Jeanne Shaheen

I just wanted to go back to a statement that one of you made about the GCC countries and their complete opposition to Assad continuing in his position.

Actually, that is not what I have understood from people who are dealing with the refugee challenges as a result of Syria.

Well, to what extent then has the conflict in Yemen diverted resources that GCC countries might be putting into the fight against the Islamic state?

I think the confusion and where it gets very difficult is in Syria, where we talk about the GCC as if it were one entity.

The failure of some of the GCC countries to engage more directly in the threat that we believe that the Islamic states pose.

I would just like to for the record acknowledge that we just had a very big visit in this country from the Pope.

I have been in a lot of airports where people feel like efficiency is also important.

The private carriers, the airports, everybody has a stake in making sure the system is as safe as possible.

The results from those tests were so concerning that the inspector general halted the audit before it was completed.

I would hope that we would reevaluate our position and become a signatory with most of the rest of the world of the Law of the Sea Convention.

I think it is important to point that out.

If we are serious about building a third-way alternative force that is aimed at pushing back against ISIS and perhaps creating the space for the long-term political settlement, then where is that plan?

I think our efforts in Syria have been a tragic failure.

I think we need to reassess our whole strategy across the Middle East.

I certainly hope we will take that opportunity.

If we are going to try to at least say...that this, in part, will not only aim to defeat ISIS, but then also perhaps set the stage for a negotiated political solution, we need to do a better job on building those forces.

If we could get everybody to buy into this kind of a Declaration of Excellence for what we want to accomplish in each of our agencies, I think it would--we would be more successful as a Federal Government.

This is one of the reasons that the shipyard was on the last BRAC [Base Realignment and Closure] closing list, and then was taken off.

I do think we need a different approach to address Iran's march towards a nuclear weapon.

One of the things, Dr. Taylor, I would disagree with you on, when you said we would never accept such high unemployment rates, I would say we have inner cities and communities where we do have those high unemployment rates.

We should not accept them either. Sadly, too often, we have accepted them. It is something that we should address.

There are some other potential threats, I think, to failure to act, one of which is Russia.

We need to pass IMF quota reform, which I certainly agree with.

The bailout agreement reached earlier this month by Greece and its European partners is far from perfect.

It seems to me that the eurozone... has to make a decision about how they are going to deal with southern Europe.