this is important that our men and women in uniform and our national security are not impacted by sequestration.

there is agreement is harming an important industry within our country.

This is something that my colleague Senator Shaheen and I have been working on together.

the vote passed in the budget resolution 79-20 to repeal this tax.

I firmly believe this is an area where we can come up with a bipartisan agreement.

I am a cosponsor, along with others on this panel, of a bill that would come up with some alternative savings to provide at least a resolution of sequestration for the end of this fiscal year.

So when you talk about these companies being profitable, the reason that the concerns are coming back on innovation is because the companies that it punishes the most, frankly, are the startups because it is a tax on revenue, not profit.

Is there any disagreement on this panel on that? [No response.]

I am sure my colleagues, certainly Senator Shaheen, Senator King, share my concerns about the impact and the importance of our shipyards.

Why didn't you issue guidance last August asking your Service Chiefs to submit detailed plans to implement sequestration?

I appreciate that, and I will have a couple of specific follow-ups on certain areas of our State with regard to more access.

did General Ham make any request for assets or support that were denied by you or anyone in the DOD chain of command?