Political Quotes

“I'd like to offer a statement in support of my amendment to H.R. 5293, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2017, as reported by the House Appropriations Committee. I commend my colleague, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, the chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, for his work on the bill before us and I thank him and all the members of the subcommittee and staff for their hard work in crafting this important piece of legislation. My amendment seeks to transfer $6.086 million from within the Navy's fiscal year 2017 Operations & Maintenance (O&M) account, to increase funding for the Weapons Support, Fleet Ballistic Missiles, Project 934, Engineering and Technical Services sub-account managed by the Navy's Strategic Systems Program office. My objective in offering this amendment is to strengthen nuclear deterrence by improving the operational readiness and reliability of the Navy's Strategic Weapons Systems aboard Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines. At a time when Russia is flexing its nuclear muscles, both China and Russia are aggressively modernizing every aspect of their nuclear arsenals, and North Korea is conducting long-range missile tests and underground nuclear weapon tests, it is incumbent on Congress to authorize and appropriate sufficient funds to ensure the operational readiness and reliability of our nuclear forces, including the most survivable leg of the U.S.…”