mr. mcadam, i would -- i would love it if somebody from your government relations office would share with me truly since you operate around the world in most of these companies that mr. timmons, mr. donahue, mr. gerard represent and do, i really would like to know for a fact why it enhances a company's ability to make claims when they can easily make it through any other country that they operate in. i would really like to know that. if you would send that to me, i would appreciate it. again, i ask these questions with great respect. >> can i take a moment? i want to add, senator, if i could, just for a minute. first of all, you know how much i appreciate the due diligence you do on this stuff, and i really am grateful to you for taking the time and looking at this without all the external influences and kind of working through it, but let me just say to you, with respect to the dispute resolution, and we'll get this for the record. you've asked it of mr. mcadam, but we'll also have our own counsel add in which is important, and we can spend some time with you on it, you cannot -- only a

mr. mcadam, i -- i heard you

mr. mcadam, some of the statements in your testimony that i'm not sure have been put forth again. i'm reading from page 2 -- it's the first page of your testimony labeled page 2, and you say in the second to last paragraph, and i'm quoting, aside from our land-based connections with canada and mexico, more than 95% of u.s. international traffic, voice, video, internet and data travels over 38 submarine cables each the diameter of a garden hose. without these cables currently satellite capacity could carry only 7% of the total u.s. international traffic. for that as a predicate, i'd ask you based upon that dependence we have i guess is the best word, what can you tell us about the importance of this treaty just as it relates to that 95% dependency that we have on that transmission? >> well, we invest a great deal, senator, in making these cables as redundant as we can. we use the term mesh networks, and if you think about it as a fence, you can cut certain pieces of it but there are other pieces of the network that are redundant, and therefore, so we're the same as the government i

mr. mcadam >> thank you, mr. tramp. and ranking member lugar and all the members that are here will be here. we appreciate this opportunity to testify today. i am pleased to express the u.s. chamber of commerce strong support for approval of the law of the sea treaty. this morning i will focus my remarks on why the treaty is in our economic interest, our national to the interest and why it is essential to america's global leadership. on the economic side of the treaty would be a boon to the u.s. economic growth on providing american companies with of the legal certainty and stability that they need to hyperion invest. it would codify the u.s. legal rights to use international shipping lanes to the under water tables and to develop that amount of oil and natural gas to the u.s. coast and the deep water sea bed. the treaty would benefit several industries key to economic growth, job creation and u.s. competitiveness. it would benefit the energy industry by providing sovereign rights to the seabed resources, 200 miles off

mr. mcadam. >> thank you, mr. chairman, ranking member lugar and members of the committee. thank you for the invitation to speak before the committee today. i would ask that my full remarks be entered into the record. >> without objection they will be. >> so far today you've heard a broad perspective from my esteemed colleagues on the law of the sea. what i would like to do is discuss ways that the convention will strengthen protection for a global, undersea cable operator. in the telecommunications industry, during which time we've had both fixed and mobile networks domestically and internationally. as a major communications company utilizing the international sea bed to provide voice, video, internet and data services over a network of more than 80 submarine cables, verizon supports the u.s. ratification of the law of the se

mr. mcadam, do you want to add, you don't have to, but if you want to add anything. >> no, the only thing that i would add is well -- excuse me, while we aren't out mining the seabed for rare earth minerals, we are putting these cables across that provide the infrastructure so that these companies can make the investment and run their businesses effectively, and i think we should do everything we can to eliminate the risks associated with this vital network. >> well, i want to thank all of you. i think your testimony has been extraordinarily significant, very, very thought out and thorough and i think very, very important to this process and we're very, very grateful for taking the time here today. we will, as i said, leave the record open for a week and we look forward to continuing the discussion with you over the course of the next month. appreciate it. we stand adjourned. thank you. >>> with congress on break this week, we're featuring american history tv's weekend programs in primetime here on c-span 3. tonight we hear oral history interviews with key congressional staff charged with