Dale Bumpers: “I have no intention of speaking at length or trying to block any of their nominations. As far as I know, they are all…”

“I have no intention of speaking at length or trying to block any of their nominations. As far as I know, they are all very honorable people, and I come not to resist them, not even to admonish them, but to make a point which I hope they will seriously consider, and that is that the Pentagon's decisions are not perfect. They are not made in the cosmos. They are made by human beings who are subject to error. Needless to say, that I am upset about what they are doing in my State would be a gross understatement. In 1991, I daresay that my State was one of the two or three hardest hit States on the loss of jobs as a percentage of our people. We lost Eaker Air Force Base, a strategic bomber base, and we lost what we call the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Chaffee, AR, which was moved to Fort Polk, LA. Eaker Air Force Base was in Mississippi County, which is in the First Congressional District of my State, which happens to be one of the 10 poorest districts in the United States.”