Political Quotes

“Mr. President, with the chairman's permission, I would like to speak on the Defense bill. Mr. President, I wish to thank Chairman Levin. I wish to thank Senator McCain. I wish to thank the entire Armed Services Committee and all the dedicated staff for their efforts in crafting this National Defense Authorization Act. I am going to continue to work with all of my colleagues to resolve some of the very challenging provisions, one of which we just voted on, having to do with what courts the detainees are going to be prosecuted in. I am hopeful compromises will be reached in the days ahead so this bill can be passed and signed into law. There are five amendments I and others have offered that I wish to talk about. The first is amendment No. 1210. It has been crafted in consultation with the Government Accountability Office and it would require the Department of the Navy to evaluate the cost and benefits of stationing additional destroyers at Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Fl. One may ask why. Well, the frigates at Mayport that will all be decommissioned by 2015, but the ships that will replace them, the Littoral combat ships, will not arrive until 2016. Therefore, there is a hiatus of a year in which the ship repair industry, that was built up to take care of the Navy's fleet, will be without work.…”