mr. chairman. >> that is a glowing endorsement. thank you, senator inhofe. i want to invite the nominees to come forward that dr. droegemeier and mr. jim morhard and mr. joel szabat and look forward to hearing your opening statements if you can confine them as close to five minutes as possible. make sure your entire statements are part of the written hearing record. and then that will give us an opportunity to ask some questions. so we'll ta-- we start on my le and your right with dr. droegemeier and so i look forward to hearing from you, please proceed. >> thank you, chairman thune and ranking member nelson and members of the committee. i am truly honored beyond words to appear before you today as president trump's nominee of the director of the office of science and technology policy and pleased that my wy of 35 yea years lisa is behind me and a lot of friend that's truly blessed my life throughout the years. i was born in kansas city and at the age of 19 i went storm tracking and saw my first tornado up close and personal and it is an experience and the po

mr. chairman. >> all right. thank you, senator inhofe i'm going to invite the nominees to come forward, dr. roegemeier, jimmer hrd and mr. joel szabat. make sure your entire statements are included as part of the written hearing record. it will give us an opportunity to ask some questions, weerl start on my left and your right. with dr. droegemeier. so look forward to hearing from you, please proceed. >> thank you very much chairman thune. ranking member nelson, thank you as well. i'm truly honored beyond words to appear before you today as president trump's nominee. i'm pleased that my wife of 35 years, lisa, is just behind me there, that she could join me along with lots of wonderful friends who have truly blessed my life throughout the years. i was born in kansasings at age 19 i went storm-chasing in the texas panhandle and saw my first tornado. it was a big experience. and the power and the majesty of that awesome power really fuelled my interest in meteorologist. which was the focus of my undergraduate studies at the university of oklahoma. i went on and earned a master's and doctoral d

. >> chairman inhofe and ranking member reed and other members, good morning. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. mr. chairman, i would like to take this opportunity to offer my condolences to you and your committee on the passing of senator john mccain. i also want to acknowledge your leadership of this committee. you have long been a staunch supporter of those of us in uniform and i'm humbled to appear before you and this entire committee. i'm honored to be selected by the president, secretary mattis and general dunford to serve the united nations command, the forces command and the forces in korea. i'm honored for this triple-headed position. i also would like to recognize general brooks, the current commander, and his wife carol for their dedicated service to the nation. i'm joined here today by my wife connie, also an army brat who for the last 26-plus years has been side by side with her soldier supporting troops and families everywhere we've been stationed. she's been my partner and best friend in this career of service in both peace and war. if confirmed, connie will make her 17th move, and

mr. inhofe: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: reserving the right to object, right now there is a court case being heard in texas over the constitutionality of obamacare. we all are aware of that. and their decision upholding the constitutionality of obamacare, the supreme court said that under the commerce clause alone, obamacare would be unconstitutional. it was only because of the individual mandate which they saw as a tax that obamacare was upheld. last year, we eliminated the individual mandate in our tax cut so the stiewcialght needs to be -- the constitutionality needs to be revisited, which is what these states are doing. it was inappropriate for the senate to intervene in this case. further, this resolution instructs all provisions of obamacare to be defended, including the medical device tax, the cadillac tax, the health insurance tax, and other provisions that have proven extremely unpopular on both sides of the aisle. for that reason, madam president, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. man