Political Quotes

“I rise today to discuss the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. I want to talk about essentially three big issues: the importance of the bill, what is in the bill, and the cost of the bill. The first question is--and when I used to appear before the Maine Legislature, the first question always was: Why are you here? What is the problem? Why is this bill so important? It is important because the essence of our defense policy since World War II has been deterrence, and deterrence means maintaining the capacity to inflict unacceptable costs on any potential adversary and the will to impose those costs if necessary. What we are really talking about in the Defense Authorization Act is the capacity; that is, what is it that we have at our disposal that can impose costs on our potential adversaries such that they will refrain from aggression and initiating a conflict--a conflict which, in this day and age, would be catastrophic. Why do we have a defense bill? Why do we have a defense establishment? Why do we have ships and airplanes and space capability? In order to deter possible aggression. Why is this important? I am just finishing a book by William L.…”