Political Quotes

“I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their accepting amendments to address military sexual assault, increase oversight, transgender rights, whistleblower protection, and equal access to contraception for military women; but, despite these improvements and many others from my colleagues, I cannot support this bill in its current form. Instead of making tough decisions with our limited resources, this bill uses an accounting gimmick to further parochial and political interests above the readiness of the men and women protecting us and the interests of taxpayers we represent. We chose to address the sage grouse rather than the elephant in the room. By irresponsibly sheltering $38 billion--above the self-imposed budget gap--in the OCO account, this bill attempts to decouple national security from economic security. In reality, these are one and the same. Our military leadership gets it, but this seems to be lost on us. Admiral Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, stated that the deficit that we are unwisely adding to in this bill is the single greatest threat to our national security. Rather than empowering our military to align our force structure with the capabilities we need, we tied their hands; and, rather than addressing wasteful overhead, needless spare parts, or outdated weapon systems, we chose to ensure that corporations that move their headquarters overseas to avoid taxes continue to get Defense contracts.…”