aspects of our attitude towards iran, what would it be? i would take the iranians on and take them on aggressively, particularly in syria. also do it in iraq. they ll continue the support to hamas and hezbollah. mike, let me give you a metaphor for the circumstance. we re going all of this now. right? and for the first time in years we have gapped our carrier coverage in the persian gulf. that s almost inconceivable. what does that mean? it means we don t have an aircraft carrier anywhere in the region. why? great. thank you for asking. because the defense budget is where it is. and so one of the things i suggest, if you re going to do this you were unof the unavoidable costs of doing this, make the d.o.d. budget right and healthy again so we have the military power to push back against the iranians and double down on not just israel irs but arabs. a claes call for me. i give the israelis the m.o.m.
and i m not when i say i m not satisfied, i wouldn t be satisfied no matter what until our veterans are satisfied. it is going come back to the question about the dod bill. i want to say that i m proud of the courage of my members to say this is not the way to go. when we go that way on the dod budget, the veterans budget is not part of the dod. it s part of the domestic budget. so we everything else suffers if we don t budget fairly. when the speaker has said shame it s shameful that people wouldn t vote for the dod budget, i m reminded that he himself did not vote for the dod budget in 2010 when we had an amendment to repeal don t ask, don t tell in the budget. only nine republicans voted for it then because they were so opposed to the repeal of don t ask, don t tell. let s do it right, let s get it done so our country is strong
at war for the last 13 years. as we end our second war, our sec w second war of the last decade, our longest ever. this budget adapts to new realities and physical restraints while preparing for the future. the defense secretary, chuck hagel, now outlining the president s new budget for the department of defense. his own budget was released last week. he is making the case and also speaking out about the crisis in ukraine. i want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer in washington. the strong statement from chuck hagel. you just heard him outline some reassuring steps that the u.s. is going to take to friends and allies and eastern europe in the face of what the united states sees as a russian invasion of crimea, part of ukraine. let s bring in barbara starr, our pentagon correspondent and
are proposing, as you all know, the osce has also proposed an economic package working with the imf for the ukraine, is a particularly important part of this. we ll continue to work those channels as well as the diplomatic channels. mr. chairman, i think it is clear as you have noted, ranking member, imhauf, in your opening statements that the events of the past week underscore the need for america s continued global engagement in leadership. the president s defense budget reflects that reality. it helps sustain our commitments and our leadership at a very defining moment. i believe this budget is far more than a set of numbers and a list of decisions. it is a statement of values and priorities.
retired brigadier general, kevin ryan. barbara, to you, this is supposed to be an appearance by the secretary of defense outlining the new dod budget but he used the occasion to outline some new steps the u.s. military is taking in the face of what the u.s. cease as russian aggressive steps in ukraine. absolutely, wolf. the administration has been so adamant that this is all a diplomatic effort. it still i. f for the first time, we are seeing the u.s. military and the pentagon get involved by supporting the nato allies, specially in eastern europe. the countries that are now very anxiety ridden, the u.s. believes about what russia is up to. a lot of deliberate words from hagel. let s explain what he is really talking about. first up, poland. poland had gone to nato earlier this week and said it had concerns. now, the u.s. has responded. there will be what the pentagon