Mr. Chairman, thank you. It is good to be on your committee and to serve with you and Senator Thune.

There has been some of that in what the President proposes. There have been Democratic and Republican plans. But we haven't done it. And I think the time is up, and we need to do it.

I didn't support the sequester, either. I agree it is not the best way to deal with it.

Her answer was, 'Absolutely not.' She said, unless the revolver is at the temple of the politician, with the finger on the trigger, they are not capable of summoning the collective will to take the necessary steps.

We never would have gotten the BCA, whether you think that was enough or not enough, in August of 2011, in my opinion, without the threat of defaulting on our debt.

I had the privilege of having dinner with Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, and I asked her the question about the reforms taking place in Europe.

Let's avoid the political statements right now.

I hope you would join us in a thorough review of procedures just to make sure that our policies are straight on this.

I wonder what effect that might have on the planned follow on for the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft.

My preference has always been that we direct money for recruiting to you, and you decide how best to utilize that money.

I attribute that to the Air Force's PB-13. It has had a more detrimental effect on our retention numbers than 20 years of high operational combat has had.