mr. inhofe: i appreciate that. i appreciate the senator from texas yielding at this time. every time i hear people talk about the jobs that are at stake here, i think about my state of oklahoma per capita probably has more jobs in the state than any other state does because we are -- cushing, oklahoma, is the crossroads of the pipeline throughout america. this chart right here -- just over two years ago president obama dame t came to cushing toa speech. you can see the tubes there, talking about how this is a major breakthrough that we're going to -- quote -- "cut through the red tape, break through bureaucratic hurdles and make this project a priority, to go ahead and get it done." that's his quote right there. yet he's done nothing but obstruct this ever since that tiesm the southern leg of the pipeline may be finished but that was part of the project the president dissents hav didn't hy in. the president could do something when you cross international lines but he could not do it from that point south. it is completely stalled because the president has delayed making a

inhofe. >> thank you, mr. chairman. coincidentally, i was with secretary mchugh when the news came and we both got it at the same time, the tragedy at ft. hood. i can pretty much identify too, given the deterioration of the military readiness and capabilities over the last five years and the significant end strength cuts planned for the army. we're all concerned that we can't meet the missions outlined in the strategic guidance without unacceptable risk to the force in our country. we have to remind ourselves and others that when risk goes up -- you were talking about lives. we've been wrong before in the past when it comes to assumptions recordiassumptio assumptions regarding the size of our ground forces. sat income next to each other o house armed services committee when we heard testimony in 1993 by some expert in ten years we would no longer need ground forbeses. so we've been wrong before on where we are. today, the greatest risk our military faces, a hollow force. that has been accruing. we're digging ourselves a

inhofe. >> thank you, mr. chairman. the secretary mchugh, last night, we were together at an event where we had a lot of peop people's support. when you got the phone call of the tragedy that took place. i know that buzzing around the room there, was even though it's happened twice at ft. hood, it could just as well have happened at other places, is that right? from what we know now? >> from what we know now, we're viewing this as a threat across the entire army. >> i think it was kind of prophetic yesterday in the hearing, i think i mentioned this in my opening stable that senator ayotte was kind of challenging that we haven't done enough and expressed a concern, and just coincidentally, hours after that is when it took place. i know that was -- meant a lot to all of us. since this happened just last night, do you have any immediate thoughts about this that you would like to share with us? >> well, i think senator ayotte is posing a statement that we question ourselves about every day, and certainly particularly this d

senator inhofe and see what he thinks so we might be either formally or informally to get our committee members together and start noodling this very important issue. thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general odierno, to go from one of the broadest to one of the more narrow issues, as you know, the budget proposes a series of changes involving military pay raise, the base allowance, commissary subsidies, tri-care. the pressure here is going to be to wait. there's a commission on compensation that's supposed to report about a year from now. and i know that everybody's going to say, you know, let's put off this discussion until that commission reports. what's the downside of waiting? >> well, it's our budget figures in '15 and beyond. i mean, '15 is really -- it's the savings that we garner from those proposals immediately. it probably impacts '15 more, because we supposedly would have some output from them. so we'd have to figure out how we make up for the reductions that we booked based on our recommendations for the changes in composition, if we have to wait. i don't have the exact number what it is in '15. so i'd have to tell you what that specific impact is. i know th

mr. toomey: thank you, madam president. i want to thank my colleague from west virginia, senator manchin, for his terrific efforts on this legislation. i also want to thank our other cosponsors, senator mcconnell and senator inhofe, for their support as well. the tragic story that inspired this bill has a connection to my state of pennsylvania and senator manchin's state of west virginia. so it made it kind of a natural, natural for us to work together on this. it's a terrible story indeed, madam president. i just want to summarize it because it goes to the heart of why i'm here this morning. the story begins in delaware county, pennsylvania, where one of the schoolteachers was found to have molested several boys and raped one. prosecutors decided there was not enough evidence to actually press charges, but the school knew what had happened so they dismissed the teacher for this outrageous behavior. shockingly and so disturbingly, the school also helped this teacher to get a new job so that they could just pass him along and let him become someone else's problem. it happened that the new job was in west virginia, and the school even went so far as to send a letter of recommendation for this monster to get that j

mr. inhofe: mr.resident, today marks the 225th anniversary of george washington's inaugural address to the nation. i -- i don't think anyone's said anything about it. that's a major thing for us to think about each year. it's the 225th anniversary. it's reported that more than 10,000 people -- this is way back 225 years ago -- gathered on this day in 1789 to hear from a man who won a war, who is now ushering in an era of's and freedom in our new nation. there's a historian, peter loback, he pointed out -- and i read his book recently -- about our first president, washington, knew that everything he was to say in the first inaugural address would set a precedent for all that was to come after him in establishing our nation. it's why americans should take a note at how washington weaved in the international -- intentionality of his belief in the omnipotent. washington said -- and this is a quote -- he said, "it would be prospectlpeculiarly improper ton this first official act my fefb yofervent suppocat