Political Quotes

“I rise today to urge you and all of our colleagues to support amendment No. 57 to the FY 2026 Department of Defense appropriations bill. This amendment strikes section 8072, a misguided rider that prohibits the Navy from decommissioning littoral class combat ships. The state of shipbuilding in the United States is nothing we would hope to have. It is broken. This program maybe represents the pinnacle of its brokenness. The ship doesn't accomplish what it was designed for. I am encouraged when I speak to the chairman to know that it is being put to use elsewhere, but it is not accomplishing the mission that the Navy needs it for. This provision ties the Navy's hands, forcing it to retain a deeply flawed, costly, and ineffective class of ships that undermines our national security, endangers our sailors, and wastes taxpayer dollars, when we could move forward and build a ship that could accomplish the mission. President Trump is trying to take leadership over this and fix it, and this ties his hands in a way that prevents options. We should leave the Commander in Chief that decision. The littoral combat ship program, costing over $30 billion, with each ship priced at roughly $500 million, is a textbook example of Pentagon inefficiency and contractor-driven bloat. Designed as a light, fast, customizable vessel for near-shore warfare, the LCS has instead become a symbol of our flawed procurement system.”