Well, I think if you do that those would be very important reforms that we would all welcome.

This issue of accountability is an enormously important one for literally millions of Americans.

It seems like we are the ones always reaching out, and I think that can be reversed.

We should not--if there is a major change in policy, we should not be reading about it in the newspaper.

this lack of accountability.

I think it is a very, very dangerous precedent.

I certainly plan on voting for Colonel O'Connor, and hopefully, we get him in there soon.

People would be fired like that, and you know that as well as I do.

Mr. Chairman, I just want to reiterate what the Ranking Member said. I think it is really important as a follow-up to this hearing to get a full briefing from senior officials at the VA, but probably more important, senior officials at the…

And we will be invested in Alaska for the long haul, going forward.

I would fully agree with Senator Cantwell that calling the Russians is not a good national strategy for the United States with regard to our interests in the Arctic.

Maybe you can lay out your analysis for the record, in terms of a question on that, relative to what is happening in the Arctic and relative to what the Russians are doing in the Arctic, and how you can say--it seems to me that three will…

I recognize the seasonality that goes with that, as well.

Five days is a long time if you're sinking in the Bering Sea.

I rise to speak in support of what we have been doing on the Senate floor the past 2 weeks--moving forward on the National Defense Authorization Act. I wish to pay a compliment and my deepest respect to the chairman of the Armed Services…

I ask unanimous consent that my military fellow, Dave Deptula, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of this session of Congress. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________

We also need to abide by the law or the Constitution, especially Federal agencies.

I yield to my colleague from Maine. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.

My State of Alaska has a lot of water and a lot of air and a very pristine environment.

I have a motion to instruct conferees at the desk. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion. The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows: The Senator from Alaska [Mr. Sullivan] moves that the managers on the part…

this instruction relates to an earlier amendment I had, No. 4065. It is a simple amendment that would allow States and communities throughout our Nation to expedite the permitting process and construction of their bridges that pose safety…

Thirty-one States. That is a lot of States.

Justice Scalia said they were violating the separation of powers.

But don't you think it has to be legal? Everything the EPA has to do has to be based in statute or the Constitution.

Even if we lose later, it took 5 years to get to the Supreme Court, everybody had to comply anyway, so who cares about the rule of law.