"So if you don't deal with those other issues, as I have said repeatedly, you wind up being the person last in line at a buffet where the food is running out."
"I look forward to this discussion. I think it is the most important thing we are doing right now because it will form our national security policy in the years and decades to follow."
"If there is one iron law of American history, it is that those cuts have made future wars more likely."
"After World War I, our Armed Forces shrank from 2.9 million men to 250,000 in 1928."
"After World War II, our Armed Forces shrank from 12 million men in 1945 to 1.4 million in 1950."
"the primary role of those forces is not anymore defending the Germans or Italians; it is simply a way that we can be forward-deployed in the areas where our troops are most likely to see combat in the..."
"if we face a trillion dollars in cuts, if we face the loss of 30 percent of our defense budget over the next decade, we are not going to have the capacity to back up our commitments."
"Let me tell you, everywhere in the budget, every little piece of it, the people who advocate for that piece of it have an outstanding argument for why their piece of it isn't the problem."
"But, I do believe that we can rationally evaluate our national security strategy, our defense expenditures, and the current set of missions we ask the military to undertake and come up with a strategy..."
"I hope the witnesses here today and at future hearings can help us think through our national security strategy and potential changes."
"I share with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle the concern that large, immediate, across-the-board cuts to the defense budget may well do damage to our national security."
"Cuts to our Nation's defense, either by eliminating programs or laying off soldiers, comes with an economic cost."