Political Quotes

“I know that he, probably more than any Member of this Chamber, knows the price that is paid in our Nation's defense. However, Mr. Chairman, I am reminded, and I think we all ought to be reminded, by the fact that it is now February of 1995, and 50 years ago we were ending one of the bloodiest conflicts in world history, where we were defeating two totalitarian regimes, one in the Pacific, one in Europe. One of the key systems that resulted in the defeat and a victory for this country was a little-known system called radar. I do not know very much about radar and I do not know very much about the history of radar, but I wonder what the debate was in the late twenties or early thirties when people probably just as committed and honorable as those who are in this Chamber were debating the feasibility of whether or not we were going to use a radar system, or even develop it. Given the fact that in the thirties defense spending was at an all-time low, in fact, I am advised that our current level of funding is the lowest since the thirties, but at that time, how many other competing demands were there? What other issues relating to quality of life were there? And what system ultimately saved more lives in that conflict than that one system of radar?”