Political Quotes

“Last summer, the House passed all 12 appropriations bills before the fiscal year started on October 1. We appropriated nearly $650 billion to provide our servicemembers with the resources they need to defend this country in the face of threats from North Korea, China, Russia, al-Qaida, ISIS, and Iran. The House funded other Federal programs at nearly $550 billion. For the past 3\1/2\ months, however, our military and servicemembers have been operating under continuing resolutions, also known as CRs, which means they are stuck at the funding levels they had last year. That is because Senate Democrats are holding back the full funding of our defenses so they can add billions of dollars more in other Federal spending. The defense of this country, Mr. Speaker, is not some bargaining chip, and preventing our servicemembers from getting the resources they need, especially after we have seen servicemember deaths resulting from the lack of training and proper equipment, is unconscionable. As Secretary Mattis told us last year: ``Long-term CRs impact the readiness of our forces and their equipment at a time when security threats are extraordinarily high. The longer the CR, the greater the consequences for our force.'' It is way past time for Senate Democrats to end their filibustering of our Nation's defense and to start helping our servicemembers in harm's way. ____________________”