Political Quotes

“I would like to thank Mr. Graves from Missouri for taking the lead on this amendment, and I would like to thank Chairman McKeon for including this amendment in this en bloc package. After 12 years of combat coming to a close and shifting security priorities, a commission to evaluate Army force structure is, indeed, appropriate. The Pentagon is still operating with assumptions, metrics and policies from the early 2000s. What we need to be doing is looking at shaping the force of the future. What the future missions and force mixture between active-guard-reserve should be is a question that should be thoroughly assessed. To determine how the future of our total Army will be shaped for decades to come, we should select the more comprehensive commission and take the additional few months to do a comprehensive analysis with the best personnel and minds available. Madam Chairman, the security of the Nation depends upon it. Mr. McKEON. Madam Chair, I think we are about done. At this time, I would like to thank my partner. For 4 years, we have had the opportunity of leading this committee, and I could not have had a better person to be working with than Mr. Smith from Washington. He is straightforward; he is honest; he is hardworking, and we just, I think, have had a really good working relationship. I consider him--and I will always consider him--a friend. Likewise, I want to echo the things he said about the committee. I want to thank them. We get all of the plaudits.…”