calling my office asking if they needed to prepare for homelessness. he tried to scam two million federal employees, including 23,000 in hawaii, into taking

hirono: thank you, mr. president. as the leading law enforcement agency in our country, the fbi does critical work every single day to keep our nation, to keep us, safe, from counterterrorism and countertrafficking to fighting cyber attacks and so much more. at a time of global instability, fbi agents are working day in and day out to protect us from threats, both foreign and domestic. but today the fbi and the department of justice face a cr crisis, caused not by any outside threat but rather by the men and women tasked with leading these agencies. instead of focusing on potential attacks, hacks, or violent criminal enterprises, we have a doj and fbi that have been turned inward on themselves. in just the last month, dozens of senior career fbi and doj employees have been purged, purged en masse, by president trump and his administration. hundreds of thousands of prosecutors and fbi special agents and an lichss may be next -- analysts may be next. i shouldn't use the word may -- will be next. purging hardworking siev

you, senator hirono. next i will recognize senator budd for five minutes of questions. >> thank you, chair. senator loeffler, congratulations. thanks to your family and your friends for being here. and for leaving the role in private work twice to serve our country. so thank you for your what you're willing to do. your state and my state and several others have gone through quite a lot since late september with hurricane helene. in the moments where wasn't in western hotel and myself i was able to see comp was able to look up and see a television. it was you standing there i believe in -- with president trump committing that if you were reelected he would support. he's lived up to that. he's been back to western north carolina. i believe he is our rebuilder in chief. one of the things we saw was that the sba under president biden, it failed to notify congress in the taliban about the depletion of the disaster relief fund, and didn't fulfill the reporting requirements along the way. so if confirmed how wou

hirono, no. the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 53. the nays are 47. motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: department of health and human services, robert f. kennedy jr. of california to be secretary. mr. wyden: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, as we begin this discussion that is so important to america, i thought i would just mention the conversation i had recently with a couple of young medical & said, you know, we know you're interested in health care and been involved in this. i'm so appreciative of senator murray who is going to pick up on the health care issue, an area where she has very substantial experience and expertise. i thought these medical students summed up this debate because they said, the way we see this kennedy nomination, it's not just a vote for next week or even next year. this is a vote with enormous impact for decades because mr. kennedy, according to these young students, these young medical students, has a long record of essentially being

hirono: mr. president, i rise today deeply concerned about the state of public education in our country. public education is foundational. it allows people to get ahead. as simple as that. it's foundational. i've spoken before on the floor about the power of public education in my own life. as an immigrant from japan, i arrived in this country speaking no english. i started off by trying to learn how to count from one to, ten, very humble beginnings but it was the public education i received at schools like cocoa elementary and -- koko elementary and high school that enabled me, an immigrant from very humbled begins to learn english and to go on to college, law school, and ultimately the u.s. senate. we should all agree on the importance of a strong public education system for every student in our country. an educated citizenry helps grow the middle class and drive economic success in red and blue states alike. support for public schools should not be a partisan issue. there are millions of kids

. >> senator hirono. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's nice to see you.ongratulations on your nomination. as part of my responsibilities to ensure the fitness of any nominee who comes before any of my committees i asked to mechanician questions the city became a a legal adult have yu ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or salt of a sexual nature. >> us know, i have not. >> have you ever faced discipline entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct? >> no, i have not. >> i would like to note that how that a hawaii does not have full-service the hospital and like alaska has access issues with seven inhabited islands and veterans being on all of them. those are all issues that were going to need to continue to address. you are very close to president trump both as a member of the house and since that time. under what circumstances would you say no to a request for order from president trump? >> seantor, where did in hypotheticals. i'm not going to a hypothetical because this president has

mazie hirono. >> it is almost like hawaii out here. >> thank you. a, everybody. i'm glad to be here with my colleagues from both the house and the senate of course to make sure that the care that veterans deserve gets to you, to them. we have millions of veterans throughout our country, over 100,000 in hawaii alone, and i tell you if i hear one more time that america has voted for the president so he could do whatever the hell he wants, no, they voted for him so that the prices of groceries can go down. eggs, they are still waiting. i feel like i'm talking to you when i go like this. they are still waiting. so they certainly didn't expect that what we're going to get is elon musk mucking around in all our data systems. they didn't vote for trump to put all kinds of hiring freezes including on veterans, and i think this is how important veterans are to our country that he actually had to walk back that hiring freeze. but you know brothers and sisters, we should know that the rest of the departments and all the people that they support are getting screwed. so just

>> senator hirono, let me first say i hope that we could be able to meet.several meets. i keep the people of maui in my prayers and still struggling through the disaster that occurred 18 months ago and hope we can work together but let me correct with all due respect both premise of your question. i object today the planned parenthood receipt of covid relief loans because they did not fit the parameters. >> actually you do know that the ig said to the contrary position. so all i'm asking whether you can be fair and impartial and being the administrator of sba is a very important position as you say, so many small businesses throughout the country so just simple affirmation that you can do so is what i'm asking. >> senator, i will faithfully uphold all of the laws and ethicsjo rules. >> well, the thing is as i mentioned with president trump, the laws that he likes are the ones he likes and the ones he doesn't lake, he considers them to be illegal but i will move on. as a senator, you cosponsored the resolution recognize ryan zicnic attacked during resurrecti

here's hawaii voters at the offices of their senators, brian schatz and mazie hirono. senate democrats blanket opposition. what's happening right now in politics and politics is the way we get out of this disaster, right? what happens right now? what's happening right now in american politics is that republicans are hiding from their constituents. republican elected officials are hiding from their constituents. and when they do have to address them, they are trying to tell them that they're sure everything is going to be fine. they have read only access to the treasury payment system, i was told. i'm sure they want to protect our universities and our life saving work and research. i'm sure of it. republicans are hiding from their constituents and when they have to talk to them, they are telling them. >> la la la. >> la la. i'm sure it's going to be fine when clearly it is not going to be fine. democrats are not hiding from their constituents. democrats are being inundated with not just feedback from their constituents, but also with their constituents, pushing them to

was it liz warren, otherwise known as pocahontas or crazy mazie hirono?>> it sounds like something mazie would say, given her senate confirmation, the rest of us could end up literally with no vaccines. just kidding. this is beginner's luck. we are not a team no longer. all right. i'm so glad. >> caitlin jumped out to a one nothing start category. pardon me baby, which embattled democrat used to hate trump but now is saying he's right about the corrupt justice system. eric adams or gold bar bob menendez. >> bob is in prison, isn't he? he can't do it. he can't say anything from prison. >> that's good. that's a good. >> guess. >> president trump was right. oh, no. >> this process. >> is political. >> and it's. >> corrupt to the core. >> okay, well, he's going. >> to prison. he's not there yet. he's on the way. he's got 11 years to go. >> a category is. >> whitewashed up there. >> which guy said that the democrats may never win back the white male voters after this past election. never again was it john fetterman or joe rogan. >> if i get this one wrong, i'm

hirono: mr. president, in hawaii thousands of our children attend head start setting them up for a lifetime of success. after the devastating wildfire in maui in 2023, the u.s. health service was on the ground within days providing care to survivors and first responders. on oahu, the university of hawaii's cancer center is leading critical nih-funded research on breast, liver, and lung cancer, studying diseases that disproportionately impact the native hawaiian and asian american communities. all of these programs are vital for people in hawaii. they are all made possible by the departments of health and human services, or hhs. hhs does critical work across our country, keeping communities healthy and researching deadly diseases from cancer to covid and so much more. americans trust hhs because their mission has historically been guided not by politics but by science and data. but already donald trump is taking a sledgehammer to hhs and the essential work it does. for weeks hhs employees have bee

and mazie hirono is wrong. it's the end of the weaponization of government and getting back to prosecuting violent crime and giving our great men and women the tools that they need in law enforcement to go after these horrific gangs, the drug dealers, the fentanyl dealers who are killing people on our streets every day and the cartels. and we will do everything in our power to find them and eradicate them in our country. and that's thanks to donald trump and the many executive orders that he's issued. >> i want to ask you, judge aileen cannon in the in the jack smith case against president trump and in the documents case, finally kicked the case out of court. it was over because of what she believed was an illegitimate appointment of jack smith. and the issue always comes before an attorney general on the appointment of special counsels. what are your thoughts on that? >> well, special counsel's from here on out in our country will be legally appointed and they won't be done constantly like they've been done in

hirono. >> pursuant to rule. >> 12, no debate is permitted during a vote. the senator will suspend. >> today's protest came after 30 straight hours of debate over the vote, where democrats occupied the floor, spoke out continuously and angrily about the dangers posed to the constitutional order by votes confirmation. >> russ vogt wrote. >> project 2025 and now donald trump is rewarding him by inviting him into the government in order to carry out the republican blueprint to make our government force. people to live in the image that russ vogt and other extremist republicans approve of. >> he's the last. person who should be put in a. >> job at. >> the heart of the operation. >> of our government. >> behind every one of these budget lines are people. people who will be. hurt if the president and mr. vogt get. >> their way. >> and cut off federal grants. >> vogt has shown complete. disregard for democratic institutions. >> he is donald trump's most dangerous nominee. >> vote confirmation tonight comes as elon musk and his cadre of 20 something coders continue

hirono, no. in previous controversial senate nominations confirmation hearings. rather, senator mitch mcconnell of kentucky has just voted yes. mr. booker, no. mrs. a supreme court showdown. let's go to nbc's julia ainsley, who's following this for us. julia, what have we learned about this? what comes next in this battle around the 14th amendment to the constitution? >> well. >> alex. >> look. >> as soon as the president signed this executive order the night he was inaugurated, we knew this would potentially go to the supreme court. now it's looking like that could come. even faster, because what happened in the ninth. >> circuit, which is an appellate court. >> traditionally the. >> more liberal of those in the country. >> they have said that they will not. reinstate that. >> executive order that. >> would ban birthright citizenship for. >> anyone born who is does not have at least. >> one parent who is in. >> the united states, either. >> as. a u.s. citizen or. >> as a legal permanent resident. that even includes if your parents are here temporarily on a visa,

hirono proposes amendment number 233. mr. van hollen: madam president, i offer this amendment with my colleague senator hirono. it's very straightforward. it creates a point of order against any legislation that would cut funding from the national school lunch program. thank you, madam president. it creates a point of order against any provision that would cut funding from the national school lunch program or the school breakfast program. i think our colleagues know that nearly 14 million american children were hungry last year. one in five kids don't know where their next meal will come from or what it will be. to ensure those kids get healthy meals and can focus on their education and their studies instead of their stomachs, 91% of public schools participate in the usda meals program. over half of our kids are eligible for free and reduced lunch programs. it provides breakfast programs for over two billion of those a year. so, colleagues, let's not abandon those kids in order to provide tax cuts for elon musk and very rich

hirono. mr. hoeven. mr. husted.. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. is it not true that you're supposed to question sciences anybody, question of fact but that's not true? share the numbers again about autism where they Ãà >> there weren't a lot of studies but really the only studies out there, one shows a rate of about one in 10,000 another one at 1500. there are other estimates in between. today it is one in every 36 kids according to cdc. i want to say one other thing. relevant to the point you just made, in 1963 my uncle awarded john f. kennedy the highest civilian honor to frances kelsey. kansas kelsey was a young scientist at nih who came in and objected to the panel having approved solidified for american children. all the scientists in that day and the scientist panels who work for the agency approved à Ãshe stood up and screamed and fought and risked her job and reputation and blocked it in our country three years later everybody knew to recognize she was a hero and a ÃÃwe were not getting the diabolical deformities

hirono. mr. hoeven. mr. husted. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr. kaine. mr. kelly.mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. plan is to help the wealthy get wealthier tax giveaways families paying the bill. how massive giveaways going to be paid for? slashing services to families and families try to get on their feet so they can thrive and get to the middle-class. great betrayal. today we will consider russell the office of management and the budget really the place for this campaign is coordinated. we will hear very different ideas have to take our country forward. from my friends across the aisle will hear we need to continue to give massive tax giveaways to the wealthiest americans and we will he

hirono. mr. hoeven. mr. husted. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. sheehy. ms. slotkin. ms. smith. mr. sullivan. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. senators voting in the affirmative -- boozman, cornyn, crapo, graham, mullin, risch, rounds, and tuberville. senators voting in the negative -- bennet, gallego, lujan, markey, schumer, and wyden. vote: the clerk: mr. wicker, aye. mr. marshall, aye. mr. moreno, aye. mrs. britt, aye. mr. heinrich, no. mr. justice,

it has been a bipartisan opposition in the senate through dod, through a senator rounds, senator hirono too help to slow this down. how do we -- what are the consequences if this continues to happen? mr. gillen: the consequence is where you started, the buffering hourglass. we talk about what these networks can do. what we want to 5g and connectivity to do in manufacturing, transportation. we need these to be highly reliable resilient networks. it has to work. at its core, the advantage in china is giving them a leg up in their ability to innovate. there are four times more 5g connected factories in china than the u.s.. you can draw a direct line back to our spectrum policy. they are continuing to move forward. four global bands for 5g now. they support three. we support zero. we need to get on the playing field. we need to start competing again. rep. soto: ms. rinaldo when you work with the dod on these issues what was their hesitancy? i get there our national security applications. but what are some things you can disclose about why there is still tension their blocking -- blocking a

. >> thank you, senator hirono. in addition too a lot of the specific concerns about kash patel and how he would be as a fbi director, i feel compelled to remind us of the moment that we're in right now. in the first two weeks of the second trump administration, the chaos that has been created. we seen efforts by the administration to unlawfully freeze federal funding. threatening payment to housing programs, social security, medicare, beyond, et cetera. we have seen unprecedented access by the world's richest man, enabled by the richest president in history, to access the treasury departments database, threatening not just payment for putting at risk everybody. in america's personal information -- >> we've only this year but you can finish watching on c-span.org. we will take you live now to the u.s. capitol where today the senate votes to limit debate on the nomination of tulsi gabbard to be the director of national intelligence. that vote is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. eastern time. you are watching live senate cover