Iran continues to threaten peace and stability across the Middle East through its support of terrorist proxies, pursuit of nuclear weapons, and development of missiles needed to deliver them.

Defense budgets should be based on our long-term military strategy--that is the point the chairman made very eloquently--not sequestration-level budget caps.

I recently was over in Afghanistan over the Fourth of July, and there is great concern both amongst our military and with Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah and other Afghans about the present proposal to have our force in Afghanistan down to a…

Frankly, without that kind of support, they are not going to be able to protect themselves against Russian aggression.

I hope in answer to some of these questions, because I have run over time, you will talk about the devastating effects of sequestration on our ability to defend the Nation.

Has sequestration not bred uncertainty which has contributed to this drop in morale?

This team of military leaders will be soon--will soon be responsible for preparing our military to confront the most diverse and complex array of global crises since the end of World War II.

Russia possesses the conventional and nuclear capability to be an existential threat to this Nation, should they choose to do so.

The list of challenges for our national security is as daunting as it is drearily familiar: the rampage of ISIS terrorist army, Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and support for its destabilizing proxies, revisionist Russia's invasion of…

I would like your and General McDew's comments and assessment of the effects of sequestration on our ability to defend the Nation.

I believe that TRANSCOM has put some things in place to make that less likely.

Do you agree, when asked, to give your personal views, even if those views differ from the administration in power?

Will you ensure your staff complies with deadlines established for requested communications, including questions for the record in hearings?

Unless Washington wakes up to the damage being done to our military right now by drastic reductions in defense spending, the Army will be forced to carry out its mission with fewer dollars, fewer soldiers, and aging equipment.

I think under conditions, both on military bases and in out-stations, recruiting stations, Reserve centers, that we should seriously consider it.

I am in favor of a conditions-based plan.

Russia is our greatest national security threat.

We need to pay a lot more attention to it.