Political Quotes

“The Lee-Van Hollen-Smith amendment would limit Department of Defense funding to the amount authorized under the Budget Control Act of 2011, resulting in a $7.6 billion reduction in spending from the level authorized by the Appropriations Committee. This amendment is cosponsored by my colleagues, Armed Services Ranking Member Adam Smith, Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen, and Representatives Amash, Blumenauer, Clarke, Johnson, Nadler, Polis, Schrader, Stark, Welch, and Woolsey, among others. 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 Appropriations Committee set overall military spending billions of dollars above what the Pentagon requested or what was agreed to under the Budget Control Act. A deal is a deal. 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. Again, a deal is a deal. It does this while protecting our Active Duty military personnel and retirees from misguided efforts to cut their compensation and health care expenditures, by prohibiting the additional cuts from coming from Active Duty and National Guard personnel accounts or from the Defense Health Program. Let me repeat: not a single penny would come from Active Duty and National Guard personnel accounts or from the Defense Health Program.…”