"I had a brief follow-up on the mission that you're conducting in Iraq right now, of providing security for the oil platforms that are critical to the Iraq economy."
"Has there been discussion of whether the Coast Guard would be part of that analysis? Or would you be separate?"
"I appreciate that the Coast Guard falls underneath the Department of Homeland Security, as opposed to the Department of Defense."
"There has been concern expressed about the withdrawal date at the end of December for our military."
"I was surprised to learn that the Navy plans to place 6 ships of the 3-squadron, 16-ship total MPF for the Marine Corps into reduced operating status beginning in fiscal year 2013."
"There is a gap in the modernization of our shipyards in terms of the backlog there."
"The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is a very important public shipyard in our country."
"I interpret these Navy decisions as a reaffirmation and a validation of the importance of the Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF)."
"At the end of the day really where I'd like to be is, how do we avoid this from happening again?"
"I think what we're all trying to figure out is how we can avoid this."
"I hope going forward that we rely on your recommendations, as opposed to--it is one of the reasons that when I ran this past fall, I decided to swear off earmarks."