Political Quotes

“Last Friday, the House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act for 2020, a measure which sets policy for the folks who wear the uniform of this country. The U.S. Congress has actually passed a defense authorization act every year for the last 57 years. This year, if we all continue to work together, we can make it 58 years running. Again, this is a measure which sets everything from military pay--a 3.1 percent pay raise for the military, the largest pay increase in the last 10 years--to setting the ground rules for military acquisition, whether it is recapitalizing our Navy or buying the new F-35 planes for the Air Force. It is a large, sprawling bill which covers, again, all aspects of U.S. defense policy for the upcoming year. Included in this measure was an amendment that I offered for which, on Friday evening, the Iraq and Afghan Veterans of America issued a strong statement of support in the wake of passage of the bill. What my amendment did is it offset a policy decision that was made in July of 2018 by the Trump administration which cut off the ability of long-serving members of the military to transfer their GI Bill educational benefits to a spouse or dependent.…”