they also have some choicee wors to say about the teacher i described as mr. kaine. i've cut a lot of reader e-mails but moaning teachers like him. teaching is a hard job i do not begrudge him at all am not connected with him. most especial perhaps is my third grade teacher the principal at ps 124 put us in touch. i sent her photos of the charlotte's web copy she gave me when i was eight years old. she could not believe i had kept it all of these years. but then she sent me copies of cards that i gave her often full of gibberish that she kept for 28 years, 30 years. i did not remember. i guess i remembered a little but if you read my book how much of a snarkyid sneaky kid i was. in one of the cards i was purportedly apologizing for what 'i had gotten in trouble with ws was speaking chinese is that it wasn't my fault my friend was the one that did it. it was followed by a riddle like what you call ank witch on a beach? i think i copied it from somewhere. to think she thought that line of a ramblings was special enough to keep it made me cry instantaneously. i just so

i have a question of you, mr. kaine. >> sure. >> ok. you testified that the payment system requires constant investment protection. that the interchange fee will retched up costs. you can agree that the transaction has to be safe, that there is a security issue, threats, those things. from the perspective of midsize and community banks, can you comment on that? >> we have to have 24/7 customer service for transacting, whatever times, so when there are problems with transaction, if we have to -- if we are going to networks, around the world, they are not as reliable. it is important to choose our networks because they are not created equally. so sometimes, we have to resolve problems there. we are constantly looking at data to try and assess fraud. we have a substantial fraud attempt with bots trying to open up accounts, and open up credit card accounts. they in turn try to extract money from us. it is that kind of investment in data investment, information, so we can collect cell phone numbers, and tell people that a transaction went th

with that i would like to turn to our ranking member kaine senator braun senator braun play. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you mr. blanton and general gibson for being here. look forward to crafting something that's going to make sense. your responsibility architect of the capitol, for the maintenance and grounds of office buildings and sergeant at arms responsible for full range of functions from emergency preparedness to telecommunications, as members of the capitol police board to both play a significant role in the security decisions madeng around the campus. congress provided $300 millionbr last summer in the security supplemental for upgrades, and we find it a number of priority security-related projects in the bill. the responsibility for maintenance of the grounds, sergeant of arms is responsible for a full range of responsibilities. as members of the capitol police board you both play a suit -- a significant role. congress provided $300 million last summer and security supplemental for upgrades and we funded a number of priority security related projects in the bill. the supp

kaine. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you mr. malley. i want to encourage you to just keep the dialogue going and the administration come up with a very best deal but you can. there are some on this committee are basically telling to stop dialogue right now. don't accept that advice. do your best and if you find a product that you think is better than what's going on right now, bring it to congress and let congress vote it. let congress on whether the u.s. is a diplomatic mission or whether we reject diplomacy. let us own it. you do your job and let us know whether the u.s. is pro-diplomacy or not. the problem with the u.s. and iran is a complete lack of trust on both sides. iran is a danger to the united states and everything that is been said by folks prior to me about iranian dangerous activity is real. but in the iranian perspective the u.s. is dangerous and untrustworthy. the u.s. helped depose and iranian prime minister in 1954. the u.s. helped install the shah of iran ruled in a dictatorial fashion over iranians for 25 years. when

kaine and other members. we are as you know in the midst of voting. i would like to welcome our witnesses to the hearing thiso afternoon, mr. frederick stefany, principal civilian deputy assistant secretary. that is a mouthful. so welcome, mr. secretary. assistant secretary of the navy for research, development and acquisition, vice admiral william gelinas, commander of naval sea systems command. rear admiral troy mcclelland program executive officer for industrial infrastructure, and ms. diana mowrer, director defense capabilities for the government again the office. thank you your service to the nation and for the truly professional service men and women under your command. i also want to recognize our ranking member,r, senator crame, oslo to recognize senator kaine and senator sullivan, and i appreciate my colleagues willingness to all this joint readiness cr hearing on this very important subject. we stand at a crossroads today. thee nation's shipyards are in dire need of modernization to ensure we can maintain the current fleet and the fleet of the future. i am encouraged the navy has finally gotten serious about inves

kain. >> thank you, mr. chairman.general barry letet me quote frm your prepared statement beijing appears willing to defer the use of military force as long as it considers that unification with taiwan to be negotiated in the cost of conflict outweigh the benefits. i believe the united states should prepare taiwan and sent a clear message to beijing that it military invasion will be too costly. i also believe the primary objective of the united states and its allies with regard to taiwan should not be so much tov repel a chinese attack but prevented from ever occurring. so in general from your assessment of china's cap boats and timeline is both current defensive posture, what needs to be done? what should the united states doing supplying taiwan to prevent a chinese attack from ever occurring? >> center thank you for that question but first i would say i would the prc would rather not do it by force they would rather do this peacefully over time. there are some things that we can do with taiwan. i think they are lear

mr. chairman. senator kaine, i don't think you are naÏve.i think i came here today knowing that the wouldn't be many of us here, number one. coming from main street where 37 years prior to becoming a senator i ran a business and you don't have a high turnover if you have high wages. you don't have accidents at your business that are way out of norm if you run it like your own family is working there. if you're conscientious for your employees it's kind of a moot point. sooner or later it works itself out. i had 15 employees for 17 years. lucky, finally it scale into a larger business. lived with low overhead, hardscrabble. all along the way and i mentioned at about nine years ago when i was awarded and entrepreneurs recognition, mentioned at that get-together that high wages and good benefits should be the hallmark of running a business, growing it and return on investment. i saw some kind of reaction out in the crowd which would've been mostly chamber of commerce, other entrepreneurs. but if you do it, you know, the union is probably not go

senator kaine, senator rounds is next. >> thank you mr. chairman. admiral richard, let me just say thank you to all of you and for your service to our country. i think it is very special that the entire council be here today. this is a very special opportunity for us. admiral richard, in august of 2021, the missile-defense symposium, you describe china's explosive growth and modernization of its nuclear conventional forces as breathtaking. you went on to caution, make no mistake, china's strategic recount is cause for action. and we need to understand what we are up against. i would like to have you share with us or describe in plain and simple english as we can get, third grade level, as the u.s. commander, what it is that we are up against so that the american people clearly understand how grave the threat truly is and to assure we continue to pace this growing threat with our own capabilities for ourselves and allies. could you also speak to how imperative it is that we do the threat to capability need reviews on a more continuing basis? >> let m

kaine and other members read we are in the midst of voting. i like to welcome her awareness as to the hearing this afternoon. frederick stefany deputy secretary. that is a mouthful. welcome mr. secretary. assistant secretary of the navy for research development and acquisition admiral william galinis systems command rear admiral troy mcclelland program executive officer for industrial infrastructure and ms. diana maurer in the government accounting office. thank you for your service to the nation and for the truly professional service of the men and women under your command. i also want to recognize the ranking member senator cramer and senator kaine and senator sullivan and i appreciate my colleagues joining us to hold this joint readiness hearing on this very important subject. we stand at a crossroads today. the nation shipyards are in dire need of modernization to make sure to maintain the current fleet in the fate of the future. encourage the navy has finally gotten serious about investing and critical infrastructure that has been for far too long. hawaii we are proud of her naval shipyard is a contribution to our fleet readiness and i want to be sure we received the r

mr. kaine: yes. mr. hawley: to have a vote on the floor? mr. kaine: yes. mr. hawley: i would be happy to have a vote on the floor. mr. kaine: we are not fast-tracking these without a vote. that is motion to allow a vote en bloc on the floor. so vulan opportunity to vote against mr. -- so you will have an opportunity to vote against mr. cadre -- mr. khaudaay or others. that's all i am seeking. so my request basically would guarantee your vote on all of these nominations, if you drop your objection. mr. hawley: is this a recorded vote on the floor, senator? mr. kaine: it would be -- yes. it would be en bloc, but it is a reasonable doubt ared vote is my understanding. -- but it is a recorded vote is my understanding. again, madam president, just to clarify, my motion is only that the senate be allowed to vote on these nominees -- alex wagner for assistant secretary of the air force, ashish desrani, lester martinez lopez, ago necessary schaefer, lynn parker, musetta johnson, and ravi chaudry. i understand my colleague will vote no, but all i am moving is for the s

mr. kaine: we're not. thank you. i rise to share candid emotions about yesterday's tragic shooting of school children two days away from the end of the school year, the death of 19 students and two teachers. and this is rough. i don't have any notes because i'm really emotional about it. these shootings give me ptsd, i've got to admit. i was the mayor of richmond and our city had the second highest homicide rate in the u.s. i found myself going to too many funerals and too many wakes and maybe the most memorable crime scenes and then also homicide victims' families, support group meetings in church basements in my city. then i got to be governor of virginia. in april of 2007, my wife and i landed in japan leading a trade mission and went to a hotel and immediately got a phone call saying that there was a shooting under way on the campus of virginia tech university. i should turn on cnn which i did in japan. as i saw the events unfold, i said take us right back to the airport. we'd flown 14 hours. we were in a hotel f