Jim Inhofe: “Lastly, let me just say I am glad that defense has become prominent in this Presidential election. We have had a…”

“Lastly, let me just say I am glad that defense has become prominent in this Presidential election. We have had a degradation in what has happened to our defense. We have great troops, but right now we are operating at roughly one-half the force strength we were during the Persian Gulf war. And that can be quantified. So often when people stand up politically and say we are stronger now than we were, or as strong as we were back during the Persian Gulf war, that just isn't true. We are approximately 60 percent of where we were in terms of force strength. That can be quantified. I am talking about 60 percent of the Army divisions, 60 percent of the tactical air wings, 60 percent of the ships floating around, going from a 600-ship Navy to a 300-ship Navy. It is true some of that was from the previous administration. The Bush administration wanted to go down from 600 to 450 ships. But now we are far below that. I think this administration has done a bad job the last 8 years. We are going to have to turn that around and do a massive rebuilding in the next administration. I think we are probably going to do it. I think we are going to see our Defense authorization committees of the House and the Senate do that. As well the Appropriations Committees are primed and ready, as is evidenced by the bill we are discussing today that we are going to pass. We are going to turn that corner and start rebuilding America's defense again.”