the 16-percent cut for State and USAID that passed the House last month would be devastating to our national security.

Now would be absolutely the wrong time to pull back.

The stakes are high.

Colonel Qaddafi must go now, without further violence and bloodshed.

We must find more domestic resources, improve, vastly improve, our efficiency, and improve international cooperation.

I agree with you, Walter Isakson is an excellent choice.

We plan to use those funds to support an array of efforts that are under way by Egyptians themselves to prepare for constitutional amendments, for free and fair elections, for setting up political parties, to support civil society groups that are working toward those ends.

We will be cutting back on our support for global health, in particular, support through the PEPFAR Project.

the intolerance toward minorities, particularly religious minorities, that we are seeing, not only in Pakistan, but elsewhere in the region, the attack on Christians in Iraq, the attack on the Copts in Egypt, the attack on minority Islam sects in Pakistan and elsewhere, is a matter of deep distress to me personally and to our government.

This is a source of strength, a point of pride, and a great opportunity for the American people.

Our progress is significant, but our work is ongoing.

The American people today are justifiably concerned about our national debt, but they also want responsible investments in our future.

As Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen, and General Petraeus have all emphasized to the Congress time and again, we need a fully engaged and fully funded national security team.

thank you so much, Senator Lugar, for your constant, constant pointing out that this is in America's interest as well as the world's interest.

I understand and agree that the American people are rightly and justifiably concerned about our national debt, about our economy, and about unemployment.

We are taking no option off the table so long as the Libyan Government continues to turn its guns on its own people.

We can only be successful in meeting our national security objectives through the combined power of defense, diplomacy, and development.

The importance of that success has been magnified by the current crisis.