On the recordJune 9, 1999
My colleagues, let us take a look at the state of defense. That is the situation that this rule and this bill address. The state of defense is that we have a force structure, meaning an Army, a Navy, an Air Force and a Marines that are a little more than half the size that they were just a few years ago. In 1990, we had 18 army divisions. Today we have been cut down to 10. We had 24 fighter air wings, active air wings. Today we are down to 13. We had 546 navy ships. Today we are down to 325 and dropping. Now, the gentlewoman that just spoke talked about things that we could do with the money that we could cut from defense. I am here to tell her we have cut an enormous amount of money in defense. This bill is roughly $150 billion less in real dollars than the defense bill that this House passed in 1985. We have slashed defense. The state of defense is this: We are short on ammunition.
Source
govinfo.gov
