James M. Talent: “Mr. Speaker, the American military is broken. Everything my colleagues have heard tonight, the statistics, the charts…”

“Mr. Speaker, the American military is broken. Everything my colleagues have heard tonight, the statistics, the charts, the passionate speeches, the details offered by Congressmen and women who are in a position to know. That is what it all amounts to. America's military is broken. If the Joint Chiefs of Staff were in a position to tell the unvarnished truth, that is exactly what they would say, that America's military is broken, and they have been saying it, using the language of the Pentagon, for the past several months. I am very glad that they are saying it. Wisdom is always welcome, even if it comes late in the game. It is no surprise and it should come as no surprise to anyone that America's military is broken. It is the inevitable result of a series of decisions taken over the last 10 years and accelerated by the administration. It had to happen and it has happened. We have had 13 years of declining defense budgets.”