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"It is in this environment of uncertainty that the Committee must review the Administration’s budget request for Afghanistan, which is dated. General, we need your best assessment of the situation as it is today. With respect to plans for U.S. troop withdrawal, the Committee needs to understand which bases are closing, which of our units are coming out, and when. We need to know the costs attributable to the drawdown and where the money would come from. This is made more problematic since the Administration has used of nearly all of its transfer authority to build the border wall."

"Unfortunately, the rhetoric and the policies of this Administration continue to make it difficult to achieve the right balance between enforcement and due process, between security and humane treatment, because they have instilled fear in my community and across the nation. I hear repeatedly of families afraid to go to work; of Dreamers who live with anxiety about their future in the only country they know to be their home; and of elementary school teachers who state their young students exhibit signs of PTSD because they are afraid that one day they will come home to an empty home. By all indications, the Administration has exacerbated our challenges in the interior, and especially at the border, where they have put the lives and wellbeing of thousands of migrants at risk."

"The FAA provides critical services on behalf of the traveling public every day. Millions of flights—both scheduled and unscheduled—must safely navigate our national airspace, the most complex in the world. This year’s FAA budget requests $17.5 billion in budgetary resources, a decrease of about $96 million compared to last year’s enacted level."

"We’re interested in learning more about whether the FCC has sufficient resources to complete its ambitious agenda, and if it is realistic to take on all of this work. I also want to discuss the importance of prioritizing consumer protection. We continue to see that when it comes to policies that assist wireless and broadband companies, the FCC can’t seem to move fast enough. In the process, it undermines competition and threatens to waste limited Federal dollars. But taking action to protect consumers seems like an afterthought."

"The Administration’s FY 2021 budget request, which proposes unsustainable cuts of nearly 20% to foreign assistance, demonstrates, once again, that the Administration does not value the impact of the global economy on our national security. Nor does it recognize the merits of poverty reduction through multilateral development. Fortunately, this Committee does."

"Sadly, the Trump Administration has been undermining protections, unions, and workers. And the Trump-controlled NLRB has been taking every opportunity to dismantle workers’ rights to organize. Some of the Board’s most egregious rulings and regulatory efforts seek to deny labor protections for thousands of workers."

"For fiscal year 2021, the Interior Department is seeking a $1.9 billion cut, or 14 percent, from the fiscal year 2020 enacted level for the bureaus and programs funded through the Interior appropriations bill. It would slash the US Geological Survey budget by 24%. It would eliminate Landscape Conservation Cooperatives and Science Support at the Fish and Wildlife Service. Essentially, this budget would undo all progress we made last year toward advancing science."

"We recognize that this is an extraordinary time for the United States Army. Our nation presently has over 187,000 soldiers deployed in 140 countries around the world. These soldiers are the Army’s most critical resource. We will talk today about the training, equipment, and resources needed to give our soldiers the skills and tools needed to accomplish their missions. But we would also like you to know that the members of this Committee care deeply about the welfare and quality of life of our men and women in uniform. We want to make sure we take care of these needs, as well."