What's it going to take? Is it going to take the destruction of the electric grid or the financial system in order for us to finally get to the point of taking this seriously?

I would hate to low ball this and end up with a lack of capacity again in a crisis.

I consider your command one of the most important, if not the most important, in all of the commands that we have.

Why in the world in this situation are we seeing a decrease in the activities of the Department in nonproliferation instead of an increase?

What bothers me is that in your budget under NNSA, there is a significant increase for weapons activity.

So you are committing to me a serious and unrelenting commitment to nonproliferation.

Should that be a four-star in order to give that person sufficient authority to do the kind of coordination?

I want to thank you particularly for the progress that you've made, both of you.

Would it be advantageous to our country for us to ratify the U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea?

But if we are dealing with a peer competitor who has submarines and underwater drones and aircraft, that is a whole different calculation.

It seems to me that really underlines the importance of the MSP program.

In the--since we've been talking for the last hour, four people in America have died from drug overdoses, and we're under attack.

This is simply a question of allocation of resources. This is the most serious public health problem this country faces.

Can you commit to me that you will move this to the highest level of priority and kick some behinds and take some names in this interagency cooperation?

So the principal argument against this move to limit or cut off that aid is if we do, the Saudi conduct might be worse.

I think it is very important that the public understand that we are talking about the lowest percentage of GDP for the defense budget in something like 70 years, 3.1 percent.

It will help us to be able to provide you with the funding that you need if we can tell our constituents they are being audited.

F-35 operations and sustainment costs are a major concern