On the recordFebruary 15, 2011
I welcome this amendment. I am struck when I hear some of my colleagues on the more conservative side, although this is not uniformly them, some on the conservative side are offering this amendment. We have this interesting dichotomy about whether or not the Federal Government can ever create jobs. In general, the conservative view is the Federal Government never creates jobs. In the military area, somehow there's an exception. We are told here that there is a constructive relationship that can exist between small businesses and the military that we are told doesn't exist elsewhere; but the major reason for cutting this is we are, at this point, overextended militarily. Of course, there is unanimity here that we want Americans to be the strongest Nation in the world. We are of course the strongest Nation in the world, and no one is second. We are overcommitted in a number of areas. The military has become not the instrument of self-defense by the United States, but the instrument to protecting political influence, and protecting influence militarily is often inefficient so that reducing this spending, as reducing other forms of military spending, is essential if we are to begin to hold down the deficit.
