Gerry Connolly

I have joined my friend, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and my friend, Albio Sires, in being critical of the administration's rather abrupt change in policy and getting very little in return for it.

If we are that confident that, yes, there are some failures we can point to put there are also some successes, then it ought not to be that difficult for Secretary Carter to respond to Mr. Sopko's request.

Help us understand how that we could arrive at that state of affairs.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, echoes of Vietnam, echoes of other large investments.

I'm obviously not Donald Trump. I didn't make that up.

That is not a tenable position, and I can assure you on a bipartisan basis that is going to be the point of view on this committee.

Harry Truman used to have a sign on his desk 'The buck stops here.'

I am actually trying to help you here, Mr. Shelanski, but, you know, you are wiping your hands of this.

I have been a corporate officer in the private sector. I have been the chief elected officer in the public sector.

Despite the powerful impact this agency has on the lives of all Americans, OIRA operates mostly in the shadows.

OIRA plays a key role in shaping hundreds of important rules such as those that safeguard food supply.

This is arguably one of the most influential and consequential Federal agencies that most Americans have never heard of.

Irrespective of our politics or anything else, this is a catastrophic failure with our citizens.

We expect the Flint water treatment plan will be fully operational and capable of treating Flint water prior to the date of termination.

I thought you gave a very eloquent, passionate, and suitably outraged opening statement.

I mean, my friend from California says well, the Kurds aren't subject to genocide. Well, what if they are tomorrow?

I take my friend from California's point. His concern, I think, is that we not dilute something, with the best of intentions.

In my community yesterday, we buried a young police officer. She was 90 minutes on the job, first day.

Well, I think one of the purposes of our hearing here is to try to understand what happened.

This begs the question, why do our gun control policies allow for the purchase of a weapon designed for maximum destruction?

Unfortunately, the answer is pretty ugly.

We're not going to give up on the Crimea?

If you let Crimea go now you're quibbling over the price in eastern Ukraine or Abkhazia.

I think it's one of the most successful things U.S. foreign diplomacy has done in a long time.

Is it not also true not to dilute anything that the biggest victims of that terrorism are in fact Islamists themselves and that many of our allies fighting this terrorist war are Islamic countries?