Patricia Schroeder: “I stand to say I think this is a very, very important amendment and a chance to deal with the biggest threat America…”

“I stand to say I think this is a very, very important amendment and a chance to deal with the biggest threat America has, and that is the threat of the debt. Look, that is our biggest threat, and this is the first time I ever remember on this House floor that we have voted for more money for the Defense Department than the President asked for, who is commander in chief, than the Pentagon asked for, than the Joint Chiefs asked for. All this amendment does is it is an across-the-board cut to bring that level back down to what the Pentagon, the President and the Joint Chiefs came across the river and said this is what is needed for the threat. This is a total of a $7.8 billion increase above the level that was requested by the Pentagon. Now, I just want to say that I think we really, if we are going to talk about fiscal responsibility, this is an area where we ought to do it. Nobody has taken this floor during the entire debate and said that the threat is $7.8 billion greater than the President viewed it, $7.8 billion greater than the Joint Chiefs viewed it or whatever. No. We did not say that. Instead, we voted to say we are going to add these different things on that they did not ask for, but it should be threat-related, especially when the biggest threat is the threat of the debt.”