i strongly agree with senator mccaskill, and she is verywe aware of my views because we have discussed hers and mine at length and i know that you agree that consumer complaints about this intrusive, invasive practice are very well justified. the fact that consumer s union conservatively estimates that $350 million are lost annually to phone scams, generally a lot of them the result of robocalls and the good news is advanced technology s available and affordable to stop these very intrusive and invasive machine-driven calls and telephone companies ought to make locking options available right away. even in advance of the rule, the telephone companies have the ability to offer that service. and so, i agree with senator mccaskill about the inadvisability of the suggestion made in the budget agreement, but more broadly, i would like to ask what the next steps are that you would view as most likely and most achievable to address this scourge of robocalls that we both have seen
we need them most. second, universal access. no matter who you are or where you live in this country, for a fair shot at 21st century prosperity, you need accesccess first-rate modern communications. that means we need policies that foster deployment and adoption in urban areas, rural areas and in between. third, competition. competition increases innovation and lowers prices. fourth, consumer protection. communication services are multiplying, but the marketplace is also bewildering to navigate. so we should always be on guard for ways to help consumers make good choices. these values derive from the law and they have informed my work at the commission to date. in light of them, i am especially proud of agency efforts to strengthen 911 service, and i am proud of our work to increase access to broadband in schools and enhance opportunities for digital age education. i also believe our spectrum policies for licensed and unlicensed air waves have made our wireless markets compe
our borders from other transnational threats, our operation is based on layered security where we attempt and i have described earlier some of the partnerships that we have with regard to port security to inspect port facilities for their security regime overseas. with regard to specifically the source and transit zone for narcotics we also have significant partnerships with countries in south and central america that allow us to board their flag vessels on the high seas, recognizing that many of the nations don t have robust coast guards or navies with the kind of off shore capability that we have. so those partnerships allow us to detect and interdict drug shipments far off shore. in the case of one interdiction i made, over a thousand miles west of the galapagos islands, with drugs destined for mexico and then ultimate i will for the united states. so we use using our long range aircraft and cutters and detection monitoring capability of the department of defense and other
regarding the dangers of financial exploitation through ñ community organizations and places of worship and community centers and resources that might be available to them, to utilize organizations like the national guardianship association to play an important role by promoting standards of best practices for guardians and probate courts by providing education and training and provide advocacy on the issue and the impact seniors including that impact seniors including elder abuse and financial exploitation, develop court systems and processes that don t work against seniors and consider the urgency of time for the elderly such as the probate and the elder law and miscellaneous remedies courts in chicago because many exploiters simply try to wait out the life span of those of the elderly victims. you have the written materials that i ve submitted that are premised large part on article that my deputy public guardian wrote and i d be happy to share our experiences with indi
information officer at the pentagon on cybersecurity. the senate foreign relations committee earlier this week had a confirmation hearing. tennessee senator bob corker chaired the hearing. it s an hour and a half. foreign relations committee will come to order. senate foreign relations committee is meeting this morning for a confirmation hearing on nominations, including state department counselor thomas shannon, to be undersecretary of state for political affairs. if confirmed by the senate, he would replace wendy sherman who helped to lead the u.s. negotiations for iran. and as i said to him when he came into our office and i m sure, ben, you said the same thing, all of us are gratified when people who commit their life in this way end up ascending to these positions. you oversee africa, east area and the pacific, europe. the nearest, south and central asia, the western hemisphere and international organizations just to note to staff, we could see the world. it would be e