Political Quotes

“I would like to begin by thanking Ranking Member Smith, Mr. McGovern, and their staffs for working with us on this critically important amendment and for their leadership throughout this NDAA process. As we know, Mr. Chair, with war criminals threatening to use nuclear weapons and serious tensions along NATO's eastern border and in the South China Sea, today's world is being redefined by escalating tensions between major nuclear powers. We don't have to look far back in history to see the danger here. The Cold War was full of near misses and numerous crises that could have gotten out of control and ended in nuclear war. We are now entering a period of dangerous nuclear competition. As such, we must remember one of the key lessons that the Cold War taught us about nukes: We must preserve the ability to quickly step back from the brink and clearly signal de-escalation when necessary. Unfortunately, the current draft of the NDAA includes a provision that prohibits our country from doing just that. Specifically, this dangerous provision makes it impossible for our country to reduce our stockpiles of intercontinental ballistic missiles, ICBMs, for any reason, with no exceptions. This inflexible policy was created and implemented by lawmakers in promotion of economic considerations and not national security priorities, Mr. Chair. Making national security decisions with the potential to end humanity based on so-called economic considerations is simply ridiculous.…”