I would like to again thank Representative Castro and Young Kim for their leadership on this issue.

We must continue to show our nation and the world that our national security is not a partisan issue.

I also want to thank Ranking Member McCaul for his partnership with me, as always, on conducting in the manner we have moved this hearing and this committee together.

I have said the entire time that I have been in office that I`m willing to work with anybody if we`re talk about getting policy done that`s going to be good for the third district in Kansas, good for the state of Kansas and good for our country.

I will work as hard for those who didn’t support me as I will for those who did.

The Crime Bill was a bipartisan effort, but we need to move beyond partisanship and work together to reform our criminal justice system.

We need to revive the spirit of bipartisanship in this country, to find common ground and work together to get things done.

It would do us no good if we only looked at an agenda that favored one side.

I hope, Madam Chair, that we are able to make some concrete progress with our Republican colleagues on this.

Every day other Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle come to me and talk about the threat that their communities face.

While we disagree on some policy-related issues, we both recognize the need that has been expressed... the need for us to work together.

All of us, regardless of party, should throw ourselves into the work of citizenship.

We need more Republicans to act that way, because this is more important than politics.

I look forward to working with both Chambers to improve certain provisions and to ensure swift, strong, and effective enforcement.

So more than anything, what we're looking for is not the defeat of another party, what we're looking for is the advancement of ideas.

We haven't seen the kind of takeup from the other side that we'd like to see so far.

It would show the American people that Washington can still work together to solve our nation's challenges.

He's hopeful that we'll finally get Republicans to agree to work with him on that effort.