Kent Conrad: “When we are at war, when our troops are in jeopardy, when they are in combat zones, when the Commander in Chief makes a…”

“When we are at war, when our troops are in jeopardy, when they are in combat zones, when the Commander in Chief makes a request, we need to honor that request. Look, I believe we ought to pay for this increase. I believe we ought to offset it with either additional revenues or spending cuts in other areas because the deficit is at record levels now and this just increases it. We are seeing dramatic increases in the debt. Without that before us at the moment, the choice becomes do we increase the defense expenditure to meet the request of the Commander in Chief or do we not? I believe the imperative is clear. I believe we must raise the defense expenditure level to meet the request of the Commander in Chief when we have troops in combat half a world away fighting day and night for this country.”