Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, there was a point brought up that this could potentially threaten our readiness, and I would counter that it is not the readiness that cutting our defense budget threatens, it is the profit margins of defense contractors. In fact, almost every major defense contractor here in the United States has had to pay fines or settlements for fraud or misconduct, all while getting about $1 trillion in public funding in defense contracts. I have seen this personally in my work on the Oversight and Reform Committee, where we have encountered contractor after contractor gouging the public and draining our resources. In fact, the $77 billion is not even that hard to find. The Pentagon could save almost $58 billion by eliminating obsolete weapons, weapons like Cold War era bombers and missiles designed and built in the last century that are completely unsuitable for this one. We could find another $18 billion by simply preventing the end-of- year spending sprees that lead to contract money being shoveled out the door every September. In fact, the Congressional Research Service has documented these spending spikes, and you could set your watch to it. Each September, as offices at the Pentagon go on last minute spending sprees to justify next year's budget increases, we have increased our military spending year after year, senselessly and needlessly.…”