Ron Johnson

America, we spend about 1 percent of our Federal budget on foreign aid; in the past, oftentimes, with very little--very few strings attached, you know, really just showing the compassion of the American public.

And we are making headway, particularly on the burden-sharing.

I think it is important, and I think we need to do it from a position of strength and resolve.

I was able to see the results, which is that now the Trump administration is providing the Ukrainians the means to defend themselves.

The sanctions are appropriate as to, not just Crimea and the illegal annexation, but also other issues.

I think it is really important for us, as well as for our allies in Europe.

I think that has been a mistake. I think it created vacuums that others have filled.

I think we have lost ground, in part because our rivals are showing alacrity and creativity to the Russians.

If Europe expects America to be steadfast in our relationship, the least Europe can do is spend that 2 percent and, you know, contribute their fair share.

This is not just President Trump making this point. He is really speaking for the American public.

I am an accountant. I like data.

In February 2007, Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the Munich security conference in which he formally announced Russia's return as America's foil on the international stage.

I think there are some real serious issues we need to discuss.

No. It is bad for business to have chemicals stolen and used for nefarious purpose.

Again, what I am trying to do in this reauthorization would be to simplify this, without risking safety.

Maybe it would be just a lot easier for industry itself to say, no, I mean, if you are above this--everybody above that threshold is doing these things.

So here is task number two. The first one is we have to figure out what we do with explosive companies.

You did not make it more complex. We actually started to streamline it.

I think one thing we really need to be concerned about is mission creep.

Again, I come from industry where you had International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification.

You adopt this proposal, we will have 170 more, because this has virtually no standards.

This law does not even have a sunset provision. It just goes on.

I felt that they should be here to watch part of this process because they may well be asked to pay the ultimate price.

I think it is also important to point out that we did draft this law to pretty well make the authority identical to DOD so that different agencies now working in cooperation are not inhibited by slightly different types of authority which…

I cannot overstate the fact that this is such an important first step, but it is just a minimal first step.