Angus King

Are you satisfied with the progress you have made on developing this new vehicle, if you will?

What are we gaining by discontinuing the A-10?

That worries me. That statement makes me nervous. I want mature technologies before we go.

I think that is often a valuable approach.

I want to commend the senior leadership of the Army for the recent efforts to ensure that the Army delivers new technology and platforms.

We have to ensure that our soldiers are trained and equipped for conflict across the full spectrum of operations.

Countering the threat that is posed by China and Russia is now the primary focus for the Department.

The central challenge now facing the United States.

If you have not done it already, I would urge you to do what we did, get a bunch of pilots in a room...

Here is the real question: Do you think we are really going to be able to break down the stovepipes?

I hope we get to that point and beyond, as you said, this sort of binary debate, diplomacy or war.

Part of the coercion could be threatening proliferation.

The flaw in deterrence, it seems to me, in this particular situation, is the proliferation danger.

I mean, it has been very straightforward about military force. Yes, we are going to talk about diplomacy.

You go back to the Cuban Missile Crisis, which there is no exact analogy, but there are some similarities...

The second thing I asked was, what does he want? Why is he doing this? The answer was regime survival, I think you have all testified to that, and his personal survival.

I asked them three questions. Number one, is Kim Jong-un rational? The uniform response was yes, that he is not crazy and he is capable of rational analysis.

I now understand why generations of United States Presidents have sought your counsel. That was brilliant and I appreciate it.

The issue in my mind is, is it possible to have such a competition by political means with the backing of the military force that may be needed?

One of the problems I see here is that gas is the cheapest capital cost, and yet you are taking the price risk.

The problem with the infrastructure is, does anybody want to build a $2 or $3 billion pipeline to deal with this if it is not going to be necessary the rest of the year.

It is not a natural gas price problem, it is a delivery problem.

The wall does not equal border security. I've been saying that all along.

What changed in my mind was we got a firm commitment on the floor before the entire country from the majority leader to bring a DACA bill to the floor in a neutral format.

I thank the Senator from Montana for his clear thinking, as always, and his contribution to this discussion. I hope our colleagues will pay heed, as they always should, to the Senator from Montana.