Political Quotes

“the priorities in this bill are misplaced. For years we made commitments to military retirees that they and their families were entitled to lifetime health care. Some may argue it is too expensive but the commitment was made and people relied upon it. We can afford to honor our commitments. We are spending too much in this bill on too many unproven technologies, duplicative systems, and Congressional add-ons. We are not spending enough on our people or on environmental remediation of past actions. We are making a down payment totaling $2.2 billion on a national missile defense system that CBO estimated last month will cost $60 billion over the next 15 years. Many describe our current approach to national missile defense as a ``rush to failure'' that is resulting in excessive spending on a system that has only a spotty record of success. We don't need three brand-new advanced fighter jets. We will have military air superiority over all potential adversaries for years to come with our current planes. The combined cost of the Air Force's F- 22, the Navy's F-18 E/F, and the Joint Strike Fighter will be well over $350 billion. This bill adds over $3 billion this year for weapons systems that were not requested by the Pentagon and no funds were added to the personnel account for our troops. Before we embark on new projects, we must address our primary responsibilities of taking care of our people who serve and have served in uniform and cleaning up our environment.”