Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on important provisions contained within the National Defense Authorization Act. I have said many times that too little attention has been given to a long-term political strategy in our fight against ISIL. That is why I worked with colleagues from both sides of the aisle to include an amendment now contained in the bill that requires the administration to develop an integrated political and military strategy to defeat ISIS. Without this strategy, we risk repeating mistakes of the past. We largely defeated al Qaeda in Iraq militarily in 2009 but failed to follow through on the root causes and ensure the success of Iraqi politics going forward. It created a political vacuum that ISIS grew into. We cannot afford to make that mistake again. Second, we should all be able to agree that our military personnel and veterans deserve the best health care in the world. That is why I am proud to report the bill also contains provisions I worked on with several Members to address the increased rates of suicide in our military. Since 2012, suicide has been the leading cause of death in our military. In the past 3 years alone, the suicide rate has been nearly 50 percent greater than in the civilian population. The Department of Defense needs to take an aggressive approach in solving this crisis.…”