Norman D. Dicks: “First of all, I have to again correct the record here that the President of the United States, OMB and Defense…”

“First of all, I have to again correct the record here that the President of the United States, OMB and Defense Department requested $197 million. Our committee held hearings with the Air Force and found, from a lot of dialogue with the three companies that are competing, that we might be able to accelerate this bomber replacement program if we could get an additional $100 million. So the President requested $197 million, and we added $100 million to that because we see that this program is vitally important. Now, I led the fight many years ago in the House on the B-2 bomber, and my colleagues got very tired of listening to me on this. But we started with that program at 125 bombers, and we wound up with only 20. So we need another stealth bomber, which can reach around the world as we have seen the B-2 do just recently. This is a very high priority of the Air Force. I mean, next to tankers, the replacement of the bomber and along with the Joint Strike Fighter, are going to be the top priorities for the Air Force. So this would be a catastrophic blow to terminate this program. And though I have the greatest respect for the gentleman from Vermont, I would say that I would stay with the committee, which unanimously supported this program, has always supported modernization of our strategic bombers and our strategic modernization of our submarines, which are two of the major issues that our committee is dealing with. So, again, I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment.…”