Ray Mabus: “It follows then as certain as night succeeds day that without a decisive Naval force we can do nothing definitive and…”

The fact that we allow these tyrants and dictators like Putin to basically hold our families and our economy hostage for their bad acts.

I want to thank this committee for all that you have done to ensure that the Navy and Marine Corps remain the preeminent fighting force in the world.

The changes that we have made in terms of how you treat shipmates with respect, how an attack such as sexual assault is an attack.

It insulates us from these price spikes that basically, today, the American economy, and more importantly, American families are being held hostage by dictators around the world.