Political Quotes

“I want to salute both the chairman as well as the ranking member for their leadership during the past year. It has been superb. They have really set a standard. I think that there is a lot that we can be proud of in this bill. I am certainly glad to see the retention of the depot language for the 60/40 split, but I am also proud that we have finally introduced the concept of multiyear procurement. We have expanded the concept from the C-17 program, which is going to see a procurement of 80 aircraft over the next 7 years, but we are also not cutting the budget, we are not increasing it, we are maintaining stable funding. A good part of that stable funding is being used to add to a multiyear procurement plan for Aegis destroyers, the result of which is going to be that over the next 5 years, if the plan is fulfilled, we will produce one more destroyer at $1 billion less in cost, or, if you will, 15 destroyers over 5 years for $1 billion less than it would cost us to buy 14 through normal procurement methods. Again with the threats we face in the world, now is not the time to cut defense but at the same time through more efficient management we can stabilize the funding and get more value for our dollars.”