Deborah Lee James: “I totally agree, Senator, that sequestration was a bad deal with the uncertainty of it, the actions that the military…”

We made assumptions that we wouldn't be using Army forces in Europe the way we used to, we made assumptions that we wouldn't go back into Iraq--and here we are back in Iraq, here we are worried about Russia again.

The era in which the United States could project military power without challenge has ended.

That is why I am so grateful to really you on this committee, among others, for coming together this year and putting together a bipartisan budget agreement.

If we return to sequestration in fiscal year 2018, this will exacerbate the readiness problem and set us even farther back.