Susan Collins

The decision to further reduce postal services would cause an even bigger drop in mail volume that could lead to a death spiral for the USPS.

What we basically need is a general understanding that the Postal Service is challenged and is going to have to make these changes.

Congress has been known in the past to put up road blocks that prevent you from operating in the most efficient manner possible.

It took, as you know, Senator Collins and me some 5 years or so to get postal reform legislation enacted.

It is absolutely unacceptable for you to come to Congress and say that you need relief from financial obligations, and then we hear from the GAO and from the Commission, from our own experience, that you are going backwards when it comes…

I am also very concerned about the lack of financial transparency, which was a key goal of the 2006 legislation that we authored.

I do not know how you can ask for relief from your financial obligations and at the same time propose cutbacks in service.

I am very disappointed to hear you come before us today and advocate as a potential solution to this economic crisis the elimination of the requirement for 6-day-a-week delivery.

We worked to strengthen the funding for health insurance for postal workers and retirees.

Our purpose was straightforward. We wanted to help ensure the continuation of affordable universal service.

I expect we will all hear President Obama himself lay out his priorities for NATO at the 60th Anniversary Summit in April.

President Bush indicated that as troop levels in Iraq decreased, many of those forces would be redeployed to Afghanistan.

Afghanistan stands at a crossroads, and that the progress achieved over the previous 6 years was threatened by resurgent Taliban violence.

A stable shipbuilding industrial base and predictable levels of funding are critical to achieving shipbuilding cost projections.

I am also concerned about the apparent lack of a coherent civil-military plan for integrating our military operations with economic and political development that is so essential to success in counterinsurgency.

The situation in Iraq is improving, but as all of the commanders and our ambassador constantly repeat, it remains fragile and potentially reversible.

NATO is, first and foremost, a military alliance committed to the security of its members.

It has now been over 7 years since the initial call up and mobilization of National Guard and Reserve Forces in support of the global war on terrorism.

Each event offers opportunities for the U.S. and the Iraqis, but also dangers.

Do you believe that Article 5 of the NATO Alliance is still credible in the eyes of the new, and old, NATO members?

I understand that President Obama will continue to refocus our military's efforts to this region.

I believe that the administration must consider the defense industrial base, such as the 95,000 (direct and indirect) jobs associated with the F-22 program.

The situation in Pakistan is extremely worrisome, not only because Taliban fighters are using Pakistani bases to attack our soldiers in Afghanistan.

We need to treat it that way.

I hope that you and General McChrystal will look seriously at the concerns he raises about the rules of engagement.