ms. ayotte, for mr. kirk proposes an amendment numbered 1986 to the language proposed to be stricken by amendment numbered 1463. ms. ayotte: i would ask unanimous consent that the reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. ayotte: thank you mr. president. i rise today to talk about an important amendment that was offered by senator kirk, which i am a cosponsor of, and that is the reauthorization of the export-import bank. i can tell you that in my home state of new hampshire, -- in fact on monday, i was at a roundtable at g.e. aviation in my state. g.e. aviation has over 700 jobs in the state of new hampshire. they are building a new facility there. the export-import bank provides a company like g.e. opportunity to obtain financing to export its products that are manufactured in the united states of america and new hampshire to other countries overseas so increasing the opportunity for american manufacturing jobs, and at that company on monday, they invited a lot of their su

ms. ayotte: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire is recognized. ms. ayotte: thank you mr. president. i want to come to the floor today to talk about internet tax freedom and to talk about ensuring that our online businesses remain competitive. first of all, i want to commend the house of representatives for recently passing the perlt -- the permanent internet tax freedom act which would extend the current ban on internet taxes. the current tax moratorium will expire. in addition, as importantly it would make internet access less affordable to hardworking families and ham per businesses growing jobs because it would allow all the jurisdictions taxing the internet. if we do not do it what the house of representatives did and extend the internet tax freedom act, in fact i think we should make it permanent and i am a co-pour of a senate companion bill that i hope the senate will follow the house's lead to pass and send a permanent extension to the president's desk. unfortunately, one of the things we've heard is that some see this extension of the moratori

ms. ayotte: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. ms. dment that i have to the defense authorization, and americans who volunteer to defend our country deserve our utmost support and great credit for their uniquely honorable, difficult and important service. we are a safe and free nation because of their bravery and sacrifice. however, as we honor our troops and our veterans, we have to remember that they don't serve alone. military families serve too. they make serious career and personal sacrifices on behalf of their loved ones so that their loved one can serve our country. anyone who has served in the military or been married to a service member or even attended a military retirement ceremony -- i actually come from a military family -- understands that a successful military career depends on the support and sacrifice of those that you love and those who are in your family. and a career in the military frequently involves for your spouse frequent moves and long separations, which present unique challenges for military families. the ser

ms. ayotte: mr.an amendment, amendment 1628 to the defense authorization act. this is an amendment that i've offered with senator peters. it has strong bipartisan support. and this is about the threat of tunnels tunnels that are used by terrorists. and we saw those tunnels being used in the 2014 conflict that israel had with hamas. israel found more than 30 terror tunnels that had been dug by terrorists to infiltrate and attack israel. the israeli military said that these tunnels were intended to carry out attacks such as abductions of israeli citizens and soldiers. infiltrations into israeli communities, mass murders and hostage-taking scenarios. in one disturbing attack in july of 2014, hamas terrorists used one of these terror tunnels to sneak into israel and then attack and kill five israeli soldiers. and this is a picture of one of these terror tunnels. and unfortunately, you can imagine if terrorists can use a tunnel to come into your country, the feeling of fear that can create in the civilian

ms. roaring claimed that the morale issue and there is a feeling of fear and mistrust within the tsa and senator ayotte talked about the retaliation whistle blowers have faced. it is disturbing across the government how prevalent that is. there is this kind of problem within the tsa as well. i am asking if you have a significant management challenge challenge. low moral. do you believe there is a prevalence feeling of fear and mistrust? is that the tedious nature of the task? prone to complacency? we are human beings. how do you provide incentives to keep people alert but speak to to the fear and mistrust issue. >> i hope it isn't a feeling of mistrust. i start with the premise of trusting the organization. i want the people that work for the organization to be free. that is where you learn the most about what you are doing. i will commit this someone of the most important things to us. it speaks to the fundamentals of morale and i work for an organization i don't trust and i am afraid is going to bring action against me if i speak the light, that is a morale killer. that is now how i do business and n

ms. roehring, we claimed -- we talked about the morale issue but there's a feeling of fear and mistrust within the tsa and senator ayotte talked about retaliation. by the way, we're going to have a hearing on whistle-blowers and the kind of retaliation they have faced. it is disturbing across the government how prevalent that really is. and apparently there's that kind of problem within the tsa as well. i guess i'm just asking, you know you have a significant management challenge. low morale, if it's true, i want to ask your opinion do you believe there really is is that possible there really is a prevalent feeling of fear and mistrust? but, you know, just from a standpoint of the tedious nature of the task, you know it's just prone to complacency. we're human beings. how do you manage that? how do you rotate shifts? how do you provide insen stifs to keep people alert? the fear and mistrust statement from our witness yesterday. >> i hope -- i hope it's not a pervasive fear and mistrust. i will tell you that i want the people who work for the organization to feel free to bring problems -- that's where you learn most abou

ms. roring, claimed that the morale -- we were talking about the morale issue, but there's a feeling of fear and mistrust within the tsa. and, you know, senator ayotteked about retaliation which by the way we're going to have a hearing tomorrow on whistle blowers and the kind of retaliation they have faced. it is disturbing across the government how prevalent that really is. and apparently there's that kind of problem within the tsa as well. so i guess i'm just asking, you know, you have a significant management challenge. low morale, if it's true, and i want the ask your opinion, do you believe there really is? is that possible that there really is a prevalent feeling of fear and mistrust? but, you know, just from the standpoint of the tedious nature of the task, you know it's just prone to complacency. we're human beings, you know? how do you manage that? how do you rotate shifts? how do you provide incentives to keep people alert? really speak to the fear and mistrust statement of our witness from yesterday. >> i hope, i hope that it's not a pervasive fear and mistrust. but i will tell you that i start from the premise of trusting my organization