Political Quotes

“I rise today to talk about a bill I introduced yesterday, the Army Arsenal Strategic Workload Enhancement Act of 2012. I am grateful to be working with seven of my colleagues on this issue: Senator Kirk, Senator Grassley, Senator Harkin, Senator Pryor, Senator Boozman, Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand. Each of us understands the strategic contributions that arsenals make to our national defense. I am pleased that we have a bipartisan bill to put those capabilities on a firm footing for the future. I know that the men and women at Rock Island Arsenal in my home State of Illinois deserve that firm footing. I was there just last month, seeing again for myself their good work to equip our troops. The Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center, JMTC, employs some 1,700 highly skilled workers, at least half of whom are veterans. The JMTC is the heart of Rock Island's 8,600-person workforce, every one of them dedicated to providing our troops with what they need. For more than 10 years now, they have made critical weapons, parts and materiel for our men and women on the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan. Very often, they have produced items in a crisis, when no one else including the private sector could do it. And they have made it by the deadline and kept it affordable. The arsenal has made things like up-armored HMMWV kits to protect against improvised explosive devices, IEDs, at a time in the war when, frankly, we were caught flat-footed by the threat.…”