I think it would also be fair for those of us who feel it is wrong to reduce the force structure the way we are doing, we shouldn't be supporting this round of BRAC because basically we are tearing up the very ability we would have to…

I think the American people have a right to know, and not just wait until after the election, what these cuts are going to mean in sequestration as well as the other cuts.

Strategically, there is a sound basis for establishing an operational Marine presence on Guam, and we will start moving Marines to Guam at the first opportunity.

how does anybody really justify the sex selection or race selection for doing an abortion? And you can't.

But one thing that really just stuck out to me in your testimony was the fact that you said that, in fiscal year 2011, throughout 2011, the Navy was only able to meet 59 percent of the combatant commanders' requirements.

While there seems to be a prevailing consensus that sequestration, under the Budget Control Act, would be devastating to the military, I remain severely concerned that we have already gone too far.

Currently we are dealing with the $465 billion DOD cut that was arbitrarily made without analysis to underpin that number.

What happens if the other shoe drops under sequestration? With all of these individual decisions, the cumulative effect will be devastating.

I would say get ready, the show is only just beginning.

We plan to fight as much as we can to make sure you guys never have a fair fight.

as we reduce our spending, doesn't that have an impact on the reduction in defense spending with our allies around the world...

We cannot afford to allow a budget target to be the sole governing basis in our decisions today, or we will bear an enormous cost in the future.

While I understand that a rotational readiness model, such as the Army's Force Generation Model, enables ready forces for Afghanistan and Iraq, it comes at the expense of the non-deployed forces.

How is Congress to assess the long-term readiness requirements for the force when the QDR failed to provide the long-range, 20-year assessment required by Title 10?

We are constantly trying to get the balance between whether or not the budget is driving our defense strategy or our defense strategy is driving our budget.

The President last night told us that in making decisions in our country, he said, "It will be harder, because we will argue about everything--the cost, the details, the letter of every law. Of course, some countries don't have this…

We owe it to the taxpayers to make the most of every dollar entrusted to us.

Shame on us if we continue to give the Department of Defense billions of dollars without doing the most basic of all good business practices by simply knowing where that money is going.

Readiness is critical to our national defense and the safety of our troops.

I would caution the subcommittee from taking action to significantly change NSPS.

I agree with the President's directive to the Department of Defense to conduct a comprehensive review of NSPS.

Paying employees for the quality of their work is an underlying principle of most businesses and it should be an underlying principle in government.

I am very concerned that the confluence of all these changes in a relatively short time period have placed stressors on the fleet that have a degenerating effect on readiness, potentially jeopardizing safety and driving up long-term…

There is probably no issue more difficult and fraught with emotion than with the use of land.

Thank you, Congressman Akin, for having this special order and for allowing me a few moments to talk about this very important topic. We hear a lot of times people on the other side of the aisle saying, well, you voted for this package…