ms. bonamici. >> thank you. mr. chairman, mr. secretary and general dempsey, thank you so much for your testimony and thank you for your service. i join many others, i'm sure in appreciating your recognition that the unacceptable level of debt is a threat to our national security. and i hear that back at home as well. and thank you for making proposals that will implement efficiencies while keeping our military strong and our nation safe. i wanted to ask you about overseas contingency operations. the budget includes $44.2 billion per year from 2014 through 2022 as place holders for future war costs. now, mr. secretary, and general dempsey, you've stated that the forces are on track to take the lead responsibility for afghanistan's security. and you talked about that today. by the end of 2014. so assuming that that timeline holds, is it possible that we could have significantly fewer deployed troops in 2015 and beyond and could our costs be dramatically less than the $44.2 billion in those upcoming years? >> well, there's no quest

ms. bonamici: thank you to my colleague for yielding. i'm happy to be here in support of my colleague supporting fighting against this drastic hike in student loan interest rates. education is the key to improving our economy. but current barriers to higher education jeopardize those goals for too many. education needs to be accessible to every, not just those who can pay tuition out of their pockets. i'm proud to be a co-spon or of -- co-sponsor of the stop the rate hike act which will prevent a jump in student loan interest rate bus not at the expense of health care for vulnerable populations and women. federal student loans play a significant role in improving access to education. if we allow interest rates to double on july 1, this key component of college affordability will become an increased burden on millions of students across the country who currently have student loans. the average amount of loan debt for these students is more than $23,000 and if we don't prevent this hike in interest rates, they will see their debt burden in