Political Quotes

“let us be straight with the American people our colleagues. This amendment is not about getting out of the United Nations nor is it against peacekeeping. It is about fairness, to our taxpayers and military. We heard debate earlier today about saving $1.5 million for a commission. Two hundred two Members, largely of the minority party, voted ``yes'' for that huge savings in defense spending for the readiness of our troops. We had a big vote on missile defense. The key issue was savings. This year we are spending almost $2 billion of American taxpayer money on the United Nations and its operations around the world, $2 billion. We simply want to have some accounting and we want to have some credit for what we put in. Let me use Haiti as an example. We had no debate before our troops were committed to Haiti, I might add, not 1 minute of debate on this floor before the troops went in. Yet we have in fact spent $1.5 billion of American taxpayers' money. Even more outrageous and the purpose of the three flags in my lapel, Bangladesh, Guatemala, and Nepal. Here we are right now paying the full salaries, benefits, and housing costs of the troops of these three countries. Yes, my colleagues we are paying with DOD dollars the benefits, the salaries, and the expenses of the troops from these nations in Haiti.”