Political Quotes

“our annual defense authorization and appropriations bills provide opportunity to respond to changing global security conditions. Our military is the best-equipped and best-trained by far in the world, spending more than the next 15 countries combined (and 12 of those are our close allies). We need a new beginning now more than ever. Today, we need to begin anew to guarantee our security from the threats of today and tomorrow as well as to protect the wellbeing of fighting forces and their families. Ever since I have been in Congress, we have been making noises about restructuring our forces to meet tomorrow's threat. Making compromises leaves us vulnerable. We are not making the hard choices on a number of crucial issues such as dealing with excess base infrastructure, facing environmental cleanup costs, and rendering decisions about weapons systems that do not fit today's world. I cannot support a bill that does not make those hard choices. I do appreciate the hard work of the committee and the importance of the task. Yet, this is not the time for us to continue with a patchwork approach to our defense needs that looks to our past and not to the real threat for the future. The most perplexing expenditure in this bill is for national missile defense. September 11 demonstrated that we have more immediate security threats to the United States than a missile from a rogue state ten years from now.”