Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to this measure, and I must say to my friend and the chair of the subcommittee and to my majority colleagues that it is deeply frustrating and deeply regretful to have to stand in opposition to a bill that, in so many ways, is a very good bill. My colleague Mr. Garcia reflected in his comments just now on many provisions of the bill with which I can agree. This bill does great things for the Indo-Pacific. It is eyes wide open to the threat of China. It funds the Pacific Deterrence Initiative. It provides for strengthening our relationships with allies and partners. It helps our servicemembers. There is so much good in this bill, so what is so frustrating is to see it infected with the same kind of partisan provisions and divisive issues that, for a long time, have not been a part of the Subcommittee on Defense. This has been a refuge of sorts from the culture wars, from the division that we have seen elsewhere. It now no longer is, and this is the consequence. The consequence is division in the Department of Defense and in our relations with and review of the Department of Defense, which should not be infected by these areas for a Department that is, again, very realistic about the threats we face. My colleagues have talked about a lot of these issues already that create fatal flaws in this bill, but I am going to focus on one, and that is climate change. Oh, no.…”