Political Quotes

“I come to the floor to talk about how we are currently failing our most senior military leaders, a failing caused entirely by my colleague the senior Senator from Alabama. Members of our All-Volunteer Force answer the call to service by choice. No one is making them serve. They choose to serve. For their sacrifices, we owe them many things--fair pay, healthcare, veterans' benefits--to make sure they land on their feet after their service is done. And we must also make sure they can do the hard, sometimes dangerous, work they volunteered for without partisan politics getting in their way. And yet my colleague has placed an indefinite hold on the nominations of all general officers, preventing a still growing number of our most senior leaders from taking on the challenges of their next positions and leaving critical gaps in our military leadership. My colleague from Alabama is harming our military readiness and our servicemembers not out of concern about the promotion process or the ethical or professional qualifications of any of the nominees, he is doing it to score cheap political points, to fundraise with his base, and to try to force a policy that he personally disagrees with to change, not by legislating it like the voters of Alabama sent him here to do but holding our most senior military leaders hostage.…”