Mac Thornberry

It is also a challenging political environment, and to be charged with what I believe is the first function of the Federal Government--to defend the country--is a significant responsibility.

This is substituting the judgment of the administration for the judgment of Congress by reducing specific weapons systems that had been authorized and appropriated.

Article 1 section 8 says it is Congress' responsibility--not just our authority but our responsibility--to provide and maintain, raise and support, make the rules and regulations for the military forces of the United States.

I believe it was inappropriate. I do not believe it was impeachable.

President George Bush, in a different context, talked about the soft bigotry of low expectations.

I hope we don't give in to those, I hope we remember that the troops should come first.

It seems unwise to me to start launching missiles.

It is hard to find a legal justification for that military strike in Syria, absent congressional approval.

Going to war on the Korean Peninsula would have catastrophic consequences.

I believe that the primary function of Congress is to fund common defense to protect American families, to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

This issue is important. Members of this committee hear evidence every week that we are not providing our military with the funding they need.

In the coming weeks, Chairman Mac Thornberry and I, in addition to my ranking member, Jim Langevin, and the HASC ranking member, Adam Smith, plan to introduce standalone cyber warfare legislation that strengthens congressional oversight of…

The Defense Business Board's key findings, that the Department of Defense could save as much as $125 billion over 5 years by limiting unnecessary back-office bureaucracy, are not a surprise.

I ask you to work with me and others on the Armed Services Committee to give our servicemen and -women the resources they need to build our military and keep our Nation safe.

I call on each of you to recognize that it is our responsibility in Congress to provide support for our men and women in uniform while they selflessly serve our Nation.

Our military needs $640 billion to begin the restoration of its forces that the American people expect and need in today's world.

I think most of the American people believe that the President's statements that this is the JV [junior varsity] team, or that the threat is contained, don't find those credible.

The Constitution puts on the Congress the responsibility to provide and maintain, to raise and support military forces that can defend the country.

finding a way to get to yes, rather than finding excuses on why things can't be done, I think is critical.

Private industry has tools they can use to hire the best talent available and then reward that talent with performance-based incentives.

Today's hearing is a reminder that the national security threats to our Nation do not go away or wait patiently while we try to straighten out our budget woes.

under the best case scenario we are going to have tight defense budgets as far as the eye can see.

My opinion is that the more the administration consults with Congress, the more we can make these decisions out in the open, the better result we will have.

And so I actually think that we should always be willing to expand our thinking about how to address the threats that we see emerging.