Political Quotes

“I want people to understand what the gentleman is proposing because it is naive and reckless. When we get the budget proposal from the administration, it is just that. It is a proposal. But it is also from the executive branch. It is not coming directly from the combatant commanders, who are the individuals that we charge with the responsibility for executing the U.S. missions around the world. This amendment would prohibit them giving us the items that were not funded by the President's budget proposal. Keep in mind, both this President and the last President have given us budget proposals that were grossly inadequate. We were able to remedy it under the last President; we were able to remedy it in this one with this President. And we depend heavily on what the combatant commanders tell us they need. It is critical that Congress knows what the commanders need to keep our servicemembers safe and ensure the success of their missions. Here is an example. In the fiscal year 2022 unfunded priority, the CENTCOM commander sent us a $106 million request to operate and maintain the Patriot batteries deployed in Iraq to keep our troops safe from missiles fired from Iran and the proxies in Syria. That money was not in the Biden budget. We found out about it and funded it because of that critical need, and it is now in the bill because General McKenzie told us about it in his unfunded requirement list. We wouldn't have known about that otherwise.…”