mr. shaheen also, i'm wondering about the /phrarpb plan that was put forward. what you said was you're going to get a 30 day notice to leave and that doesn't sound much like a transition plan at all. you know, while i understand the parking issues, 250,000 square feet of office space is going to generate a lot of people and that's a whole planning code issue that we have nothing to do with, but i understand the loophole in the code because we have the opportunity but at the same time it is a historic resource already, and any changes to that building would have to go through the /skaout any of our whole code and review process so, you know, i'm just really torn about this because i really see that -- you know, and i understand that, you know, starting ten years ago i had an interior design partner and in 2001, 2002, 2003 , the internet had a huge impact on our business and ability and need for focused design center space and that was, you know, ten years ago, the /#12* years ago, but clearly if one building is 95 percent full, i don't know how full the 2 henry

mrs. shaheen: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: madam president, i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: i rise today to speak to the importance of passing the pending legislation to support the people of ukraine in maintaining their independence at this very challenging time. russia's illegal annexation of crimea marks the first time that one european nation has seized territory from another since the end of world war ii. now president putin is continuing his military build-up along ukraine's eastern border and russia's actions in the crimea fly in the face of the basic principles of sovereignty that have underpinned security in europe and around the world for decades. the united states and the international community must stand with ukraine and reaffirm our commitment to ukraine's independence and territorial integrity. this moment is a real test for the international community, a test whether the nations of the world can respond in a unified way to support ukraine and

mrs. shaheen: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire is recognized. mrs. shaheen: i want to agree with senator cantwell, our colleague from washington state, because in new hampshire we are also see the impact on our traditional industries of climate change. it's contributing to sea level rise. it imperils businesses and homes in coastal communities like portsmouth. new hampshire is very popular. hampton beach is experiencing greater storm surges and beach erosion. and the outdoor recreation community is facing shorter winters, less snow, and that results in fewer tourism dollars. and wildlife and public health are becoming increasingly vulnerable to diseases. in new hampshire, tourism is our state's second largest industry. it accounts for $9.3 billion of the state's economy. it provides jobs and economic growth throughout the state. but climate change could put some of new hampshire's best attractions in jeopardy. the fall foliage in new hampshire is a main draw for visitors from around the world who spend millions annually to see our beautiful landscape.

mrs. shaheen: thank you, mr. president. i'm pleased to join my colleagues tonight in talking about the economic and environmental imperative of addressing climate change. i want to thank all of the members of the climate task force, all of my colleagues who are here, and particularly senator schatz from hawaii for organizing tonight. the fact is, as we've heard, climate change is real and it is happening. according to the union intergovernmental panel -- the u.n. intergovernmental panel on climate change, a group of 300 scientists from over 130 countries who have studied climate change for over 20 years, global emissions must be stabilized by mid-century in order to avoid the most catastrophic and irreversible consequences of climate change. studies from the national research council and the u.s. global climate research program reinforce that global temperatures are steadily rising and contributing to more extreme weather events and rising sea levels. and scientists from the university of new hampshire have found that human

mrs. shaheen: thank you, and thank you senator gillibrand. i rise in strong support of senator gillibrand's military justice improvement act. i want to commend all the senators who have worked so hard on this legislation and all the groups who have been involved. i was very proud to be an original cosponsor of the legislation and after more than a year of meeting with military sexual assault survivors and bringing attention to this ongoing crisis, i am encouraged by the historic opportunity we have today. as senator levin said, this is an important debate for us to be having, and i certainly applaud senators mccaskill and ayotte and everyone who has been involved in this effort because i think it sends a very important message to our leaders in the military and to those who would perpetrate crimes of sexual violence. but today, we have not only the opportunity to make meaningful commonsense reforms to our military criminal justice system but we also have a chance to send a very powerful message to the tens of thousands of victims, many of who

senator shaheen. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you have an amendment from me, the amendment, what the amendment would do is to add number 8 to section 6-a which would support the efforts of the government of ukraine, civil society and international organizations to enhance the economic and political empowerment of women and to also address violence against women and girls in the ukraine. i want to thank senators johnson, boxer, durbin, for cosponsoring the amendment and senator cardin has also asked to be added as a cosponsor. and, let me just point out the reason that i thought this would be important to add to this legislation is because if we look at how ukraine fares it comes to their treatment of women, they rank very low in terms of women's political participation. there are 119th out of 136 countries. only 10% of women in parliament in ukraine are women and 45% of women in the ukraine report that they have been subject to violence at some point in their lifetime. so i think this is an issue that is important for us to conti

let's do shaheen-portman. mr. president, the stakes are simply too high to ignore this issue. we can't leave it to future generations. last year, my first grandchild, joe, was born. i don't want to look back in 20 years and tell joe that when we are in a position to do something about climate change, we chose not to because it involved some difficult choices. now, joe is going to live through this century and god willing into the next. unless we act now, his generation will pay a very high price for our inaction, tonight, throughout the night you're going to be hearing about that. you're going to be hearing about the department of defense's research into this and the costs that we will pay for addressing -- when we have to address this. i don't want to have my grandson think of me long after i'm gone and ask why didn't we do anything to address climate change while we could? so, mr. president, ininvite my -- i invite my colleagues from both sides of the aisle, both sides to join in this endeavor. we really owe it to the nation and we owe it to future generations. thank you, mr

shaheen. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank you for your steadfast leadership in such an important time. i know all of us admire your leadership and your service to our country. i want to thank you for the sacrifice your family has been making during your service in afghanistan. i want to ask you -- if we were to withdraw from afghanistan this year, what happens to the women in afghanistan? >> i think the plight of women would be pretty dire if we were to withdraw at the end of 2014. we are actually providing -- i think the support we provided in security, it actually creates the climate in which the other women and members of the society actually can flourish and achieve their own goals and objectives. i would say the prospects are not very good. >> i don't think any of us will ever forget the images of what they did to women. i think as we look toward the importance of our commitment in afghanistan, let us not forget what you just said, that if we leave and if we abandon the work we have done in afghanistan th

shaheen, thank you very much. senator fisher. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i thank the witnesses for all being here today. first of all i would like to say, mr. secretary, that i appreciate your comments that you made last month with regards to modernizing our nuclear capabilities. and also with your attention that you have given the issues that we have with icbm's. i do thank you for that and for prioritizing those. in the president's speech in berlin last year, he opened the door to additional reductions in nuclear forces, and since that time we have heard numerous testimony, and we have heard that from commanders that further reductions should only come as part of a negotiated agreement with russia. is that your view? >> yes. >> and general dempsey, do you agree with that? >> i do. >> as i understand it the russians, they are not interested in further reductions at this time, is that true as well, mr. secretary? there are not any further conversations on this issue. as far as i know. >> general dempsey, do you also agree with that? >> i do. >> so now we are talking about -- or planning any additional r

shaheen. t new hampshire democrats actually were mad at that because they just spent a week trying to define scott brown mr. tea party and the president of the united states says he's a moderate. >> your saying there's a gap between democrats and states in the white house? >> shocking. >> shocking development. >> is that the president's freelancing or is it a staff issue? if you're going to do an interview with a political reporter from the new england cable network you're going to get asked about the senate race in new england. >> part of this was the president trying to be a little funny. i think he had a talking point in a briefing binder that he ignored. when it comes to scott brown this is a personal thing with the president. scott brown is the republican who was elected and caused huge headaches for the white house when they were trying to pass health care. he was trying to make a little, take a little bit of a jab at scott brown. >> do you sense any fear among republicans, being so confident they will get the senate? >> absolutely. i think that there's so many structural problems that the republican

shaheen. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank you for your steadfast leadership in such an important time. all of us admire your leadership and your service to our country. thent to thank you for sacrifice your family has been making during your service in afghanistan. you -- if we were to withdraw from afghanistan happens to the women in afghanistan? >> i think the plight of women would be pretty dire if we were to withdraw at the end of 2014. -- ie actually providing think the support we provided in actually creates the climate in which the other women and members of the society actually can flourish and achieve their own goals and objectives. i would say the prospects are not very good. >> i don't think any of us will ever get the images of what they did to women. as we look toward the importance of our commitment in afghanistan, let us not forget what you just said, that if we leave and if we abandon the work we have done in afghanistan that we could send women back into those soccer stadiums. i don't think th

mr. chairman. thank you for your profound statement which tells the truth to the american people about the success to this area. thank you. >> thank you much, senator for your steadfastness along the way. senator shaheen. >> i can't imagine focusing on the negative controversy. general, thank you very much for being here this morning for your service to the country. one of the things that has impressed me on the trips i have made it to afghanistan has been a close relationship between what happens in afghanistan and what happens in pakistan. and i wonder if you could assess the kind of role that you think pakistan can play post 2014 and also if you can speak to the efforts into pakistan to engage with the television and how that might affect its happening in afghanistan. >> thanks for the question and i find it difficult to envision success in the region without cooperation in pakistan and without an effective relationship between afghanistan and pakistan. over the past year i've been encouraged on a couple fronts. one is ideally the pakistan recognizes the ex essentials for extremism to their own security and they also recognize that it is not in their best interests to have anything other than a sta