Political Quotes

“I rise in support of the Bumpers amendment to the Defense appropriations bill. This amendment would save American taxpayers 234 million dollars by eliminating funding for six F/A-18C that the Pentagon has not requested. Mr. President, the Defense appropriations bill allocates money for 12 more F-18's than the President requested. It appropriates funds for six more F-18C's than the Senate authorized. It commits us to spend 234 million dollars on six aircraft that the Navy does not want. Mr. President, at a time when we need to cut Government spending, how can we justify throwing away 234 million dollars of the taxpayers' money on these soon-to-be outdated aircraft? Within this bill is 1.8 billion dollars to purchase the first 12 new F-18E/F fighters for the Navy. The Navy has said that the F-18E/F will be the backbone of its carrier-based forces in the future. This aircraft is to replace the F-14 and older F-18's, so that by 2009, the F-18E/F will comprise a majority of the F-18's in the Navy's inventory. If we are worried about a future military threat, we should direct our procurement to systems of the future, not to aircraft like the F-18C/D that will be obsolete soon after they are manufactured. Mr. President, we cannot continue to squander our Nation's resources on aircraft that are not needed to defend this country. We must look for areas where we can cut spending while not jeopardizing our national security.”