this country, this committee, this Congress needs to move back to strategic thinking where we have a comprehensive strategic plan.

the security issues presented with North Korea and the entire Inda-Asia-Pacific region will continue to require more attention and resources from the United States.

In the coming decades, this is the region where the largest armies in the world will camp.

I think reasonable people can have different views on it. My perspective is that the benefits of the Law of the Sea Convention do outweigh any sort of perceived risks.

I believe, if we are to maintain our credibility in the region, if we are to sustain confidence in the rebalance to Asia, that it is extremely important for the Trans-Pacific Partnership to be ratified.

I am concerned that China's president and the Chinese Government may see President Obama's last few months as a window of opportunity for establishing an air defense identification zone [ADIZ], expanding reclamation activities to…

I do not see it as inevitable that we will have a confrontation with China in the South China Sea if we have the correct strategy to avoid such confrontation and potential conflict.

While I approve of very few of this administration's foreign policies, I do believe that their early instinct to devote more resources and attention to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region was correct.

There is no legal authority to draw a big circle in the water a thousand miles long and then claim it as some sort of special zone or internal waters.

The threats to freedom of navigation that emanate from the South China Sea and reverberate globally are a great enough threat to the United States.

I think it is clear that more is needed to defend our allies and our interests in the region.

I also see an opportunity for a new administration to take a new and stronger stance on the South China Sea.

I believe that we can inject enough doubts into the minds of China's leaders about its use in the scenarios we worry most about.

our treaty commitment to the Philippines is absolutely ironclad.

I think this is a country we need to have some real strategic clarity with.

President Obama has been clear that we will stand by our commitments to the Philippines, as we do any mutual defense treaty ally.

I think that the South China Sea is a real tinderbox.

Your duty is to defend our country, but our duty--the duty of the members sitting on this subcommittee and this full committee--is to defend you.

I was disturbed not just by the details of the incident itself, but about what they imply about the training and materiel readiness levels of our forces on the front lines.

Unfortunately, I think this administration's policies have seriously undermined both with grave implications for our men and women in uniform and our national security.

In my estimation, the budget request will make our tactical airlift fleet smaller and older.

We have seen the error of our ways. We want to keep them in. We need them. We are going to modernize them.

if we continue with the degree of spending we have had for shipbuilding and ship construction on an average over the last 30 years, instead of increasing the number of ships, we will ultimately be down to 237 ships.

How does this reduction in amphibious lift support amphibious operations in a contested environment? What risk is the Marine Corps bearing to support these diminished requirements?