Decisions on the pace and magnitude of further troop reductions will be made by the President of the United States in accordance with the ISAF mandate which ends on December 31, 2014.

Thank you for holding this hearing.

Thank you, Mr. President. Before the Senator from Iowa leaves, let me make one comment. I look at him and all of those who are saying nice things about the Senator from Iowa--and I am from Iowa, so I can say this. My colleagues need to…

I will be very brief because I know we have some other things coming up before going on to the NDAA, and I will be standing here with my good friend and brother Carl at that time. I recall when I was first elected to the House of…

I have a parliamentary inquiry. It is my understanding that we were to begin at 12 o'clock for 3 hours until the first motion on the NDAA, and that would begin now, it looks like, about an hour late; is that correct? The PRESIDING OFFICER…

we are getting close to having votes on amendments and final passage tonight, the most significant vote of the year each year. For 52 consecutive years, we have passed the National Defense Authorization Act. In almost every year there has…

it is just about time for the vote. I want to mention something which hasn't been mentioned. We have two really great Americans, one serving in the House and one serving in the Senate. We have been talking about Chairman Levin and how fair…

I know we are out of time. The vote is going to take place in 1 minute and we all appreciate that. I will repeat what I think is most significant: We have to pass this bill. The House is going to go home. There is no way of making any…

The other Senator from Oklahoma. I wish to make some unscripted comments, but sincere and from the heart. I hope I am accurate when I say this, that I think in some respect I discovered Tom Coburn. I suspect that Tom and I are the only two…

I think it might be appropriate for the ranking member of the appropriate personnel subcommittee to be heard on this. In my opinion, he is the most knowledgeable person on this subject at this time, and that would be Senator Graham. The…

let me reclaim my time just to make one other comment. The two people who are sitting here, Peter Levine on your side and John Bonsell on our side, their compatibility in working together is also unprecedented. It doesn't happen very…

first, I have to say what a joy it is to work with Senator Levin. I know the public thinks that no Republicans like any Democrats and vice versa--at least those are the flames they try to fan--and that is not true. I can only think of two…