as secretary of defense and i suspect my would say the same, bob hale has been an end of the -- indispensable part of the process at a difficult time. hale and his people have worked tirelessly at a time when it is uncertain as we have been through maybe any time since world war ii. when we talked about government shutdowns for 16 days, furloughs, budget uncertainty, been his, it has remark will leadership that has helped us. i do not think i ever state bob hale's value to our department in this country. suggest our focus budget, let me suggest [indiscernible] general dempsey for his comments. touche been in constant with our fellow administrators at nato as well as russia, ukraine. i spoke saturday with the russian minister of defense about this. we have also constantly been in ourch as i said with collaborators on our side of .he atlantic, i was at nato last week where i regularlyhe administered nato meeting. the minister of defense with us and spend some time with him. across the administration, our efforts as you now have been focused on de-escalating crisis. supporting the new ukrainian

i also want to acknowledge bob hale, who is our current comptroller. he will be involved in his last budget presentation after five years. there he distinguished service to this country. and the department of defense. i would tell you, as secretary of defense, i suspect that my predecessors would say the same -- bob hale has been an indispensable part of the process at a very difficult time. he and his people have worked tirelessly and continued at a time that is probably as uncertain as we have in through. maybe any time since world war ii. when we talk about furloughs, it has been his leadership. i cannot overstate his contributions. as you suggest, mr. chairman, our focus today is on the fy 2015 budget. let me address, generally, the askation and i will then for his statements and his comments. have beenmpsey and i with ournt touch fellow ministers. ukraine -- insia, fact, today, we are putting together a call with the new minister of defense for ukraine. last couple of weeks i have had conversations with the previous two ministers. general dempsey

l of time e budget and quadrennial defense review under secretary of defense and comptroller bob hale who you all know very well. not want to remind you that the end of this mr. hale would like to have a couple of minutes after the briefing is over. deputy undersecretary of defense for strategy, plans, and forced development and from the joint staff and director of force structure resources to meet lieutenant-general mark ramsey. following briefings leaders from the army, navy, air force unmanned missile defense agency will provide further information on their respective elements of the larger budget submission. last week you heard secretary hazel and chairman dempsey preview some of the key decisions contained within the documents we are releasing today. firmly believing that the key br represents the right strategy to a vin the united states and secure our interest during this historic transition from military. directing that that team define our goals and a fiscally informed manner which enables us to bill the budget that police supports our strategy. the analysis you will hear tod

undersecretary of defense and comptroller bob hale who you know very well want to remind you at the endle would like a couple minutes with you after the briefing is over. the deputy undersecretary of defense, christine willmouth and director of structure resources and assessment lieutenant general mark ramsey. following their briefings leaders from the army, navy, air force and missile defense agency will provide further information on their respective elements of the larger budget. >> we will be this briefing and go back live to the senate floor for today's session. up to ten minutes each. with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees with the republicans controlling the first half. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent following action on s. 1917 the senate proceed to executive session to consider the nominations numbered 504, 513, 640 and 547, that the senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the nominations listed and there be two minutes of debate prior to each vote equally divided in the usual form and the votes be ten minutes in length and t