Brian Schatz

More people need to know that this review is available to them.

I'm not stipulating to anything that you said, but I am interested in what you're saying.

I also worry that it may be hiding cuts to in-house care in favor of privatized care.

I'm also concerned that this request appears to ask us to push VA towards privately provided care.

I don't understand why, if the VA hasn't spent the hundreds of millions of dollars that have already been appropriated for this new system, that the VA would then request $1.2 billion on top of it.

Our veterans should not be forced to get care in crumbling facilities not up to code.

With the exception of DOD, Mick Mulvaney is asking almost every agency cut its funding.

I think that it is fraught with technical, political, logistical funding challenges...

I think we need to come back to Congress and explain why we want to do this.

We do have specific requirements for the country where we only allow for MILCON inside the fence line.

I want to talk to you a little bit about energy.

Red Hill is our strategic fuel reserve in Hawaii that we rely on significantly in the Pacific for any actions that we might have to take.

For sure, all of the facilities in the Pacific Theater are important to our lethality and our readiness.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate your holding this hearing to discuss the fiscal year 2019 Military Construction and Family Housing Budget Request.

We're all evolving on this issue, some quicker than others, maybe some too quick.

We agree that University of Hawaii has high potential as a NROTC unit, and we look forward to working with you on making it a reality.

We need to be the country of choice for partnership in not just the Pacific region, the Indo-Pacific region, but around the world.

There is strong support from PACOM and PACFLT for the University of Hawaii's application to establish a Navy ROTC program.

I'm wondering where we find the resourcing and the sort of budget 'money where your mouth is' behind the Readiness Review.

What problem is being solved by what I call 'deregulation'?

What problem are we trying to solve with deregulation?

The fiscal year 2019 Budget Justification proposes a change to the TAA program to focus on apprenticeships and on-the-job training rather than classroom-based training.

I know you are working very hard on streamlining processes in terms of Federal permitting.

I want to propose something to you and take it for the record. I read an interesting article this week by Professor Jack Balkin at Yale that proposes a concept of an information fiduciary.

I cannot imagine that it is true as a legal matter that I actually own my Facebook data because you are the one monetizing it.