I'm confident that the committee will find that Esther truly is the best nominee for guiding our relationship with the territories and the independent nations of the Pacific.

Hawaii's relationship with our fellow Pacific Island territories and nations is strong.

I'm particularly interested in the potential effects on the manufacturing of Virginia-class submarines.

I remain committed to providing support to our allies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Thank you all for your service and for acknowledging the contributions and service of Congressman Ike Skelton.

So would you agree that what we need to do is replace sequestration with a more rational approach to what you need to do?

We are not going to take away the kinds of benefits and programs that they rely upon.

R&D is very important in order to help advance our technologies and develop systems to assist in executing our defense strategy.

The industry also employs many of our science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates who are in search of high-tech opportunities to challenge them.

Well, my understanding is that as a general proposition, women are in prison for drug crimes and not violent crimes.

I think it is very important because, as more and more women, who tend to still be the caregivers for their families, are incarcerated, that has a lot of ramifications to their families, their children, reentry, all of that.