Joe Manchin

I think one of the great Senators, that gave me a little bit more confidence.

I have not found any reason why I would not support Senator Hagel.

I believe very strongly they are truly the greatest ally and the only ally we have in that part of the world.

If it has been a bad day, we have all had maybe a less than a stellar performance if that is what we are looking at.

I think that told me right there everything I needed to know, that he would not hesitate to defend this country.

I want to thank the chairman and thank the ranking member for having this, and I want to confirm everything that has been said here.

So I would hope it does not become a political vote, if you will.

I support the President's policy that while the United States does not take sides over competing claims, the United States opposes any and all forms of coercion to resolve disputes or apply pressure.

I share the concern of our senior military leaders that fiscal constraints will affect the very necessary programs needed to support the families of our servicemembers.

Yes. I support the effort and will maintain the Department's commitment to producing audit-ready financial statements by the congressional deadline of September 2017, with an audit beginning by the end of calendar year 2017.

If you can't change your mind, you can't change anything.

I appreciate your support for that. I look forward to working with you that we can put more of our vets back to work.

I respect you being the person being able to say what you thought needed to be said.

It's truly informative. But encouraging also to see that everyone is trying to move in the most appropriate manner and taking the public safety first and foremost.

Yet somehow we find it acceptable that an industry can use 1960s technology in 2013 to close its valves.

Automated valves absolutely improve safety but only in conjunction with a rapid well coordinated response.

We have to do better.

How could that happen? And if that's the case and we have all these lines out there and we're much more dependent now, and I think we're going to be sometime in the future on natural gas, how vulnerable are we as a society?

I think the concept of oversight is very important.

Are you all working with the company's operators, people responsible for the lines so that we all come up with a conclusion on what's the best method to take?

Why don't they just shut this thing off? Why is it still burning?

Is your thought process changing on that now?

I want to thank Senator Rockefeller for his leadership as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to make sure that our pipelines are constructed, maintained, and operated safely.

Not that it always causes the world to change vastly for the better but that it's there, that it's asking questions.

Let me just say on my behalf in closing, I want to thank Senator Rockefeller for inviting me to be part of this hearing today.