Political Quotes

“as the Senate Finance Committee continues to mark up the Senate Republican tax bill, the House will take a vote this afternoon on their version of the bill. There are plenty of reasons for House Republicans to vote against this bill. For those who care about deficits, you should vote no because the bill increases deficits by over $1.5 trillion, likely more. Any deficit hawk should be against this increase. Any defense hawk should be wary of this bill for the same reason. High deficits make it harder to fund important priorities like the military. This morning, three former Defense Secretaries--Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel, and Ash Carter--penned a letter warning that the Republican tax plan could result, in their words, in a ``hollowed-out military force'' wracked by cuts to training, maintenance, flight missions, and other vital military programs. I spoke to General Mattis yesterday. He is definitely afraid of a CR because a CR is at sequestration levels. If we pass this tax bill with its huge deficit, we will have no choice but to go back to sequestration, and the fears of our defense leaders that they cannot fund the military adequately will be very real. So my shout-out is to all of those who care about defense, particularly our defense hawks: If you vote for this bill, you are going to be voting for a ``hollowed out military force,'' as three former defense secretaries have written to us this morning.…”