Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I hope that we are at the end of a long and difficult struggle that has been engaged in by Democrats and Republicans on this most bipartisan of measures, which is the defense bill passed by the House and now by the Senate and worked in conference over the last many weeks. This is a $393 billion bill. We have had a very thorough discussion and debate as the House package was moving, as the other body did moving their package. We all understand the urgency. We know that we have large increases in very important elements with respect to the war against terrorism, and in particular, we have included increases of $1.7 billion for aircraft operations and flying hours, $1.7 billion for facility maintenance and base support, $586 million for ground force operations, $562 million for training accounts, and $10 billion for ongoing costs of conducting the war against terrorism. Also, Mr. Speaker, we have a 4.1 percent military pay raise in this bill, with targeted increases up to 6.5 percent for mid-grade and senior noncommissioned officers and mid-grade officers.”