We should be more concerned about raising the baseline of our partners' capabilities in Eastern Europe than about Vladimir Putin's ego.

In recent years, China and Russia have established an extensive military and economic presence in South and Central America. Their presence destabilizes the region and threatens our national security.

It is important for the committee to continue our bipartisan support of these programs.

That is why I greatly was disappointed with the President's top-line budget number of $715 billion requested for DOD, which constitutes a nearly $5 billion cut in real dollars.

If we do not fund you at least at the rate of inflation, and hopefully aligned with the National Defense Strategy Commission's recommendation of 3-5 percent increase, then we are doing you and our country a great disservice.

The defense of the homeland and our security efforts in the Western Hemisphere are becoming increasingly more complex as China and Russia and other adversaries expand their reach and improve their capabilities to strike us.

The American taxpayer has a right to be outraged.

Nowhere was the impact more harshly felt than in the heart of Appalachia, my eastern Kentucky district.

I am also concerned about the magnitude of the increases being proposed in this request.

I oppose the sweeping cuts to the State Department put forward by the previous administration.

I am deeply concerned that, far from supporting the middle class, advancing a Green New Deal... will destroy more jobs in Kentucky.

It's also important to point out that we lack any concrete evidence that violent extremism is rife in the military.