Thad Cochran

Ensuring that the Corps has adequate funding to meet its responsibilities is a high priority of mine.

I am concerned that the 22 percent funding cut proposed for NIH could negatively affect longstanding research endeavors.

Mr. Chairman, let me join you in congratulating our panel here and the participation you're bringing to this challenge.

I understand that the Army's unfunded requirements list includes a $3.1 billion increase in end strength beyond the fiscal year 2017 NDAA mandate.

If we go back in sequestration, what affect would it have on the Corps of Engineers, Mr. Speer?

And I plan to use my best efforts to identify the areas that we can make improvements in, and take a hard look, but at the same time realize we need to get a bill.

We appreciate very much your leadership in the research effort and we commend you and those who work with you for helping make sure we have what we need in order to make our nation safe and secure.

We want to know what the priorities are for funding.

This subcommittee will reconvene on Wednesday, June 7, 2017 at 10:30 a.m.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Could you tell us more about the telehealth services you offer and some of the successes the University of Mississippi in particular, has experienced through telehealth.

I enjoyed working with him to reintroduce the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act yesterday.

Mississippi has been recognized as a national leader in telehealth.

I look forward to hearing from all the witnesses today, especially Michael Adcock from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.

I look forward to working with the members of this subcommittee and others in the Legislative and Executive branches to ensure that the United States maintains its historic lead in the development and application of powerful technologies.

We appreciate that the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and the Senate play important roles in crafting the annual eligible conditions list.

The Sleep Research Society is pleased to submit this statement for the record asking you to provide $250 billion for the Department of Defense (DOD) Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program.

I think the complementary and coordination of biomedical research with the Department of Defense, the VA, and NIH is very important.

This Committee has consistently recommended funding for increased medical research.

Robust funding for agricultural research and extension programs is vital to ensuring producers remain competitive domestically and globally.

Let me thank the distinguished majority leader for his generous remarks about my service in the Senate, as has been reflected by the last long number of years. It is heartwarming, and it also reminds me of how important our collective…

We especially thank Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran and Vice-Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski for their unwavering support for the NIH.

We were just passing through, checking to see what the order was, and I understand there is a standing order. So we are going to wind up, we hope, with just a few minutes of conversation about the conference report.

Reserving the right to object, we are trying to set up a conversation about the conference report, and I wonder, would it be inconvenient for the Senator to defer?