Martin Hoke: “Yesterday we passed the final piece of the crime package dealing with personal safety, being personal safety, personal…”

“Yesterday we passed the final piece of the crime package dealing with personal safety, being personal safety, personal security. Today we are going to begin with national security. Mr. Speaker, tell me what do you think of when you think of the 1970's? Do you think of disco, Watergate, inflation, sky-high interest rates, leisure suits? And, of course, a hollow military? It was not a good time in American history. But, Mr. Speaker, the hawks are back in town; the hawks are back in town, having been elected by the American people in November. There is something we have to remember about this particular group of hawks: it is not just hawks but frugal hawks, cheapskate hawks, tight-with-a-buck hawks. We are going to provide a very, very strong national security package, but we are going to do it under the microscope of fiscal responsibility. You can absolutely count on it. When it comes to the national leadership, one of the things we absolutely know is that in the Congress, in the White House, in this country, just like the rest of the Nation, nature abhors a vacuum. So when we do not have leadership at the top, we have to find it somewhere. That is what this bill is all about.”