This particular Committee, in providing bipartisan proposed legislation to establish volcano early warning and volcano monitoring systems, is going a long way toward elevating the need and the kinds of activities that need to take place in…

The President's proposed budget for 2017 actually puts into our proposed base funding those funding levels that Congress has put in as one-time increases over the past two years.

Thank you so much.

Given the increased seismic activity at Mauna Loa on the Big Island, can you discuss any ways that Congress can continue to provide support to this critical work to ensure public safety due to active volcanoes?

If one characteristic defines the future operating environment, it is uncertainty.

With both Russia and China really increasing and modernizing and adding to their military assets, one wonders whether 308 ships is really, you know, what we should be talking about.

Unless modified for the years after fiscal year 2018 and later, I believe that these caps will threaten our long-term national security interests.

These caps already seriously challenge our ability to meet our national security needs, and have already forced all of the military departments to make painful tradeoffs.

I think that is a worthy goal to follow.

We will stay in touch with you on all of that.

As long as we are on the subject of the LX(R), I know that the Navy announced an intention to compete a package of ship contracts, including the T-AO(X) oiler, the LHAR, and the LX(R) ships.