Political Quotes

Dale Bumpers: “The question is, who are the enemies against whom we must spend $265 billion? Who are the enemies that we feel…”

On the recordMay 15, 1996
The question is, who are the enemies against whom we must spend $265 billion? Who are the enemies that we feel constrained to spend over $1.6 trillion over the next 6 years to defend against? The Senator from Illinois, [Mr. Simon], said a moment ago that we spend as much on defense in this Nation as the top five possible adversaries, including China and Russia. It is worse than that. We spend as much as the top 10, and if you add NATO, we spend almost twice as much as the top 10 and there is not an enemy in sight.
Said by
Dale Bumpers
Arkansas

Editor's note · Context

Discussing U.S. defense spending and questioning the necessity of such expenditures.

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