I wanted to just mention, along with Mr. Polis, we have authored the STELLAR Act.

Thank you for holding this hearing for the impact of the Budget Control Act and the impact that it is having on the force structure and end service strength of the services.

Political posturing should not come at the expense of our brave men and women in uniform and their families.

the only people, quite honestly, who can resolve this issue are the Members of Congress.

We must find common ground and be willing to compromise for the future benefit of our country.

I think it will help us meet the needs of our vets because you are right, they are unique.

I think this may have--if we begin to withdraw or decide not to go ahead with this, could have lasting effects between our ally Japan and ourselves.

I think that the generals--I think that they knew and I, you know, have great respect, but I think we were talking about whistleblower MTIs.

I think we are doing a better job training prosecutors. And we have had an opportunity to hear some of that evolution of the way that we do that.

And I certainly want to commend them for opening up the opportunity for us to ask the questions that we needed to ask and to have access to a number of the MTIs, particularly who spoke with us.

And if anyone sees something that is not reported, then they have to answer for that nonreporting as part of the process of accountability that we have for the standards that we have put in place.