Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise to express my concern with only certain aspects of the Calvert amendment that is included in part of the second en bloc of amendments to the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. I respect my colleague from California and his attempt to catalogue the numbers of civilians and contractors performing work for the Department of Defense; however, I object to the characterization of civilian employees and their role in the military structure. I have the great privilege of representing the men and women who serve our nation at Tinker Air Force Base and Fort Sill. There is no finer group of people anywhere in the world. They are patriots. And they serve as the backbone of military readiness for the U.S. Air Force and for the United States military. Without the work performed at Tinker, located in Oklahoma City, many of our most complex aircraft simply would not be mission ready. The aircraft could not be flown and our nation's defense would be greatly degraded. Therefore, to find that our civilian workforce is disproportionate, duplicative and is detracting from combat power is incorrect. Civilian employees are essential to the operations and readiness of our military. We simply cannot do the mission without them. I agree with the finding that across-the-board cuts to the defense civilian workforce are not the answer. However, it is important to note, that all areas of the workforce do not need additional cuts.…”