Norman D. Dicks

I hope we can find sufficient common ground to move this bill forward as quickly as possible.

I think General Dempsey and General Schwartz, all the leaders, have done a very good job, I believe, of coming up with a strategy-driven budget.

Why did we not know this 5 years ago? I mean, why would we go out and buy 18 of these if we knew this?

To me it is a no-brainer to use this $6 billion that has already been spent, this is kind of like off-the-shelf in a sense, for a replacement for JSTARS.

I just think the American people are going to have a hard time understanding how when we said a year ago that these were $220 million less expensive to operate than the other ones, that all of a sudden now we are just going to put 18 of…

Norm you go down to that shipyard in Bremerton and you tell those people down there I am mad as hell and I need that Enterprise out of there.

We are at the point where it is very difficult to achieve significant savings and maintain readiness without sacrificing some force structure.

We have a tremendous obligation to them, and that obligation is going to last for a long time.

Taking care of our servicemembers and ensuring that they, as well as their dependents, receive world class medical care, is at the heart of what you do.

This cyber threat was one of the preeminent threats that we face

The Army has had a long history of their being more concerned about money, frankly, than the soldiers.

Reserving the right to object, and I will not object, I yield to the distinguished chairman to explain this CR.