Joe Courtney

The stakes are huge. Trillions of dollars of commercial sea traffic and products pass through the South China Sea every single year.

I appreciate your last comment there which is that the batting average for these new models has not really just been about sort of the racial composition of the student body.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank you, Mr. Secretary, for being here.

But what you can't do in my mind in terms of the labor standards is cut taxes on wealthy people so that you cannot pay middle class a fair wage for a fair day's work.

It was in need of an update and a modernization.

I would say very much belie the level of some of the rhetoric we are hearing.

This is a really big cost to the country and to the taxpayer.

The efforts were rendered less effective as Mr. Courtney suggested by the sequestration in 2013.

The consequences of years of high operational tempo experienced by a smaller fleet.

The Navy now faces readiness concerns with its submarine force as well.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Wittman, for holding today's hearing on Navy force structure and readiness.

The ripple effect in terms of the value to people who wore the uniform of this country is, you know, far excess in terms of whatever small investment the taxpayer makes.

I think it is important sometimes right now, to put this in perspective here.

I mean, let's not shoot the bystander here in terms of, you know, overreacting to this problem that was identified.

I think what's--you know, again, get some perspective here about what happened and what is an appropriate remedy and not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

It appears that ICE could and should have taken simple additional steps that might have resulted in Jacques being repatriated and therefore never given the opportunity to murder Casey Chadwick.

We are honored today to have Ms. Wendy Hartling from Gales Ferry, Connecticut, join us here today.

The response so far just, frankly, has not been satisfactory.

There are other options that we have available to us, and we need to exercise those

This just screams out for the fact that we know, the agencies in the U.S., ICE and the State Department are not getting this done

I want to thank the committee, both majority and minority, for waiving my appearance here today.

I think another hearing would be most appropriate.

We also need to ask what more we as a government can do to force recalcitrant countries like Haiti.

Our committee is not just about oversight. It is also about reform.

It is crucial that we hear what Immigration and Customs Enforcement has learned from these cases.