Tim Kaine

It is sometimes hard to explain to America that you are letting people go, but we still would like to hire somebody.

I urge you all to be as forward leaning as possible in ensuring that all of our military benefits are as inclusive as possible.

I personally remain very skeptical about increasing costs for military members and veterans.

We have seen some concerns on the civilian recruiting side because of a 20 percent cut in pay.

There is no greater responsibility for Congress and military leaders than to support our brave servicemembers.

A system where less than 1 out of 10 reported perpetrators are held accountable for their alleged crimes is not a system that is working.

Attack operations by our doctrine is an integral part of missile defense.

We believe and would advocate strongly for offense-defense integration for missile defense.

The non-lethal application of offensive capability, in conjunction with missile defense, demonstrates the ability of the United States to both deter a threat and assure our allies.

A strong narrative of commitment and a strong narrative of Afghans' credible, to the fore, in the lead for providing security, I believe is a critical component to success of the elections in 2014.

I think our presence post-2014 is designed to address two conflicting issues: first, that we are not an occupying force; but second, we are not going to abandon Afghanistan.

The message of occupier and abandonment, while seemingly inconsistent, exists in the same space.

Yet we also, as a body, as a military, as a Congress, weigh the effect of the drone program on the civilian populations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

I think many members of the committee and many Senators look at certain actions that the Pakistani Government with a lot of concern.

We are never going to ask 10 soldiers to do more than 10 soldiers' worth of work.

I thank the Chair. (The remarks of Mr. Kaine pertaining to the introduction of S. 700 are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

You do not intervene because of moral reasons. You intervene because of very concrete, tactical interests or tangible interests.

We are facing what amounts to being both a humanitarian crisis but we are also facing increasingly a crisis and a threat that takes on a national security character to it.

We had a fairly extensive Armed Services hearing this morning with General Breedlove, who is the incoming European Command and NATO Supreme Commander nominee.

The idealists always felt that the only time you should intervene internationally... is when there is a strong humanitarian, moral need to do so.

I hope today that our panelists will help us understand where the President is headed on Syria policy.

I am not saying that I would, or would not, support greater involvement but that he should not do so in such a way as to clearly avoid Congress' role.

I sent a letter to the President noting the constitutional role of Congress in such decisions.

I believe that will be brought to bear in a positive way should you be confirmed.

They want us to come together around fair solutions that work for the middle class, help our economy grow, and tackle our deficit and debt responsibly.