Joe Lieberman

I must say, going over your biographies in preparation for the hearing, your answers, listening to you this morning, you're two extraordinarily capable people and our Nation is fortunate indeed to have you in our service.

To me, that's vitally important in this kind of a pluralistic and diverse democracy that we have.

If we can't get this repealed--and I hope we can--at a minimum, I hope we can suspend the discharges under these circumstances.

We probably have lost 13,000 or more Americans who are willing to serve, and that, to me, is a real loss of military effectiveness.

The British military is a great military, and great allies of ours, notwithstanding their policy on homosexuals serving openly.

I'm in favor of repeal, and there's no doubt about that.

It's not a question of 'whether,' but a question of 'how' we are going to implement a repeal.

That strikes me as unconscionable and unfair, and I hope we can repeal this policy promptly.

I also believe it's unconscionable, when the Commander in Chief and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs have both said we should repeal a policy, for us to continue to discharge people solely because of their sexual orientation.

Look, our closest military allies in the world, the Brits, have a policy by which homosexuals serve openly, and they have a great record.

When you know somebody personally, you're much less likely to fear them, and I think that most discrimination is based on fear.

When you have a policy of discrimination in the United States, the burden has to be on those who are defending it.

The Uniform Code of Military Justice applies to everyone, gay and straight.

I do not find the arguments used to justify 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' convincing.

I don't think, respectfully, there's any basis for saying that, if we repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' the number of homosexual assaults will go up.

Sixty-nine percent of Americans are recorded as supporting their right to serve.

What matters is a willingness and an ability to perform the mission, not an individual's sexual orientation.

Repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' will have absolutely no effect on that.

I hope we can move quickly and deliberately to maximize the opportunity for all Americans to serve their country.

Mr. Almy and Ms. Kopfstein were discharged solely on the basis of who they are.

There is no evidence that the presence of gay and lesbian colleagues would damage our military's ability to fight.

I rise to thank Senator Voinovich for his statement. He brings several thoughts to my mind. The first is: Senator Voinovich, I am going to miss you when you retire at the end of this year. You are a straight shooter, you are a straight…

The broad consensus in support of defense spending is going to begin to break or at least be under real pressure

Forgive this question, but to the best of your ability what the heck is going on?

The total cost will be $50 billion. That's by that April 2016 date that we're talking about?