Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, over the past few years this country has called on the men and women of our armed services to perform duties ranging from humanitarian assistance in Somalia to all out war in Iraq. These duties were performed superbly and with honor. There is not one of us here today who can feel anything but pride for the job our Armed Forces have done in Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans, or in the Caribbean. I would like to commend the conferees for their work with regard to the defense side of the conference report. While the increases in defense spending are not fully offset by direct defense cuts, this bill is certainly an improvement over the bill which the House sent to conference just a few weeks ago. The bill still relies on some nondefense cuts to offset the additional defense spending. Those offsets include cuts of $200 million from environmental cleanup at the Department of Energy sites and $142 million in foreign assistance, as well as major cuts in the technology reinvestment program, the defense conversion grants that have been so important to companies in areas that have experienced significant losses of defense and aerospace jobs.”