we are $17 trillion, $18 trillion in debt and we ought to be looking for savings where we can.

I don't know of any system in the world that 5 percent is the number, so we are going to have to adjust that number.

We have to fix sequestration, because Senator King has raised a great point. How do you retain people?

They have to opt in. If they do nothing, they stay in the current system. Is that correct?

If you have earned your retirement, if you have your retirement, you can keep your retirement.

Eighty-five percent of the people in the current TRICARE system would not expect to see an increase in copayments.

If I did the Strom thing, it's possible, but I better get started.

Because you have a situation where you have to deal with retiree health care at the expense of readiness to fight the war of today and tomorrow, and that is a choice we don't want to make.

Change is coming. I just really appreciate the input that you've given us.

Well, if that is true, then our military members and their families and our retirees are going to have less choice because that is an unsustainable system.

I'm not going to go to John McCain and say we are going to take your retirement away.

If I just walked into this room not knowing the context, I would think that a 40 percent retirement change had been recommended by the committee for those on Active Duty.

I think you are going to get more money at the end of the day.

Now, if those numbers hold, I will have to ask myself why would I stop a choice that 80 percent seem to want?

But we will not accept demagoguery. We are not going to play that game.

But we are not going to play the demagoguery game, because change is afoot, and it is necessary.

Hearing come to order. I apologize for being late.

Now, the hope is that, if you make this change, the benefits go up and make it worth the additional investment.

We want to do right by them, and that means a new benefit that doesn't exist today.

If I were trying to run a healthcare company, the last people I'd pick would be the DOD.

If we do not hold some of these people under the law of war for questioning as an enemy combatant, then we are going to lose the ability to gather intelligence.

the second tool is to hold an American citizen, or a non-citizen, under the law of war for the purposes of intelligence gathering.

We have held several American citizens for a multiple period of years as enemy combatants: Hamdi v. Rumsfeld.

You are not going to tax your way into prosperity and you are not going to cut your way into prosperity.

Marijuana is still a criminal substance under Federal law, and it is still a crime not only to possess but to distribute under Federal law.