Richard Shelby: “Thank you. Welcome, Secretary Donovan. You have been a pretty regular up here. We appreciate you.”

The Department of Navy has played and will continue to play a critical role in the defense of our Nation.

I remain concerned that the Air Force budget request is insufficient considering the needed modernization across the inventory with a rapidly evolving threat.

I am concerned about this--what this communicates to both our allies and our adversaries.

As Senator Shelby at our Senate testimony hearing last March pointed out to us, we must maintain what we have before we can build new, and I think he hits the mark head-on.