Elise Stefanik: “I would like to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Dent) and his staff for allowing this important discussion of…”

“I would like to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Dent) and his staff for allowing this important discussion of an east coast missile defense site, as well as the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Turner) for his continued efforts and support. Madam Chair, my amendment would provide for the planning, design, and construction of an additional missile defense site. Simply put, missile defense shields our Nation from hostile incoming warheads. And with the escalation of threats of rogue nations like North Korea and Iran, the United States must be ready not just to retaliate, but to actually stop an attack. We must be able to defend our Nation and shoot it down. North Korea does, indeed, have a nuclear weapons capability and is a real concern, given their unstable and erratic behavior. Iran has clearly demonstrated key technologies required for ICBM development. This is about maintaining our Nation's readiness, and an east coast missile defense site provides increased battle space, more decision time, increased reliability, more inventory, and a different angle of intercept. General Jacoby stated that a third site would give him an increased battle space and increased opportunity for him to engage threats from either Iran or North Korea. An east coast missile defense site would increase our Nation's defense capability against those very real threats. Madam Chair, this amendment provides for the security and protection that our Nation needs.…”