when Congress agrees to support an administration request for multi-year procurement authority, it is a serious matter

I think it's really important that you are paying attention to the corrosion issue because the lifetime use of our aircraft can be extended by that kind of attention to that matter.

I would like to ask you how are you incorporating the shift to the Asia-Pacific as you consider expanding the fleet to deploy the number of ships you need?

We owe it to these men and women to ensure that resources are available for training and readiness activities and to ensure that they have fully functional equipment to get the job done.

So the ultimately goal is 5,500 JLTVs.

I would say the C-9s are not only hard down but we've transitioned them out of the Marine Corps inventory.

Unless Congress can achieve a broad and bipartisan agreement to repeal or modify the BCA, any approval of the $12 billion increase for the Navy and Marine Corps will trigger sequestration of a similar amount in domestic programs.

These threats require us to consider how best to get the Navy and Marine Corps the resources that you need.

When you are talking about infrastructure, you are talking about the movement of a number of our troops from Futenma to Guam and recycling through Australia and eventually to Hawaii.

I am not sure I understand. There are three submarines right now that should be deployable except that they are needing to be repaired. That is not accurate. Is it?

we must also make sure that any increases in resources do not come at the expense of important domestic programs.

My understanding is that you would like to get to more than 5,500.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Funding for critical programs, both defense and non-defense, is not an either/or proposition.

We want to make $9 billion worth of cuts. We think this in the best interest of public education and private education, because we think the Federal Government should play less of a role, and the burden should shift to the private sector…

Make no mistake, while this is an important step, it is not enough.

It is just that we should be planful and thoughtful and judicious with taxpayer dollars.

I really would like the Marine Corps and the Office of the Secretary to continue, while we maintain our ironclad commitment to fulfill our obligation to our best ally in the Asia Pacific region.