There have been open source pictures of the extensive nature of the buildup there your conclusion, i think, is right. This is not about simply propping up the assad regime but i think thats a component of it. This is a fundamental shift and i believe mr. Putin understands political math the same way i do. I view it as having to suffer for 15 more months, he views it as an opportunity for that same period of time. And hes heck bent on changing the dynamic. They will now have a foothold in the Eastern Mediterranean for the foreseeable future. Our secretary of state holds a meeting to deconflict airspace when the russians attack in the middle east. That is a remarkable change from whether it was eisenhower but you dont to go to a republican. It was a change from a consistent u. S. Policy, democrat, republican president s alike that said the soviets, now russians, will not have a foothold in will not be the Regional Power inside the United States and we now have the iranian russian axis th
Think i would have voted for tpa. But its a fair point. I think its unfair to say the critics were entirely protectionist or unfriendly to free trade because, of course, its a funny kind of free trade deal. Im old enough to remember that free trade deals were simple everyone got tariffs and they were eight pages long and they were free trade deals and now they are 500 pages and i dont know if its a free trade deal. Its a new version of managed trade and one can make a responsible argument perhaps that its not clear on net its actually freeing up that much trade with all these countries, but i guess that will be a debate you all will have in congress. Theres more transparency requirements in this tpa than in any previous tpa vote in congress. Its required to be public for 60 days so that the American Public has an opportunity to weigh in so that different stakeholders can share their views and i think youll have a robust discussion on whatever the final tpp is presented before the Ameri
And ties into what the Ranking Member has talked about, where the decisions are made and what paul talked about in terms of, how is it that it relates to the ability to perform. Well, one thing i would say is that lsz fr also as leaders, if youve got someone to let go at the captain level, the leader needs to be held accountable, also, because any one of us if our team does something, were ultimately responsible as the leaders and i think that, coming from the top, is so critical of making this a priority. I had a specific question, also, about what senator king referenced regarding the 46 program and wouldnt it make sense for all major defense acquisition production programs to be designed so that the contractor absorbs the cost overruns for production . If i could, senator . Yes. I think its important to understand the risks. Sometimes the threat drives us to take risks because we need to. And when the risks arent clear, that cost sharing between us and the contractor has to be consi
Radical impact. On the issue of accountability, do you have legislation . I think they have the ability to do it and they simply arent enforcing it. Jeff does it. I dont question him. Its to get the best care possible. I think it wont have the same effe effect. And ive seen that where you couldnt get rid of a bad teacher. Of c you k bcan, but you have to doe work. They want to get rid of this, and we differ there. I think jeff thinks they need more protection. And what ive told the secretary is that they may need to theres a lot of risk analysis thats done in what they do, is it less expensive to just reach a settlement with this individual than it would be to take them all the way through, let them appeal to the protection board and then they end up back at the va and were paying for their Attorney Fees . I get that. But i think were going to have to take one of the most egregious cases. Even if it gets reversed. The American People would be able to see how difficult it appears to be
I wanted to note. Number one, theres some photos of you with cigars, with cigar smoke. Long time cigar smoker . Theres the cigar picture right there. I like what i call ponies, peter. Small cigars. At one time i was smoking probably five or six cigars well, strike that. Three or four cigars a day. Now that changed to three or four cigars a week. Then finally i just said to heck with it. Part of the reason was the staff didnt like it. Some of my colleagues didnt like it. The chief of staff, i think, led the fight on that. What the heck . If it is annoying to them, i dont have to have a cigar in my mouth every day. Ive been free of cigar smoke probably in excess of five years. Congressman coble, youve worked on a couple of issues that may not strike your colleagues as positive, such as limiting congressional retirement, term limits, cola increases, being careful about cola increases. Have you gotten so pushback from your colleagues up here on capitol hill . When i came up here, i said i