Political Quotes

“at some point during the course of this debate on the National Defense Authorization Act, the Senate may have an opportunity to vote on a McCain amendment authorizing a base realignment and closure round. As Members know, I have the utmost respect for the chairman of our committee, and I hold him in high regard. But I will certainly be voting against the McCain amendment because I do not believe authorizing a base realignment and closure round at this particular time is in the best interests of the United States or the security of Americans. I do that for two reasons. No. 1, whether you agree or not that base closings are a savings in the long run, almost everyone will agree that in the short term, a base closing round costs money. So it would be costly in the next fiscal year and in the fiscal year after that to have a base closing round. This is the very time when we don't need an additional expense, because we are dealing with the readiness problem we have in our various branches right now. As chairman of the Seapower Subcommittee, I can tell you that we have readiness problems with our fleet; we have readiness problems in the Marine Corps--those services in which I have a particular interest in my subcommittee. We need that money for readiness, and we need it in this fiscal year and in the next fiscal year. So for reasons of the short-term costs that BRAC would cause us to incur, I urge my colleagues to vote no on the McCain amendment.…”