Thad Cochran: “We spent a year in hearings and working to try to develop a consensus for writing a new farm bill.”

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

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.

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.