Mark Kirk

So it could be another year.

So, wait a minute. So, after promising me that you would roll it out as of May 16, 2010, you're now promising to re-roll it out a year later?

I encourage you to continue working closely with other U.S. Government agencies.

I want to emphasize that the Congress should be doing everything it can to back up leaders who want to see these agencies better cooperate.

I appreciate that and will look forward to your feedback as those programs and many others are implemented in the months and years ahead.

I believe USAID should be focused on results and I hope that's the direction you're taking the agency.

I didn't ask about Afghanistan.

I, too, share your concerns about the implications of the Department's April 8 decision on the brigade combat teams in Europe.

But, in the end, all of this combat capability for the Navy and Marine Corps is only worthwhile if it can be around when we need it.

I'm just worried that maybe, you know, I am pretty pro-Guam--talked to Madeleine Bordallo about this, Chairman Culberson--but if we need them too much, they may hijack us for too high a price.

Don't you think that's kind of putting the cart--don't you defend the site before you invest in it?

I'm concerned also about delaying costs as the DOD budget goes down.

I notice that you just sent up a notification to the subcommittee to cancel $123 million for Kandahar Airfield, which is the center of gravity of the largest military effort for the United States.

I'm worried that you guys would be pushed into trying to sell us an agreement that was tangential progress instead of, you know--the question in these budget times is, are we going to build the base or not?

It increasingly looks like we're not. And with the cash flow problems of the Japanese Government, I would have a pretty dim view of how this thing is going to go.

I'm also worried about--no master plan or releasable total cost for the facilities in Guam.

I'm particularly worried on some of the accounts and the funding levels, but there are some issues that I would highlight.

I'm concerned on the Guam side that the U.S. military commitment to Guam, which is vast and necessary, in my view, should, first, include a huge missile defense architecture.

My worry is that because of international pressure or something we might worry about putting something there, which would render this entire investment useless.

But let me interrupt you on that. There are two ways in the 21st century we can handle complexity.

The ideal way, for me, is a flatter, fairer tax, like what the Gang of Six may come up with to lower the rate to 28 percent.

Your mission should be to make it as easy as possible to comply with Federal law.

I think the big boxes can totally transform a neighborhood.

One of the big reasons why I ran for the Senate was to enact the Small Business Bill of Rights.

I believe that the Federal Government's fiscal discipline initiatives will both help States control their interest costs and prove that the United States continues to be a model for the rest of the world.