Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I think my colleagues are making the really important point of the national security implications of the bill that we are looking at and voting on. And I agree with what my colleagues have already said. Speaker McCarthy had a difficult job. I think there is a lot in this debt agreement that is important, that is positive. But the one thing we are not doing here--and, by the way, it is the most important thing we do as U.S. Senators--is have a strategy for the national defense of our Nation during an incredibly dangerous time globally. We are not doing that. We need a strategy. Already, my good friend from South Carolina mentioned some ideas. I am going to touch on those, but let's just reiterate. The Presiding Officer sits on the Armed Services Committee. Many of us do. We get witness after witness, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense, saying this is the most dangerous time since any period in history since World War II. That is the consensus. Not a lot of people would disagree with that. Authoritarian dictators, with an immense appetite for conquest, are on the march, and yet what does this budget agreement do? It cuts defense spending significantly, as already mentioned. Now, some people will say: Well, look at the top line. We never had a higher top line--$800-plus billion. As the Presiding Officer knows, the actual real measure of how serious we are as a country isn't the top line.…”