Political Quotes

“I am now halfway through my eighth year in the U.S. Senate, and in my time here, I have never once spoken against, voted against, or opposed in any way any of the National Defense Authorization Acts that have come before the Senate. The reason being, despite whatever flaws one might find on most occasions in any piece of legislation, the defense of our country is a fundamental obligation of our Federal Government. It comes before everything else. State governments run schools and build roads and do all sorts of activities at the State level. Communities do all sorts of things at the local level, but nothing is more important than the defense of our country in terms of a Federal obligation. So I never have opposed a National Defense Authorization Act, and I supported every single one of them, despite the fact that it didn't have everything I wanted and everything I liked, until today. There is a lot of good in this legislation, and it makes it difficult to be an opponent of it. For Florida, it authorizes over $200 million for military construction in the State--the littoral combat ship facilities at Naval Station Mayport, air traffic control towers at Whiting Field, F-35 facilities that are important at Eglin Air Force Base, KC-135 flight simulators at MacDill Air Force Base. It authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to build a cyber space facility at Eglin.…”