Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, it is with a heavy heart that we--unnecessarily--oppose this legislation on our side of the aisle because this bill was drafted in a way that it never should have been and doesn't have to be. The stark reality, by any definition, is that this bill cuts military construction by $718 million from last fiscal year to this one, and it cuts funding for our veterans by $6 billion from last year to this one. There is no way around that. That is actually what we are doing. That is the math. It is also pretty unprecedented. We generally increase funding in this bill. That is why it is so bipartisan. It is why our committee goes first, because we have a bill that, as Judge Carter said, we are really able to work very closely together on the nuts and bolts of taking care of our veterans and our servicemembers. Unfortunately, because the Republicans refused to adhere to the law-- that is, the Fiscal Responsibility Act--and refused to make sure that we, in that agreement, adhere to the agreement where we increased nondefense discretionary and defense discretionary by 1 percent, as a result, the allocations given to our committee were paltry. Republicans decided to make cuts to individuals who have signed up to defend our country, whom our committee is responsible for going to bat for improving our veterans' and servicemembers' quality of life, who are promised that protection no matter who they are, no matter whom they love, and no matter what gender they are.…”