Political Quotes

“The hardworking men and women of the Armed Services certainly don't need a bunch of ceremonial pageantry paid for by the taxpayers simply because the President decides, upon a monarchical whim, that he wants to see one outside in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The gentleman from Colorado says that this is too broadly written. On the contrary, it is very specifically written. It would still permit ceremonial displays of units that have been traditionally used at ceremonies and events, such as the Presidential Salute Battery, the Old Guard, the Fife and Drum Corps, Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, and so on. What it will not permit is the President himself calling up for a private or public exercise outside of authorized military operations or activities, these kinds of exhibitions or parades. So if it is traditional, if it is something that the Army and the Navy have always done, if they think that there is a legitimate governmental function for it, yeah. But the President cannot simply snap his fingers and say I want to have some kind of display of all the military weaponry because that is what I saw when I was on the Champs Elysees, and I saw them on Bastille Day marching down the street. We know, and he has admitted publicly, that this was the genesis of the whole thing. He saw that, and he wanted that in America. Well, guess what?…”