Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we are bringing up the MILCON-VA appropriations bill today, and I urge its adoption. This year the MILCON-VA bill was the first appropriations bill. We marked up 5 weeks earlier than last year, and the bill is on the floor 6 months earlier than before. We are in a very advantageous position of telling the House to do their work, which never happens with regard to the Senate. We are very proud of that. We are so proud that we have crafted this bill in an open and collegial way with the full support of my ranking Democratic member, Senator Jon Tester of Montana. This bipartisan bill was adopted unanimously by a vote of 30 to 0 in the full Appropriations Committee. In MILCON, the bill provides $7.9 billion for over 200 critical defense construction projects. It adds $515 million to MILCON to ensure that our military is ready to fight and win. There are no OCO gimmicks in the bill. My top priority in this legislation is missile defense in Europe. Last year, the bill funded the Aegis Ashore BMD site in Poland. We have built on that in this year's bill. This bill funds the Long Range Discrimination Radar, or LRDR, in Clear, AK, at $155 million. For Veterans Affairs and related agencies, our bill provides $75.1 billion to protect our veterans. This is record-high funding in this legislation, this bipartisan bill. The budget is up $3.4 billion, or 4.8 percent, over this year, reflecting the higher medical costs in the economy. The VA must now be reformed.…”