Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I will vote against Senator McCain's amendment No. 4229, the $18 billion of additional spending for the Department of Defense. I support the troops and their mission, especially Maryland's nine military bases. While there are many items I would like to see more money for, I believe we can meet the needs of our national defense within the budget caps. For fiscal year 2017, the Department of Defense appropriations bill reported unanimously by the Appropriations Committee last week did that. The Defense appropriations bill accomplishes many objectives without a budget gimmick. It uses base funding to provide $600 million to meet Israel's missile defense, an increase of $455 million above the request. The McCain amendment offers only $465 million. Appropriations will add $600 million to Israeli defense. Let's look at new, modern ships. The McCain amendment authorizes $90 million less for the littoral ships than what we do. We put in $475 million. The McCain amendment adds nothing to an account for the National Guard and Reserve. The Defense appropriations bill adds $900 million for the Guard and Reserve equipment account so they can recapitalize themselves, so they can be part of our fighting military for our Commander in Chief. Also, we can look at something like the Arctic. There is a threat to the Arctic. Senator Murkowski from Alaska has spoken eloquently about it. We have money in here for polar icebreakers.…”