Political Quotes

“I rise in support of the national defense authorization bill and would point out to my colleagues that this is a piece of legislation which for half a century has enjoyed bipartisan support--during Republican administrations, Democratic administrations, and during times of majority on the Democratic side and on the Republican side. Regrettably, last year this Chamber did not take up the NDAA until December--months after it had been approved in committee. I commend Senator Levin, the former chairman of the Armed Services Committee, for reporting the bill out of his committee during Democratic majorities, and if he had his way, we would have taken up the bill much earlier. I also want to commend Senator McCain, our current Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee for again, in a timely way, reporting this bipartisan bill. And then I think commendation is due to the new leadership of this Senate for taking up this bill in a timely fashion in June rather than waiting until December. It has been said by the distinguished minority leader that taking up this bill is a waste of time because the President has said he would veto this bill. It is curious that he would say so because this bill funds national security at the amount requested by the President of the United States.…”