Joni Ernst

We lose 22 veterans--from the VA's [Department of Veterans Affairs] numbers, 22 veterans every day to suicide.

If we don't have this issue resolved by then, the 193rd Iowa Air National Guard Wing, they may be faced with paying the full lease for the area that they occupy, which would severely disrupt their ISR mission and would further strain our…

I can commit to that.

If confirmed, I will obviously make it one of my priorities to understand their challenges and what we can do to better help them in that regard.

Turkey, as you stated, is an important ally, a NATO member that sits on the southeastern flank.

I am concerned that Putin and the Assad regime has been weaponizing the migrants coming out of Syria.

I do believe Russia is one of the greatest existential threats to our Nation.

Thank you very much.

I just want to emphasize to my Committee Members, as well, here, those that are still remaining, it is a phenomenal program that THOR-3 provides for those operators.

I am a strong supporter of SOCOM's preservation of the force and family initiatives.

But do you agree that a Fortune 500 company has a very different mission than that of our military members?

I do think there needs to be a dialogue, and considering the fact that we are trying--I am sorry--the administration is trying to make our military forces, DOD, the most progressive employer out there.

I think when we look at Selective Service, the administration needs to own up to their decision

I think the first point that you made, stating that we have not had an attack on our Homeland anything the scale we have seen since 9/11, I think that is a very important point for those who state we just simply need to pull out.

We cannot keep on keeping on with what we are doing right now and expect things to get better.

I think this administration continues to set up our servicemembers for failure, to be honest.

Unfortunately, in a move that defies comprehension, your predecessor revoked WASPs eligibility to be honored by having their cremated remains inurned at Arlington.

We want to make sure that everybody does it right.

It is critical that we get this right.

I do support providing women with various opportunities to serve in any capacity as long as we are not lowering standards to allow participation, and that we are not decreasing our combat effectiveness.

A top priority of both organizations should be ensuring that not one of these VA whistleblower complaints goes unresolved.

Unfortunately, as we have seen all too many times in the past that there has not been the followup necessary, and those months at delay could mean another veteran that has been left untreated or another veteran that takes their own life…

There is so much duplication within the DOD, and I think that we do need to hold people accountable and streamline and find efficiencies where we can.

I really think it is time that Congress starts holding someone responsible.

I want to specifically thank my lead Democratic sponsor, Senator Hirono, for her help with this legislation, which is designed to improve the access and quality of care we provide our veterans.