Kelly Ayotte

I have a real hard time going particularly to the fishermen, many of them who have gone out of business in some instances because of these fines.

I want to commend my colleague, Scott Brown, for pursuing this issue.

As you might imagine, the finding is unsettling for those of us on the committee who assume that DOD is faithfully and legally carrying out MILCON projects as specifically authorized by Congress.

I think this is an unacceptable risk.

When you throw on top of it, of course, their efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon, no question they are a grave threat to our national security and to that of our allies.

They are clearly supporting our enemies and trying to kill our soldiers.

Has anyone in DOD consulted with the international partners on the proposed LRIP 6/7 procurement strategy?

The F-35 was designed to be an international program from its inception.

Elimination of one leg of the triad would move the Nation into uncharted territory.

The United States must shape its [nuclear] deterrent forces to maintain the attributes which lead to stability among major powers

I'm very proud of our 157th Air Refueling Wing, because we have the highest utilization rate in the Air National Guard for the KC-135.

I appreciate the KC-46A program, and I know that you're going to be going to the basing criteria soon.

I hope you will take an active and personal role with our international partners on the F-35 program.

I had introduced an amendment to the NDAA that passed unanimously--it didn't end up getting adopted in the House--to basically say to DOD to meet the 2014 deadline that the Secretary has set for it.

This is important for us to do? Is this an important exercise?

I think that so many of our pilots in the Guard and Reserve have flown in the active duty also before they've served.

You know I'm a huge fan of the A-10 because I am married to an A-10 pilot.

Having good financial data and making sure that our DOD is auditable I think has to be a top priority for us.

The Navy has a requirement for 48 attack submarines?

I hope that we will act immediately on a bipartisan basis in Congress to stop the sequestration, because when you think about our fleet going down to 235 that is an unacceptable risk to our country and our allies.

We can't drive our national security interests, particularly on something so important as our attack submarine fleet, by just being handed a number by Congress.

I'm very proud of the maintenance done at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the excellent work done there on the Virginia-class submarine.

I'm deeply troubled, Admiral, when you tell me that if we allow, this Congress, sequestration to go forward that our fleet could be in a position where it would go from 285 capacity to 235.

I'm very concerned about the proposal in the fiscal year 2013 budget of where this will bring our production rate.

So we'll have a nine-submarine shortfall in 2030 if we continue with the proposed build rate that we have in this budget?