Political Quotes

“I want to thank Matt Donovan and Stephen Barney of Senator McCain's staff for their patience and assistance in drafting this amendment. I also want to thank COL Anthony Lazarski of Senator Inhofe's staff and, of course my senior colleague from Oklahoma. I say to the chairman and Senator Reed, I have the privilege of representing America's Global Response Force, the XVIII ABN Corps and the 82nd ABN Division. As Senator Reed knows from his long service in the division, the 82nd is the most decorated combat unit in the Armed Forces--it is America's Guard of Honor. GEN Colin Powell famously said, ``There is nothing that gets a bad guy's attention quicker than knowing the 82nd ABN is flying straight for his nose.'' But to put it bluntly, the Air Force wants to take the ``air'' out of ``airborne''. In 2012 the Air Force decided to deactivate the Reserve Air Wing at Pope Army Airfield at Fort Bragg and eliminate onsite daily support for training for XVIII ABN Corps, 82nd ABN and USASOC. The wing consists of 8-12 C-130Hs. Last year this committee required the Air Force to produce a report on the C-130 fleet during which time the Air Force was required to maintain its wings at Pope and Little Rock for 1 year--the report came out in April, the committee expected it last December. The Congress was to be given time to respond.…”