Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise today as a member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee to express my support for this appropriations bill and to highlight a number of important provisions for both our national security and the State of Maine. I would first like to thank Chairman Shelby and Ranking Member Durbin, as well as Vice-Chairman Leahy, for their work and leadership on the committee and their willingness to come together to complete what is a strong, bipartisan final bill. The bipartisan work of the Defense Subcommittee is vitally important to ensure our men and women in uniform are able to fight and defend our Nation as well as deter potential adversaries. It also ensures our DOD civilians have the resources they need to support those servicemembers and keep our ships, planes, and vehicles at the ready. The bill before us today supports a military pay increase of 3.1 percent--the largest in a decade. It also recognizes the value of our civilian workforce by also supporting an average pay increase of 3.1 percent for DOD civilians. The bill recognizes the necessity of building and maintaining a strong Navy. It provides nearly $24 billion for new Navy battle force ships, including more than $5 billion for three DDG-51 destroyers. Looking ahead to next year, it also provides an additional $390 million above the amount requested in the President's budget request for DDG-51 advanced procurement.…”