I rise to urge my colleagues in the strongest terms to vote for cloture on the nomination of Martha Johnson to be Administrator of the General Services Administration. The point of cloture is to allow this critical agency to finally have a…

I hope the AOA can go forward as quickly as possible and that the four engine sets can go forward as quickly as possible as well.

we may look back and really regret it.

It's for the better. It's still fragile. It's not irreversible, to be sure.

State-sponsored WMD programs and extremists seeking to acquire such weapons pose a grave threat to our allies and interests.

The U.S.-Japan negotiated agreements were a comprehensive set of realignment initiatives to meet the strategic needs for both allies.

I want to understand--make, just, clear for the record--will the one brigade-sized force remain in effect?

If the law changes, the military will follow it.

I was unsettled a bit when the recent QDR said that it would basically scrap the second and third of those.

The United States intends to continue improving and deploying its missile defense systems in order to defend itself against limited attack.

This is the beginning of a turn-the-momentum-against-the-Taliban operation that will presumably go from Marja in Helmand Province into Kandahar.

You describe Iran as 'the primary state-level threat to stability in the region,' add that its nuclear program is, to use your words, 'serious,' and 'part of the regime's broader effort to expand its influence.'

I opposed the DADT policy when it was created by this committee in 1993 and I remain opposed to it today.

Thank you for that answer.

The standards of conduct for Air Force members... cannot be altered in any way if 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is repealed.

I have long argued that our principal mission in Afghanistan should be training the Afghan security forces so they can take responsibility for the security of their country.

Thanks, to both of you, for your service and leadership.

If Iran goes nuclear, it greatly strengthens their terrorist proxies, including some that have killed a lot of Americans in Iraq and are causing some trouble in Afghanistan.

all options remain on the table and certainly the military is one of them.

We do support the formation of the Southern Liberation Army in southern Sudan.

We remain confident they realize the strategic value of having marines on Okinawa for their own defense and for security in the Asia-Pacific region.

My personal feeling is acting now is premature.

I think we feel a sense of pride about what the United States was able to do in the 1990s to stop the aggression and genocide there.

I'm concerned that the Army's going to be pressured, for reasons of money, not effectiveness in the field.

I urge you to please be as direct as you need to be with us about what you need financially to really develop the two-stage GBI as a hedge.