Jeff Flake: “I just want to rise in strong support of this amendment. The gentleman is right; this was not asked for by the…”

“I just want to rise in strong support of this amendment. The gentleman is right; this was not asked for by the Department of Defense. And if we could save a half billion dollars, money that will not affect the war or the warfighter--but we see these kind of programs all the time. And it's more a way to generate economic activity than actually respond to any need. It assumes that the private sector out there, and small businesses aren't innovating on their own unless we ask them to do it. Unless we specifically direct them or provide money for them to do it, they won't do it at all. That's just a false assumption. So I commend the gentleman for bringing the amendment to the floor.”