Political Quotes

“I wish to speak about the bill that is before us and reauthorizing funding priorities for the Department of Defense. I wish first to congratulate Chairman McCain and Ranking Member Jack Reed for working together on a very important bill. There are a lot of important issues and a lot of important priorities in this legislation for our home State in Michigan. The fact that we are supporting the A-10s so our troops have the close air support they need is very important. It is important that we are continuing to invest in research and development and new kinds of technologies. We are very proud in Michigan to be the ones that are on the frontlines providing research and development for the Army. If the Army drives it, we design it, fix it, and build it in Warren, MI, and in the surrounding area of Macomb County that we call the Defense Corridor, and we are very proud of that. We have vital military equipment manufactured here in the United States, and in Michigan, specifically, that is supported in this legislation. It provides very important pay increase and support for our troops that are actually critical. My concern is not with the contents of what we are doing in this particular bill in terms of supporting the defense of our country and supporting our troops. It is the fact that we have budget gimmicks being used to fund the Department of Defense. Our troops deserve more than budget gimmicks.…”