Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Florida. I am pleased to offer this amendment with him. I do agree that it is critical we have this debate on what we should be spending on our military. While I respect the work of the Budget Committee, I also call attention to the views of the chairman and the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee on which I sit, that they would spend $577 billion on defense next year, which would eliminate sequestration. I suggest, as the Senator from Florida did, that we need to look to the views of the National Defense Panel, which did draw from Secretary Gates' fiscal year 2012 budget, projecting into fiscal year 2016. While Secretary Gates had a reputation as a reformer, he had already found $450 billion of savings in the Department of Defense at that time. It is hard to say there is much fat left. Second, as the Senator from Florida pointed out, that was the last time the Department of Defense engaged in what we should do in this body, which is the budgeting for the military based on the threats we face and the strategy we need, not having a strategy that is driven by the budget. But that is not enough. As the National Defense Panel said itself, at $611 billion, that projection is not enough. Why is it not enough? Some of the threats the Senator from Florida identified. In the last 4 years, what have we seen? The Islamic State on the rise, rampaging across Iraq and Syria.…”