Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise in support of the Reed-Mikulski amendment to respond to threats to our Nation by raising the caps for both defense and nondefense spending. All agree that we must defend the security of the United States. So many argue that we need more money for DOD, even though DOD already consumes 50 percent of all discretionary spending. Here is a quick tutorial on the Federal budget. Discretionary spending is $1 trillion. The other two big expenditures are interest on the debt and trust funds, particularly for earned benefits like Social Security and Medicare. But on discretionary spending--what we can decide to spend of that $1 trillion--about $500 billion goes to defense. We all know we are under some pretty big threats. We have fought a 15-year war. Our men and women deserve the best training, the best technology, and support for themselves and their families. I don't argue that. But I want people who like to say I am a numbers guy--let them know what the numbers are. I take the position that we need to make sure our national security is what it should be, but I argue that not all of national security is in the Department of Defense. There are clear and present dangers to the people of the United States that are met by other agencies. When we passed the Bipartisan Budget Act last October, we agreed on parity. What we said was that there would be parity between defense and nondefense. What does that mean?…”