Political Quotes

“It is page 241 that I refer the chairman to. What we are talking about here is $2 million. The Senator from Alaska has said we can't afford this. We cannot afford this medical research. It will be at the expense of our readiness, the ability of our soldiers to fight. I am prepared to make the same offer I made to the Senator in committee. I am prepared to take $2 million--Senator Obama and I will-- from existing projects we alone offered in this bill, $2 million we will take out of those projects to go into this medical research for traumatic brain injury so you cannot make the argument that the $2 million is at the expense of anything else related to readiness. These are dollars that only we requested, dollars given to us in the bill, and we believe this is a higher priority. So the argument that somehow we are taking money away from military readiness does not apply. To argue that $2 million for traumatic brain injury should be disqualified because it would go to the University of Chicago? It turns out the University of Chicago is one of the premier institutes when it comes to this new technology. I am not going to argue about money going to any university if it is the right place to send it, and we believe the credentials of this institution stand up against the best in America--the best in the world. Isn't that what we want for our troops? As far as being an earmark, I plead guilty, it is an earmark.…”