I would first like to commend and thank Chairman Hastings for all of his efforts and his support in bringing this legislation to the floor. We would not be where we are today without his leadership, and it has been a true pleasure and…

I applaud today's House passage of H.R. 3979, the Carl Levin and Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2015 which extends our strong commitment to our military. With growing threats around the world it…

Both of these bills would allow everyone to truly benefit from the recovery of red snapper.

We strongly believe that the commercial industry should remain under the oversight of the Council.

We urge Congress to approve it.

I hope my testimony today has helped the committee better understand the challenges facing this fishery and how we might resolve them in ways that respect all stakeholder needs.

I will not support sending our military into harm's way with their arms tied behind their backs.

To continue these releases just as we have had to open a new front in the war on terror is unwise.

Their ideology is clearly a threat.

The strongest argument that Al Qaeda and ISIL have to present to the people they want to join them is that they are protecting Islam against Western aggression.

Now we have a new Iraqi Government that is at least trying, initially, a power-sharing arrangement that can bring some of the Sunnis in.

We have seen the Kurds, who were a broken force until we showed up, provided some arms and trained them, and they have now turned the tide.

We have got to be smart about how we build local support to confront ISIL, but make no mistake about it, they are a threat.

This threat exists, and we have to confront it, and every time a decision comes up, I really think a lot of the opposition is we just don't want to have to deal with it.

To win this fight, we have got to find partners, Muslim partners--in the case of ISIL, preferably Sunni partners--to work with to fight them.

That is why I think the train-and-equip mission makes so much sense, and it was a bit frustrating yesterday to listen to people who are concerned about it.

This bill would be detrimental to our Nation.

I believe it is an excellent step in the right direction to expand and improve the refuge system.

This legislation would require Congress to authorize any expansion of a national wildlife refuge, doing away with a century of conservation precedent.

Thank you so much for joining us and thanks for your service.

Can you tell me where in the budget are we emphasizing the reset of our forces, specifically those outside a weapons acquisition?

How about specifically for training?

So you believe the base budget adequately addresses that and fully executing the reset can be accomplished in the base budget?

What we need to do, though, is simplify and rationalize that body of law so it is more coherent, so it is logical, so it is consistent.

How do you address that with tenured individuals, both in the civilian side and in the uniform side, through the lifecycle of the program?