Political Quotes

“I thank Ranking Member Smith for yielding me the time. I rise in support of this bill as well as the prior resolution, as it's better late than never. Here again, with Libya, Congress follows in the wake of a major executive branch military action absent congressional authorization. I sent a letter to President Obama on March 22 regarding what was then called Operation Odyssey Dawn and have never gotten an answer. When one looks at the duration of U.S. military engagements in the Middle East, north Africa, and central Asia and what the future might bring, these are the longest wars and military actions in U.S. history. Our Nation has fallen into deep debt directly connected to our expenditures of over $1 trillion in the past decade on wars that have not been paid for. Moreover, creeping defense commitments in that region and globally now consume over half of the U.S. discretionary budget annually. It is an astounding predicament 20 years after the end of the Cold War, as jobless Americans question whether our Federal Government even sees their plight. We all know freedom is not free, but it is largely the American people that are bearing this military burden more and more each year. What is most striking is that other nations in the region in which we are fighting are simply not carrying anywhere near their fair share of the load of boots on the ground, nor have they measured up either in terms of putting their treasuries at risk.…”