I very much would like, and we would very much welcome--and we've repeatedly said this--working with those countries on the ground.

Vladimir Putin's conduct there has had the opposite of whatever effect he thought it might have in terms of attracting Ukraine in the direction of Russia.

The United States will not take any action inconsistent with our obligations under the INF Treaty as long as those obligations remain in force.

The Department does not have a clear picture of Shia militia recruiting and the impact of Shia militia recruiting on the ability of the Iraqi Government to recruit Iraqis for the Iraqi Security Force.

We will continue our strong support for Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity.

I believe that Prime Minister Abadi is committed to this vision for Iraq.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of that because that is mostly a matter for the European Union (EU) rather than the United States.

In no way will this take away from our strong condemnation of Russian actions in Ukraine.

I believe he's genuine, he's trying to create there, which is one he calls it, I think, a decentralized Iraq.

The United States and Coalition already use the Iraqi Kurdistan Region as a base of operations to support Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR).

It does appear that the Russian--clearly Russian-backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine are preparing for another round of military action that would be inconsistent with the Minsk Agreement.

Letting that happen would be unwise and unsafe for our national defense, over both the short and long term.

I ask Congress to support the entirety of this budget and end the deep, indiscriminate cuts that sequestration will impose.

National security is bigger than our Department and today's world because of the complexity of the threats.

I think it is fair to say we are late to the recognition of that, but I do think that we have the recognition.

I pledge my personal support to this effort as well as the support of the entire staff of the Department of Defense.

We need our partners in the Middle East to step up and do more.

It deserves funding. And the reason for that is that we need more fuel efficient jet engines in the future.

Congress could also help mitigate the long-term impacts of this underfunding by authorizing another round of BRAC as requested in the President's Budget.

We have a magnificent force in terms of the quality of the people we have, but that is because we are able to be selective from a large pool of excellent young Americans.

I therefore appeal to members of Congress, from both parties, to start looking for ways to find a truly bipartisan compromise.

We cannot afford to have a gap, and just to scope out the issue as a whole, these engines that power some of our rocket boosters that take our satellites--national security satellites into space are manufactured in Russia.

The only way we're going to get out of the wilderness of sequestration is if we work together.

You cannot do defense or national security with a 1 year-at-a-time approach.

I think that the amount of money we have requested and the manner in which we have requested it meets the national security strategy of the United States.