DOD's proposal to gradually slow the growth rate of the tax-free BAH was a difficult but necessary decision if, in this era of constrained budgets, DOD is to achieve a proper balance between competitive pay and benefits for servicemembers.

I have always been concerned about China and their capabilities.

It seems to me that a young enlisted person with a family will be slammed hardest with higher commissary prices.

it's more important than just that, because it does open the door for others who do not have our best interests at heart.

When we're talking about risk, we're talking about lives.

I am very concerned about the shipbuilding industrial base, and strongly believe that if we lose these folks who have spent several decades in this business, our national defense is at risk.

you just can't tell me that maintaining unused, vacant Federal properties at $25 million a year is more important than reauthorizing a highway bill.

if we don't find any new revenue in the trust fund, we are looking at a 90 percent cut in the program in less than 8 months.

We can't just tax our way out of this. We just can't keep raising taxes.

the main thing we are supposed to be doing here is defense and infrastructure.

In the face of all of this, we're forcing our military, the backbone of our Nation's security, to endure a steep and damaging drop in capabilities and readiness.

However, setting it up so that they don't have control over their own assets comes back to haunt us, I feel, quite often.