Jim Inhofe: “The issue of the Vieques training range has been a contentious one now for a number of years. We did resolve this in…”

“The issue of the Vieques training range has been a contentious one now for a number of years. We did resolve this in such a way that there would be a referendum that would take place on November 6, where the eligible voters among the population of 9,300 people on the Island of Vieques would vote as to whether or not the Navy should continue naval training operations on the range. A lot of things have happened since then. I agreed with that. That was my language in the Defense authorization bill last year. However, since that time we have found we are deploying east coast deployments to the Persian Gulf. A lot of these battle groups have not been able to have adequate training. Since that time we had the war declared upon us by the terrorists on the 11th of September. That has changed everything. Since that time we have had Puerto Rico come and say they want to support the training of our troops. We currently have, being debated now, a resolution in the legislature in Puerto Rico that is going to say: 'We Puerto Ricans, as proud American citizens with the same responsibilities as our brethren in the continental United States, have the obligation of contributing to this fight, allowing and supporting military training and exercises on the island municipality of Vieques.'”