It does appear that, as the Army is becoming much smaller, it may almost be Rumsfeldian in its level as we go back to that.

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

I would note that our MILCON request of $14.8 billion is down $4 billion, or 21 percent, from the fiscal year 2011 budget request.

The decision will occur in 2015?

It would seem that before tens of billions get thrown in there, you would put a missile defense base in.

It asks you a set of questions, and based on those answers, generates a tax return.

In it, Chairman Culberson laid out an inspector general (IG) report that said callers to the VA had only a 49-percent chance of reaching an agent and getting correct information.

That is going to be about $700 million.

I think there is real potential for an outcome here that is different than anything that has been tried over the previous decades.

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.

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

I'm surprised that we're rolling no substantial robust missile defense architecture in, in the current plan.

The Department's fiscal year 2012 request that proposes a record high $448 million for the VA's General Administration offices in Washington, DC, that is about $51 million higher than in fiscal years 2010 and 2011.

There ought to be some ability to work within this Federal system.

I would just note that--when we talk about new buildings for DOD and the Army, what is more important to you: increased combat capability or energy efficiency?

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.

Is there a way to have sort of, for lack of a better term, a Shinseki principle here that this IT effort is brought to bed by November of next year so that we make sure that we have full Shinseki management from start to finish exactly as…

So I want to make sure left hand and right hand are actually talking to each other.

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.

I think we need to get more aggressive because right now what happens is the promise that we have made to our veterans when it comes to healthcare seems to be only able to be fulfilled if you happen to live in the right part of the country.

Are we going to see a full-tour norm proposal for Kunsan Air Base?

If I called Secretary Sebelius and said, how about the VA electronic record becoming the Medicare record, would she fight me?

if we wimp out on a missile defense site, then almost all of the money that we've sunk into this is--when we actually need it, in a military contingency--not worthwhile.

Unfortunately, the climate is going to be several hundreds of surface-to-surface missiles landing on the island.

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?