senator inhofe: we'll start off with you. when you have to leave, i appreciate your presence here very much. yarema. ok. i've talked to you before. never did get that right. e's a partner in the nossaman, l.l.p., los angeles, california. kevin degood is director of infrastructure policy, center for american progress, washington, d.c. welcome. and aubrey l. layne, secretary of transportation for the ommonwealth of virginia. >> i ask my maryland folks who would be the best to testify for the problems in the renal and recommended secretary layne. virginia, maryland and delaware get along very well together. senator inhofe: all right. your honor, you're on. i'm going to try to encourage you folks to limit your statement to five minutes. little bit more, maybe. but your entire statement will be made a part of the record as is always the case. mayor garcetti: thank you so much, chairman inhofe. thank you for your friendship and for the times we met in the past, ranking member cardin. senator inhofe: i said i had a hard job once. ma

inhofe: thank you. and i think the administration has made it very clear and you've made it very clear that we're looking at the streamlining that was put together in both the 21 bill and the f.a.s.t. act. and that was a time, during that time frame, i chair the committee, and senator boxer was the ranking member, and we worked together on these streamlining things. there are a lot of times when she would put her foot down. we always ended up realizing that you have to compromise when you put one of these things together. and i say that because one of the concerns i have is that some of the previous streamlining that we've achieved might not have been implemented to the truest intent of congress. for example, we provided a categorical exclusion for projects in the existing operation of right-of-way. however the implementation of this provision still requires paperwork from our state dots and approval of federal highways that a project can receive a categorical exclusion. is the department reviewing guid

chairman inhofe, ranking member. it's great opportunity for me today to introduce jimmy line, who is the director and the ceo of the alabama state port authority. i'm glad he could join us today. i've known jimmy and his family for many years and the work they've done at the port of mobile, not only vital to our state but to the gulf coast region. he is the director of the alabama state port authority. the port of mobile is currently the tenth largest seaport in import and export of domestic trade by the total volume. the port's largest commodities are coal, crude oil, steel, and petre petrole petroleum. between 50 to 60 million tons of cargo moves through the port annually and that number continues to grow. jimmy has continuously worked to meet the growing demands of a post-panama canal market. in 2014, the port authority submitted a request to the corps of engineers to consider increasing the depth and width of the mobile harbor channel to its authorized dimensions. the corps subsequent ly began a grr which examine

thank you. >> thank you, senator inhofe, for your ongoing leadership over the decades. senator wicker. sen. wicker: oh, okay. let me ask you on the landowners. i had no idea it was my turn. private landowners working with the u.s. fish & wildlife service and partnership. of course, this is -- this should be our goal is to get all sides in -- involved in working on ways in which we can accommodate private landowners and conserve species at the same time. mr. wiley, do you think the endangered species act needs clarity on the ability of the u.s. fish & wildlife service to work in partnership with private landowners? in order to use innovative measures such as memorandums of agreement that do not require federal register notice but are negotiated directly with landowners? >> yes, sir, mr. chairman. yes, sir. we feel like there's a lot of work that could be done to clarify in the law the importance of private landowners and the importance of working with land owners to achieve conservation. the fish & wildlife service does make an effort, and that should be applauded but ri

senatosenator inhofe and i camee congress on the same date in the house of representatives, and we've been friends ever since. it's a real pleasure to serve with him on the subcommittee because i'm going to let you in on a secret. senator inhofe is one of the most progressive people i know in this country on infrastructure development. i told them -- i always told you i'd be glad to come to a state to campaign for him but he told me he would prefer me to stay in maryland. [laughing] but the two of us share a passion for the importance of water infrastructure, roads and bridges, transit system for the entire modernization of our infrastructure because both of us understand it means jobs for it means u.s. competitiveness. it means america having the ability to compete globally. that's what it means and recognize the importance of the governmental part, the private sector part in putting this all together. i particularly want to just acknowledge my pleasure to serve as the ranking member with senator inhofe on the subcommittee. i think it's appropriate our first hearing deals with the ro

senator inhofe. let me remind senator carper, i can remember when i first was involved, i was in the house at that time, back in 1987, my first year here, at that time, madam secretary, the biggest problem we had with the highway trust fund is we had too much surplus in it. and of course those days are long gone. at that time, i had said, if we would -- we better prepare now and put in an escalation clause so you have it indexed in some ways. this is something that very likely is going to be looked at. you know, at the end of the obama administration, madam secretary, the united states department of transportation so solicited applications for the fast lane grants. i know there are two of those. that was established in the fast act. and i know that we have a couple of them in my state of oklahoma. people are always calling me up and asking me the question i'm about to ask you, do you have an update as to -- that you can provide to us as to when we can expect some kind of an announcement concerning th

inhofe: mr. chairman. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. inhofe: mr. president, there's been a lot of discussion in the media over the last couple of weeks about what president trump is going to do and should do with the paris climate agreement. we know all about this agreement. it was entered into by president obama in december of 2015 at the united nations annual party that they hold, the 21st annual conference of parties. let me explain what this is. it was 21 years ago that they decided, the united nations, they had always been quite offended every time something happened that they were doing in the united nations that was not in the best interest of the united states. several of us would call and threaten to withhold some of our funds supporting the united nations. of course the united nations has always wanted to be independent. they always wanted to be n

inhofe: thank you, thank you, director coats. >> thanks, mr. chairman, and thank you both for being here this morning. director coats, you talked about russia's influence campaign and its effort to undermine western elections, as we saw here in 2016, and we are seeing in france, we saw in germany. so far, we have failed to hold russia accountable for that interference, which, would you agree, sends a message to other countries that would threaten our cyber security here at home that we have failed to hold russia accountable? dir. coats: i think we are looking at every opportunity to hold russia accountable, and determine, and i think it is still a process, determining what kind of actions that we should take, but there clearly is a consensus that russia has meddled in our election process, as it is in germany. as it is -- i was in france just after the election of macron, the clearly -- and that clearly had russian influence, attempting to address that election. i was in berlin. germany is facing the same thing. the u.k. is experiencing the sam

inhofe: thank you. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. blunt: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: may we suspend the quorum call? the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: i want to talk about a topic that's getting more attention now than it's gotten for sometime but still not the attention it deserves, and that's to talk a little bit more here in may, mental health month, about mental health. remember, i was on the floor of the senate the last day of october 2013, which was the 50th anniversary of the last bill that president kennedy signed into law, which was the community mental health act. and when you go through that act, you saw the facilities that were about to be closed, but the anticipated alternatives in so many ways never really developed. according to the national alliance for mental health, approximately one in five adult americans experiences mental illness in a given year, and one in five

chairman inhofe ranking member cardin and other members of the subcommittee. thank you for the opportunity to testify today. my name is aubrey layne and i'm the secretary of transportation for the commonwealth of virginia. my tests on today will focus on my personal experience with public-private partnerships or p3's or my professional career to these deals have been praised in some circles as a solution to all of our transportation problems and condemned and others as a corporate giveaway. the truth is much more complex and dependent on the nature of the project the degree to which the government officials understand how these deals work and how to protect taxpayers. i've had a 30 or business grill and running operational companies. i have been at degree in accounting a masters business administration. began as the cpn finishes the president of a large real estate company. the secretary of transportation i proceed seven transportation agencies that employ more than 10,000 staff and have the annual budget over six lane dollars. the toughest issues i face to be

that perception comes in part from this moment two years ago when republican oklahoma senator james inhofe who has said that only god controls the weather, brought a snowball onto the senate floor to prove the earth is not warming. >> for a lot of the more conservative lawmakers who have been able to depend on support from an evangelical voting bloc we want them to hear us saying, "if you want to continue to be able to depend on this voting bloc, you need to start listening to what the next generation of evangelicals are saying is important to them." and more and more, we're saying with a louder and louder voice, "that's climate." >> may our work for climate action be a witness that points to you triune god. >> reporter: after the climate march, his group gathered at the u.s. capitol to rehearse talking points to use when lobbying members of congress. >> let us now offer prayers for our political leaders. >> reporter: the generational shift in republican leaders is personified by 37-year-old florida congressman carlos curbelo. he voted with the party to repeal the affordable care act but h

and not, it is a pleasure to be here today -- , itrman senator inhofe is a pleasure to be here today. our families had a history on lake eufaula, we have been there over five years now. -- over 45 years now. we called the place carlton landing. acre site.00 the land is connected to 10 miles of shoreline either owned or controlled by the corps of engineers. it is our understanding that the carlton landing will be used for roll economies, and provides a great place for people to live, work, and play. we have worked closely with the staff since 2007. we have found them capable and committed, i have great respect for their authority and their critical nature of their mission. in 2008, we put together a plan for world and landing which included homes, a town center, restaurant, schools, parks and trails. the vision was to complete a lakefront community. we understood our ability to implement that vision would be our abilities to work with the corps. it was suggested that we partner with a conservation group so we partnered with the nature conservancy. then it was suggested that we might ha

senator inhofe: in the last hearing we had, we talked about the fact that we know in north korea thebig problem is that it is unpredictable and managed by someone who may be mentally deranged. they talk about the danger that is there. they also said in the last hearing last week, they talked about maybe one of the opportunities we have is a new awakening in china, the china may no longer be as close to .hem as it had been in the past do you see an opportunity. you did an excellent job going over the seven different areas of problems here at the last one was china but you do not say anything about a change that will enable us to make a little bit more progress in north korea. dir. coats: the president had a very positive meeting with prime minister xi. we have been working on our secretary of state and others, have been working very closely with the chinese. answerthem playing an role in the situation in north korea, and there is a strategy in place relative to a ratcheting up of efforts with china to influence north korea to cease and desist their nuclear weapons goals. that, along w

. >> senator inhofe? >> let me remind senator carper that i can remember when i first was involved and i was in the house at that time back in 1987, my first year here. at that time, madam secretary, the biggest problem we had was too much surplus. >> right. >> those days are long gone. at that time i had said we better prepare now and put in an escalation clause and so you have it indexed in some ways and that's something that will be looked at. at the end of the administration, madam secretary and the department of transportation solicited applications for the fast lane grants and that was established in the fast act, and i know we have a couple of them in my state of oklahoma and people are always calling me up and asking me the question i'm about to ask you and do you have an update that you can provide us as to when we can expect some kind of an announcement concerning those grants? >> the administration came in as you well know less than three months ago and so we are in the process of evaluating th

asked by the top republican in the senate do you need more forces and to the surprise of senator inhofeas said no, but they want more enablers, they want more americans to help do the old job of building up the afghan forces to hold back those groups, including the taliban. >> that sounds like counterinsurgency? >> well, it's side by side so you have general nicholson, the top general in afghanistan saying the afghans took a big hit last year because the taliban and other groups organized the go after the government and government forces. the good news is that the afghans, even though they took losses, they fought hard, held their ground mostly and they're continuing that fight, that's different then the forces of ten years ago so in the long game they say the u.s. has to hold this ground both for afghan stability and for that counterterrorism force that americans need -- america needs to fight the terrorism groups there because there's nothing nearby. this is not like iraq. there's no kuwait, no aircraft carriers, you have to have a ground base to launch your operations from. >> nick c

i was on senator inhofe's codel with him and your briefing to our codel that day was alarming, to say the least and eye opening with regard to the breadth, scope, size of the area in which your team was responsible for, not just our forces but in conjunction with our allies as well. one item that caught our attention at that time was simply the timeframe in which to respond to adversarial activity. i'dli i'd like to talk about some of the newer technologies that are being employed or may be very well employed in the near future. in particular, i mean, we talk about the unique problem set that you got there, the trifecta of few land-based areas in which to operate extreme distances. some of the most challenging and contested environments to only ra operate. i believe the deterrence value of long-range strike to hold targets at risk. targets are quickly becoming harder and harder to access. what are your thoughts on the possibility of a conventional warhead variaiant of the propos long-range weapon? >> so, senator, i think that we're going to have to look at that in terms of inf. becaus

. >> i appreciate that, finally, as the co-chair of the taiwan caucus with senator inhofe, i do know that we will continue to promote the taiwan relations act as the law of the land, as the essence of our relationship with taiwan. i understand the one china policy. but taiwan is also very important to us and i hope that you will keep the perspective of the taiwan relations act as a focus in your engagement with china as it relates to taiwan. >> senator, menendez, i want to assure you i will. i also have been to taiwan, the state of iowa does have a sister state with taiwan. and i recognize the importance of the one china policy but of also supporting and enforcing the taiwan relations act. >> thank you i appreciate your directness. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator brasso. congratulations on the nomination, thanks for coming to visit with me in my office. i saw you right before the break and i was heading to china. and i respe i wanted to tell you that people are looking forward to having you as our ambassador. >> the chinese people have been very nice to me. have taken a lot of pi

finally as cochair of the taiwan caucus with senator inhofe, hope continue to promote the taiwan law of the land as essence of our relationship. i understand the one china policy but taiwan is also very important to us. and i hope you will keep the perspective of the taiwan relations act as focus in your engagement with china as it relates to taiwan. >> i want to assure you i will. i also have been to taiwan. state of iowa has a sister state with taiwan. i recognize the importance of the one china policy but also supporting and enforcing the taiwan relations act. >> thank you for your directness. >> thanks for coming to visit with me into my office and i saw you before the break when i was heading to china. wanted to tell you people are looking forward to you as our ambassador. thank you. >> chinese people have been very nice to me. taken a lot of pictures of me for what that's worth. i would be interested in finding out how your trip went. and i think you were intending to go to tibet as well. >> yes. and very productive and fruitful, talked about issues just raised but also issues

inhofe: -- senator van n: thank you for telling your personal stories. that along with my colleagues it will be that personal testimony that you provide that will turn the tide. statistics about the , but you can tell that story in human terms. fisherolleagues, carol is here to tell her story. ms. fisher: thank you for convening this critical hearing and for the opportunity to share with this house repeal bill would mean for me and my care. my name is carol hardaway. when i was 32 years old i reached into my baby's crib only to realize i could not feel him. my arm felt like it was asleep. i grabbed my son with the other hand and did not give it much of a thought. ithin minutes after arriving could not hold the glasses and shakers i needed to do my job. something was wrong. the tested me for everything, stroke, meningitis met you name it. latersent home a week with no diagnosis. four years later, i had issues with my vision. it began to rapidly deteriorate taking me from near-perfect vision to near legally blind. i went to an optometrist. he passed me to

senator inhofe. >> thank you, mr. chairman. miss nelson, i was enjoying your comments. my daughter-in-law is a retired flight attendant. and i've heard a lot of things before and i could probably add to a few things that you said. you know, you hear a lot of negative things about the industry. it happens maybe i'm biased because american has a huge presence, a huge footprint in my state of oklahoma. my city of tulsa, and in fact, i've worked with them over the years when i was mayor of tulsa, things would come up up. my experience actually has been good in terms of their focusing on using technology to swiftly inform consumers of any disruption to their travel and you know, they've actually invested billions of dollars in airport terminals and all these things. so there are some things going on that have been good, you know in my experience. mispinkerton, when we talk about slus the wish to change things, are there any ob obstacles that airlines have and not being able to do some of the things that we might be thinking they could do unilaterally? are there obstacles tha

inhofe: with that, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: