Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, my amendment today is very straightforward. It would limit the Department of Defense funding to the amount authorized under the Budget Control Act of 2011. This would result in an $8 billion reduction in spending from the level authorized by the House Armed Services Committee. The amendment is cosponsored by my colleagues, Representatives Paul, Woolsey, Stark, Blumenauer, Schrader and Frank, ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee and a long-time advocate for reasonable defense-spending reform. As you know, Mr. Chair, last year Congress passed the Budget Control Act, which put in place spending caps on discretionary spending. Despite these statutory limitations, the House Armed Services Committee set overall military spending billions of dollars above what the Pentagon requested, or what was agreed to under the Budget Control Act. While many of us did not support the discretionary caps under the Budget Control Act, our amendment simply brings Pentagon spending in line with the law. It does this while protecting our active duty military personnel and retirees. Let me repeat: not a single penny would come from active duty and National Guard personnel accounts, or from the defense health program. The Pentagon budget already consumes almost 50 cents out of every discretionary dollar that we spend. And adding billions of unrequested dollars, at the expense of struggling families during the ongoing economic downturn, is just downright wrong.…”