Jim Cooper

I think we should approach this hearing as all others with a great deal of humility.

We in Congress have gotten in the bad habit of not paying for things

It is great to hear this ringing affirmation for the importance of America's nuclear deterrence

Your duties in this regard are the single-most important function of government, and the only thing the public will care about if there were to be a nuclear incident.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. I, too, welcome the witnesses, and it is a pleasure to work with you on these issues of vital importance to our national security.

The growing challenges associated with ballistic missile defense are increasingly capable and continue to outpace our active defense systems.

You need to plug that defense hole and you need to plug it with real dollars, not borrowed dollars from China.

I certainly second your strong objection to sequestration for the defense budget.

We have got to at least be at the President's level, because as General Dempsey said, that is the lower ragged edge of what we absolutely have to have.

The greatest threat we face that threatens assured access to space is probably our own sequestration stupidity.

We will be deliberately below the President's number. So hopefully there will be a solution.

This is the national defense we are talking about, and there has got to be an answer before we mark up.

We will be marking up the NDAA at a level $35 billion below the President's budget. That is just unacceptable.

I am worried that the greatest risk to our nuclear defenses is not at the witness table... it is on this side.

I completely agree with you on the need to end sequestration, but I hope that the majority and the minority will be able to come with a plan to do that.

I just worry there is more vulnerability here than perhaps this hearing has indicated so far.

I am worried we are already in a cyber war, we are just not admitting it.

I worry that the acronym 'CLOUD' really stands for the 'Chinese Love Our Uploaded Data.'

I am worried, Mr. Chairman, that at least the public portion of this hearing is doing more of a service to the Russians than it is to our own people.

I worry that Congress doesn't make your job any easier. In fact, sometimes it is a nuisance to deal with the legislative branch, but nonetheless we are here.

I think we all agree that the Russians have cheated on this treaty. The question is, what do we do about it?

I do suggest that it is probably better to build coalitions than to champion causes individually.

I was just wondering sitting here listening to the testimony if we need to have another hearing to allow some of these folks to give the counterarguments because some pretty serious charges have been made here, including inventing numbers…

Nearly everything you say is accurate except for that last part. Nashville barbecue is way better than Memphis anyway.

Why should we abide by the Treaty if Russia is unwilling?