Joe Manchin

It seems like you all are only looking at the enlisted operators for the Global Hawk fleet, when the severe shortage of operators are with the Predator and the Reaper.

We only have to read the headlines about so-called drone strikes to understand that these systems have become an important element of modern warfare.

I respect that. I really do respect where you are coming from.

Unless modified for years after fiscal year 2018, they will threaten our long-term national security interests.

Should we assess the risks of failing to meet combatant commander demands. These are people on the front lines.

We are looking for every way possible not to repeat the mistakes of that type of a contract.

I expect and my wife demands that we provide a safe and secure environment for our children.

I think it has been very successful, also, and very cost-effective for us, too.

It seems to be something National Guard has been successful with in the State Partnership Program.

Also, with the change of regime there, I guess the last election they just had showed an awful lot of the moderates got elected and some of the extremes got pushed out of office.

I think they do pose a long-term threat as well.

It is clear to me from my conversations with our military commanders both on the ground and in the Pentagon that they have been reduced from considering what it will take to win to, 'What will I be allowed to do?'

The artificial limitation on troop levels ties the hands of our military commanders and makes our troops more vulnerable to attack

What all this translates to is risk: risk that problems and contingencies once addressed in days will be addressed in months

This President walked away and ignored the lessons of history that power abhors a vacuum, that wars do not end because politicians say so

He chose to request lowest level of defense spending authorized by last year's budget agreement.

President Obama should have requested a defense budget that reflects the scale and scope of the national security threats we face.

President Obama's fiscal year 2017 defense budget request does little to relieve that burden.

The only folks winning today are the lawyers. And I said perhaps they need to change the mascot from the Libby Loggers to the Libby Lawyers.

Unless we take this problem seriously, unless we take meaningful steps to end reliance on fossil fuels and cut back on greenhouse gas emissions, these fires will get worse, we will spend more money, we will jeopardize more lives, we will…

If the United States of America still needs West Virginia to do the heavy lifting and produce the energy that this country has always counted on from our little state, we want to do it.

I would love to sit down with you.

Coal in Virginia is never, I mean, we love our southwest Virginia coal miners, but they have never been considered coal country.

Try losing 19,000 jobs in a state the size of West Virginia.

If the rest of the world is going to use the most abundant energy supply they are using, the same as we built our country on and we want them to follow suit.