Political Quotes

“in recent years we have witnessed some very serious and troubling discussions in the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. We have noticed how American fighting men and women are being committed to engagements of all kinds all around the world. We know that the budget for the Defense Department has come down dramatically. I was one saying when the Berlin Wall fell we could probably save 30 percent or more of our military budget because we could cut back and still maintain the force we needed. We were in a position where we were supposedly able to pursue two major regional contingencies at once. That was the theory. Unfortunately, as we went farther and farther into more assigned missions, it became very questionable whether we could even do that. We asked questions from both sides of the aisle in our Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearings about the resources we were providing for the Department of Defense. I believe it was about 2 years ago about this time of year we had then-Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen before our committee, a former member of this body. We all respect him greatly. I asked point blank: Mr. Secretary, do we have the money that is necessary to support our fighting men and women? I believe his answer was something like: We do not have the resources available for the missions we have been assigned. That was the beginning of the realization we had grossly underfunded the Department of Defense.”