If we reach about a level of 260 ships, we cease to be a superpower, and we become a regional power.

So at a time when we are making enormous cuts in Army brigades, in readiness, in strike fighter shortfalls, in munition shortfalls, all taking real pain to the warfighter, this is an opportunity for us to have a substantial savings without…

I hope that our hearing today can stimulate some fresh thinking about how we pay for our national defense.

we are an 11-carrier Navy in a 15-carrier world.

if we do not have that capability of having three carrier strike groups for the surge, ... that has a huge impact on whether or not we can win or lose that conflict.

The presence of a carrier--of an aircraft carrier strike group has a significant role in deterring a conflict.

the delay to the response of those forces absolutely increases the risk, the timelines you are on, and ultimately gets to a personal risk.

the mere presence of one of those carrier strike groups has a significant role in stopping a conflict from going to phase zero to phase three.

If we remain on our present trajectory, I fear we may see our seapower and power projection capabilities eclipsed.

we are going to have a reduction in overall submarine capacity here in the coming years where it is just actually going to go below the Navy's identified requirement of 48

cutting that F-22 production line was one of the worst mistakes we made for national defense in some time.

the Secretary of Defense embarrassed himself yesterday. He lost a lot of credibility when he said, even if we got the money and the authority, that he would turn it down unless the EPA and IRS and every other governmental program got…

If you didn't enforce the rules, there would be no order.

I believe the Congress has a unique role to help push the Department and the services in directions that, while challenging, will ultimately benefit our national security and defense policy.

The reason those cruisers are still floating today is because the United States Congress said, we are not going to let you do it.

If we keep moving the direction we are and we get down to 255 or 260 ships, we cease to be a superpower.

Because I believe that over the next decade or two, so goes the United States Navy, so goes the national defense of this country.

The administration's rhetoric that they are not removing an aircraft carrier of the fleet simply does not match their actions.

I look forward to fully restoring the requisite funding to ensure we retain the USS George Washington for another 25 years.

I am dismayed at the intent of this administration to reduce our aircraft carrier fleet.

Freedom of religion, and their exercise of that whether they are putting it from the Quran or the Bible, is not to make sure no person on the planet is offended.

We need to stand up for these cadets' rights, too. Freedom of religion... is not to make sure no person on the planet is offended.

Can you tell me any other inspirational quote that cadets have been forced to remove from their personal whiteboards other than verses from the Bible?

To put it bluntly, the President's budget greatly diminishes our ability for responding to emerging threats and decreases our current readiness.

Revised DOD Instruction 1300.17, issued on January 22, 2014, incorporates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). However, it undermines the purpose of RFRA by redefining a well-grounded constitutional term of art, 'substantial…