Political Quotes

“If we go through this list, you will see all of them: The C-20 series, the C-12 series, the C-21 series, the C-22B series, and it goes on and on with over 300 planes. I thank Senator Harkin's staff for their work in putting that together. I want to make a point. We have an argument on the floor of the Senate. It is a very fair argument. One side says it is cheaper to lease these Gulfstreams, and others say that it may well be cheaper to buy them--forgetting about the fact that some of us think we don't need them at all. This is almost $1/2 billion over 10 years at a time when we are cutting virtually everything else but the military right now. Let's face it. The FAA is almost being crippled with $300 million in rescinded funds to make our civilian skies safer. This is serious. This isn't a small piece of change. If, as my friend says, the study comes back and shows we save money by buying these things, we will take a look at that. I agree with the Senator from Alaska. I think there are times when of course--I know the Senator from Iowa agrees--we want to have certain planes set aside for the convenience and use of our top brass. That is not the question here. There are 300 planes in the military that they can use now.”