Political Quotes

“I have here in my hands a Marine ammo pouch. This is the type of a pouch that the Marine Corps infantryman uses to put his M-16 rounds of 5.56 millimeter rounds in for combat operations. This empty Marine ammo pouch represents yet another symbol, really, of the Clinton Defense budget coming apart at the seams. Pursuant to conversations and briefings that we had with the Marine Corps and other services, when I asked as the chairman of the Procurement Subcommittee on National Security if they had enough ammunition to fight two regional conflicts, which is what we want our Marines and our Army to be able to fight, the Marines said candidly, no, Congressman, we do not. And we said, well, how short are you of ammunition? And they sent over a list of the ammunition that they were short; included in it is $30 million in basic M-16 bullets. That is 96 million bullets that the Marine Corps infantrymen are short, should they have to fight two regional conflicts. That means if we got into a fight in the Persian Gulf, like the one we had with Saddam Hussein, and then at the same time, we saw the North Koreans moving down the Korean Peninsula and we had to stop them with Marines, with soft bodies, those Marines would not have enough ammunition to do their job and protect themselves because this administration has come up millions of dollars short in ammunition.”