U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta appeared before lawmakers on Tuesday to defend President Obama’s plans to increase the military budget by lower levels than in previous years. Panetta insisted the United States will spare no resources in military operations in Asia.

Leon Panetta: “There is nothing like a carrier to be able to allow for quick deployment in that area, and that will give us a great capacity to be able to show our force structure in the Pacific. In addition to that, we’re going to maintain, obviously, a military presence. We already have one in Korea, but we’re going to maintain an additional rotational presence with our marines throughout that area. We’ve just developed an agreement with Australia to do a rotational presence there. We’re working with the Philippines on hopefully a similar arrangement there, as well.”