Political Quotes

“This amendment would strike a provision in the bill that prohibits the Nation's ICBM fleet from falling below its current size of 400. In 2014, the Obama administration decided to reduce the ICBM fleet to 400 missiles to comply with the New START Treaty. Ever since 2016, the Congress has included provisions in the defense authorization bill to effectively prohibit any further reduction. The reason is simple. Nuclear threats are growing. In fact, just this year, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command notified Congress that China now possesses more ICBM launchers than the United States. Now is not the time to be considering cuts to our ICBM fleet, which remains central to our deterrent. I want to quote former Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Hyten, whom many of us know and respect. When asked specifically about reducing the ICBM force, he replied: ``I don't understand how, with the threats that we face today, which are growing, not shrinking, we would make a decision today as a nation to lessen our overall strategic deterrent. That makes no sense to me, and my best military advice is that we do not do that.'' Mr. Chair, I urge all Members to oppose the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time. {time} 1630”