Political Quotes

“this amendment to S. 2057, the Fiscal Year 1999 Defense Authorization Act, provides authority for the United States Marine Corps to enter into a barter agreement with a commercial entity for the purpose of allowing existing Marine Corps ribbon bridges to be remanufactured into an Improved Ribbon Bridge configuration. The Marine Corps has 250 bays [length] of ribbon bridge, of which 180 require repair. The ribbon bridge is the Marine Corps' only floating bridge capability and is used to allow vehicles to cross streams and gullies. The ribbon bridge bays used by the Marine Corps are approximately 20 years old. Due to limited fiscal resources and higher priorities, it is unlikely that the ribbon bridge upgrade will successfully compete for funding. It is my understanding that a remanufacture of these existing bridges to the Improved Ribbon Bridge configuration will provide an additional 15-20 years of service from these bridges. I am aware that the Marine Corps and Office of the Secretary of Defense supports this amendment.”