Political Quotes

“I want to commend the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma and the distinguished senior Senator from Alabama for this amendment. And it seems to me that this is a national security amendment that should get support on both sides of the aisle because the Senator from Oklahoma is absolutely correct. It has had bipartisan support in the past. And particularly at this moment, when we are talking about a bill to compete with China, we need to acknowledge that we will compete with China both in the R&D sphere, as this bill discusses, but also in terms of military might. And it disturbs me, and I know it is of concern to my friends on the other side of the aisle, that the Biden administration just this week announced that they would cut four ships from the most recent shipbuilding plan, which was established by our military experts, by the admirals and generals who told us what we need. To cut four ships from the shipbuilding plan, I think, would send exactly the opposite signal to China that we are trying to send through this bill. And I know I have friends on the other side of the aisle, as well as on this side of the aisle, who have signed the SHIPYARD Act, which makes the statement, on a bipartisan basis, that we need to be preparing our Navy for competition in the Pacific that will come from China, and I think it is a way to preserve peace in the Asia-Pacific region by having parity there.…”