Ken Calvert: “Mr. Chairman, as I listen to my colleagues from both sides of the aisle, I stand before you perplexed by the banter…”

“Mr. Chairman, as I listen to my colleagues from both sides of the aisle, I stand before you perplexed by the banter going back and forth. In case you have not noticed, we are at war, folks. I do not know about you, but I want to make sure that the dedicated men and women in uniform, our brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, mothers and fathers, are able to fight and win this war. In order to do that, our troops need the resources to win. On the eve of this Memorial Day weekend, I think about the beautiful yet harrowing tributes to the hundreds of thousands of fellow Americans that have fought to defend our freedom. The Korean Memorial bears a simple sentence: Freedom is not free. It is one of the simplest and most powerful statements ever made. Freedom is not free. Because war is not free, both in material and, sadly, in human lives. I have heard the talk about hard choices. There are a lot of choices to make. But placing the lives of our soldiers at risk over procedural and jurisdictional bickering should not be an option. If we do not supply them with the necessary resources to win, none of the arguments will matter.”