Jon Tester

300 grand a patrol agent seems a bit high to me.

Look, I think predictability in the industrial base is really, really important.

I look forward to working with all three of you, as do Senator Collins, to make sure that when this budget hits the ground, we all know what is in it, and we all know what to expect the results of it are, because I think it is a critically…

I have talked to a lot of bankers who said if this would have happened before Dodd-Frank the regulations would have stopped this from happening.

Look, I think predictability in the industrial base is really, really important.

In 2008, I voted against the bailouts of the big banks because I do not support taxpayer bailouts.

We need no less than 31 Amphibious Warfare Ships to enable Marine Corps Title 10 missions in support of the joint force.

It better be fixed. If it is the regulators' fault, it better be fixed. If it is the regulation fault, it better be fixed.

I have talked to a lot of bankers who said if this would have happened before Dodd-Frank the regulations would have stopped this from happening.

So at what point in time do the Fed regulators drop the hammer on this outfit?

Continuing resolutions kill military modernization and cause billions in wasteful spending.

I think, making sure we are getting the biggest bang for the buck, by getting folks to have competitive contracts, and getting these out on time is also very important.

The Marine Corps wouldn't be where it is today without your leadership.

Mexican drug cartels are trafficking fentanyl and other dangerous drugs across the southern border.

The Marine Corps wouldn't be where it is today without your leadership.

In 2008, I voted against the bailouts of the big banks because I do not support taxpayer bailouts.

Despite repeated investments in the defense industrial base and the shipbuilding industrial base in particular, we don't really see improvements towards ships being delivered on cost and on time.

I want to thank the Chair and Ranking Member for holding this hearing and I want to congratulate you on being appointed to run this committee.

We're depending on you to do that, and we're depending on this budget to do that.

It is very, very important that those ports remain open because it is our Number 1 trading partner.

So the idea has been broached to me and I haven't found why it wouldn't work that we declare the cartels that are bringing these drugs into the United States as terrorist organizations.

I was told we have cartels in Bozeman, Montana, and I can tell you that where Montana used to be classified as a place that you never heard about a police officer getting shot, now it happens with way, way, way too much regularity.

Look, I think predictability in the industrial base is really, really important.

We appreciate your service, we appreciate the folks that you represent, and the commitment they have to keeping this country the country it is today.

The Marine Corps wouldn't be where it is today without your leadership.