Jon Tester

This fleet of C-130s, as you well know, placed in Great Falls would ensure that we have those Montana airmen play a critical role.

Do you plan on starting the military construction conversion upon their announcement within the 90 days?

I oppose the loss of the F-15 fighter mission, I'm thankful the Air Force worked with myself and Senator Baucus to identify a new mission.

I've got you. But from a MILCON standpoint, if what I heard you say is correct, 30 percent is going to foreign bases, 70 percent stays domestic.

The more energy independent we are the more secure we are.

Given the cost of permanently stationing C-130s overseas, would it not make more sense to bring those C-130s back?

I believe it's critical we start now.

These discussions are still ongoing.

We need to catch the swimmer that's in that lane.

We cannot escape our demographics, and we know that the retirement of the Baby Boomers will place additional strains on Social Security and Medicare.

I think the picture is clear from each one of you. It is concerning in each different area.

What would they be, and we will just go down the line.

I want to thank you. Actually, we are going into another area that is something that I, quite frankly, think about personally.

I guess the question I have, I guess, revolves around if there is extra money laying around, it usually goes to health care in a business.

Americans must work longer, save more, or spend less in retirement in order to retire with sufficient retirement savings.

You want to get them into a situation where they start contributing, and hopefully as they get further down the process, get a much more accurate assessment of where they need to be.

Regardless of any potential changes to these programs, Americans are simply not saving enough for retirement.

I think ICBMs--it's the wrong direction to go.

If there's a huge mission gap between the F-15s leaving, the C-130s leaving, we are in trouble.

I believe it's critical we start now. Before we can get those planes on the ground, we need to compete necessary design work.

This is something that Secretary Panetta said that he would take under consideration.

This fleet of C-130s, as you well know, placed in Great Falls would ensure that we have those Montana airmen play a critical role.

I've got you. But from a MILCON standpoint, if what I heard you say is correct, 30 percent is going to foreign bases, 70 percent stays domestic.

I don't know when there will be a conclusion to that, but they're still active and ongoing at this time.

The $27 million is adequate for fiscal year 2013 to get the job done for this year--for that year?