Page 6 - James Inhoff News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Begin a new program called the first 100 days that starts on monday at 7:00 p.m. eastern. so, bill, we're just a week away from -- you know, 100 days of fascinating time that you will be covering his inauguration and we'll be doing a nighttime show at 7:00 p.m., which is going to be very exciting period to cover in history. i think this presidency is unprecedented in so many ways, the campaign as you and i saw it from the front row was unprecedented so we'll take that over the next bridge, which is to cover these first 100 days and it should be fascinating. >> bill: it's only 100 days, right? ...

>> happy to be here this morning to testify on behalf of general mattis. senator nunn, senator reed, senator inhoff, i think you may be the only three who are still here in the armed services committee when 20 years ago i came before the committee seeking your endorsement for secretary of defense. so it's been 20 years and what a difference a generation makes because at that time when we first met you were a young captain in the navy and took us on a trip, senator nunn mentioned to china, where we met dung ciao ping and did great work in korea. i thank you for all the years you devoted to this...

Outcome of the confirmation process? >> i have not. >> welcome before the committee, general mattis. >> thank you, it is an honor to come before you for this confirmation hearing as the president-elect's nominee for the position of secretary of defense. i request my written statement be accepted for the record. >> without objection. >> i want to thank all of you on the committee for taking time to see me during my courtesy calls and thank you for your willingness to consider my nomination and have this hearing. i have testified previously in front of this committee and i've always held it in t...

These views forward. >> thank you. you talked about, i think, senator inhoff raised the issue of readiness for our troops and when you and i met we also talked a little bit about the national guard and the importance of the guard as being part of the one force that we depend on. readiness is a concern for the national guard as well and in new hampshire our national guard has experienced a 32% decline in force structure since 2007, much more than many states that are smaller than we are. and they've had trouble with training rotations, resources, equipment, other aspects of readiness. can you c...

The senator of new york has come forward and said she would vote against general mattis because of this civilian control. but again, harry truman nominated george c. marshall back at the start of the korean war because at the time morale was an issue at the pentagon and needed to rebuild the military after world war ii. it is unlikely that anything will derail the nomination but they'll go through the hearings today. >> bill: my impression from senator inhoff's comment is that the number of democrats who will vote in favor of the waiver could be impressive. that was the point i took from this ...