"I think we have to be consistent in our message."
"the challenges of the future require flexible force more than a fixed force."
"If we don't find that solution that is assumed in the budget that the President has submitted, what will be the long-term effect on the costs and scheduling on the shipbuilding side?"
"There were 50 votes to pass the Senate budget that did pass on March 23 that would have dramatically changed the sequester and made the cuts targeted rather than across-the-board."
"It's a friendship, but it needs an awful lot of work."
"My concern about Syria right now is this, that it looks more and more sectarian, that Assad is an Alawite and with a military that is--about 70 percent of the military leadership is Alawite."
"If they believe that the only outcome of this is likely going to be whether they survive or whether they are purged as that community, then this will be a fight to death whether we offer lethal aid or..."
"To make a sixth of the budget, defense, take 50 percent of the cuts, that was foolish."
"Can we trust them? Will the weapons end up in the wrong place?"
"Let me just say in conclusion that there were 53 votes, I think, in this body at the end of February in the Senate to not allow the sequester to go into effect."
"Just that the stakes are very high. The stakes are very high on this one."