mr. schatz: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. schatz: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schatz: thank you, mr. president. in december the f.c.c. made a colossal mistake by rolling back net neutrality protections. and today the senate has an opportunity to begin the process of righting that wrong with an up-or-down vote to overturn the f.c.c.'s repeal and to restore the free and open internet. this is a big deal. we just had a vote with all democrats and independents and three republicans, and we have another vote at around 3:00. if we fail, the f.c.c. will end net neutrality protections in early june. and if we succeed, then this fight will go on to the next step in the house of representatives. mr. president, this vote is a no-brainer. net neutrality is one of the most popular issues that the senate will consider this year. there is no other issue that polls so decisively on one side. a survey by the university of maryland found that 83% of people are in favor th

schatz: is a fair to call this an evolution of your views? mr. bridenstine: yes. sen. schatz: do you commit to supporting the funding independence and integrity of climate science at nasa? mr. bridenstine: without question. thank you,: administrator. we have had multiple conversations both over the table and in person and on the phone, and i want to recognize your evolution on this issue. i think it is essential for one of the premier science agencies of the federal government for you to abide by the science. it's especially important because, as you know, you're the first nasa administrator that was an elected official. the first administrator with a essentially partisan confirmation vote, and we needed to move through this period of ideological disagreement, political disagreement and back to the point where the nasa administrator is a leader of the science agency, and you can't lead a science agency if you are not grounded by the science. i thank you for that, and i don't think it is easy i don't to that conclusion. on the other hand, what i have seen from you and fr

mr. joe. >> senator schatz, thanks for filling the role of ranking member today. administrator, thank you for your testimony. our votes have been called and i would ask you to give a moment at the tailoring of like to spend a minute with you. >> yes, sir. >> i would announce our subcommittee will have its market at 2:30 on june 12. that will include nasa butter full array of issues within our subcommittee jurisdiction. two days later june 14, full committee is scheduled to meet to do markup of this and other appropriation bills. with that, if there are no for the questions this afternoon, candidates may submit additional question for subcommittee officials are in record. we request nas respond to those questions within 30 days. the subcommittee now stands in recess subject to call of the chair. it's not the right word? [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> in just under 100 we will take you live to new america in washington, d.c. where national

mr. chairman. >> senator schatz. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i draw for being you. secretary?mattis, the unclassified summary of the 2018 national defense strategy strategy noted the departments principal priorities over the long-term or managing strategic competition with china and russia. can you walk us through how vital hawaii and the forces in the state are two dod's long-term efforts to countering china and russia that you are defense posture in the pacific specifically? >> you know, senator, it's probably the key outpost anywhere west of the west coast. it is the fundamental anchor point for the fleet. it is a significant command-and-control effort i mean, we obviously have redundancies built and elsewhere, but this is, i would just call it the homeport for all things in the pacific, and augmented of course by the other location from the west coast to alaska. >> thank you. i would like you to take us on a two of the pacific alr, excluding the countries in the alliances and adversaries we normally have. i'm particularly interested inwe our emerging relationship with indi