Jim Inhofe

We must act now because failure is not an option.

My top priority this year is to pass a fiscally responsible, long-term highway bill.

Defending America and building infrastructure that is it.

I think not many people knew that when we did our last, particularly the 2005 bill, we made an effort to listen to the States, recognizing that they know more what is good for them.

I urge you to be bold. I think this committee is prepared to be bold.

Unfortunately, what used to be the best transportation system in the world is now rapidly deteriorating.

Quite often, and the reason I got on the committees that I did 20 years ago was because this is what we are supposed to be doing.

It is great to have all our visitors here from Oklahoma.

I have often thought in that particular job, in your job, there is no better background than to have been a mayor of a large city.

This is awful. This is the greatest Country in the world.

That was really a direct result of the changes that we made in coming to this point.

Congress cannot shirk our responsibility to get our work done this year.

We cannot leap over that idea to an extension.

Our military budget appears to be based on assumptions developed to cut the size and funding for our military, not to protect this Nation against potential future threats.

The choices we must make to meet sequestration-level funding are forcing us to reduce our Army to a size and with limited capabilities that I am not comfortable with.

In 2014, I testified that fiscal shortfalls have caused the Army to implement tiered readiness.

Under our current budget, Army readiness will, at best, flat-line over the next 3 to 4 years.

I believe this is the most uncertain I have seen the national security environment in my nearly 40 years of service.

If we do not have the resources to train and equip the force, our soldiers, our young men and women, are the ones who will pay the price, potentially with their lives.

The compromises we have made to modernization and readiness, combined with reductions to our force size and capabilities, translates directly into strategic risk.

Even with the funding increases in the fiscal year 2016 President's budget we believe our current air and space advantages are increasingly at risk.

If we are forced to take further cuts, that level will decrease closer to 1:1.5 or 1:1.

Delays and cuts mean that marines will have to deploy today with legacy equipment that requires more maintenance.

Are we still headed for a hollowing of the force, or have we already arrived there?

Sequestration will challenge us to meet even our current level of commitments to our allies and partners around the world.