Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, this amendment seeks to undo a bipartisan agreement to increase authorized funding for our military that the Armed Services Committee collectively concluded is appropriate given the realities of today's evolving national security threats. We are faced with some serious threats globally, such as ongoing terrorist threats; the potential for nuclear proliferation in the Middle East; tensions in the South China Sea; Russia's invasion of a democratic state in Europe; incredible technological advancements that we cannot fall behind on in AI, quantum computing, and biotechnology; increasing competition in space and cyberspace; disinformation campaigns; and data surveillance that strengthen authoritarian regimes and lend themselves to attacks on democratic societies. The amendment that I offered invests in our Navy, which is critically important right now. It invests in missile defense, which is very necessary, given advancing technologies in things like hypersonics, R&D for AI, biotechnology, and quantum computing, as I discussed. Importantly, it increases critical assistance to the Ukrainian military as it fights to defend democracy from Russian aggression. As our military seeks to prepare to grapple with these new, future realities, it must also do so in the face of significant supply chain disruptions resulting from COVID and from rising inflation which my amendment also addresses.…”