Political Quotes

“The appropriations process and the budget is not only a spending plan about future priorities, it's also a statement about our values. The United States in 2001 went into Afghanistan and took out the Taliban government. We have also taken out Osama bin Laden. The United States is proposing to spend $88.5 billion again this year in Afghanistan. We're going into our 11th year of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. Eleven years ago, Afghanistan was among the poorest and most corrupt countries on the face of the Earth. Today, it is still among the most corrupt and poorest countries on the face of the Earth. We've lost 2,000 American soldiers, 16,000 wounded. Last week the U.S. Government decided to spend $105 billion rebuilding the infrastructure of this country, less than $53 billion in each of the next 2 years for a Nation of over 300 million. You've just spent $78 billion rebuilding the roads and bridges of Afghanistan, a nation of 30 million people. It's time that we do nation-building right here at home. Of the 34 provinces in Afghanistan, the spiritual and financial home of the Taliban are Kandahar and Helmand provinces, because that is disproportionately where the poppy fields are that finance the Taliban. The literacy rate for women in Kandahar province is 1 percent. The literacy rate for men is about 15 percent. How do you build up an Afghan police force and Afghan national army with people who are illiterate?…”