Political Quotes

“I am ashamed to tell you, Mr. Speaker, today, as a senior member of the Committee on Armed Services, as the chairman of one of our key subcommittees, that we have some of our fighter wings where up to one-third of our airplanes are not flying because they have had to be cannibalized to use the parts from those planes to keep the other two-thirds flying. I am ashamed to report, Mr. Speaker, that we have ships at sea, our carriers, where we are hundreds of sailors short, going out to complete missions and coming back home without the proper staffing that we have identified as appropriate for these most important vessels of our Navy. I am embarrassed that we are asking our Marine Corps to fly in CH-46 helicopters that were built during the Vietnam War that we will continue to fly until they are 55 years old. I am embarrassed that we will be flying the B-52 bomber when it is 75 years old. Mr. Speaker, we have problems in our military that we need to address, and these problems did not happen overnight and these problems need to be addressed this a bipartisan manner.”