Political Quotes

“My amendment would prohibit funds authorized in H.R. 1 to be used for the missile defense program at the Department of Defense. The amendment does not cut overall defense spending but merely places a limitation on spending on the hapless and hopeless missile defense system. According to the Congressional Research Service, the U.S. has spent over $150 billion on ballistic missile defense since 1985, and there is no working, reliable missile defense system to show for all that investment. H.R. 1 dedicates approximately $10 billion more for ballistic missile defense. Some have argued that such systems are necessary for national security. In fact, no missile defense system under development has ever passed an unrigged test. According to experts at CRS, the performance in wartime for our newest capabilities is unknown. In December of last year, our ground-based interceptors known as GMDs failed the test again, a test that cost $100 million. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the United States 'is no closer today to being able to effectively defend against long-range ballistic missiles than it was 25 years ago.' Missile defense systems are unproven and unworkable. They are worthless as national security. But even though we have never in 25 years created a missile defense system that worked, our misguided commitment to spending billions on this failed program is having a counterproductive effort with other countries.”