W. Weldon said "What Members need to understand, Mr. Speaker, is that we are facing what my good friend, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Sisisky) referred to as a major train wreck, because some very divergent things are happening. We are into our 15th consecutive year of real cuts in defense spending. We are facing a situation now where we have an all volunteer force. Unlike 20 years ago, where we could draft people and pay them next to nothing, today a much larger portion of our defense budget goes for quality of life issues: housing, education, health care costs. Unlike 20 years ago, in the past 6 years we have deployed our troops 26 times. That is 26 times in 6 years versus 10 times in the previous 40 years, and none of these 26 deployments by our Commander in Chief were budgeted for. None of them were paid for." @ PoliticalQuotes.com

On the recordSeptember 24, 1998

What Members need to understand, Mr. Speaker, is that we are facing what my good friend, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Sisisky) referred to as a major train wreck, because some very divergent things are happening. We are into our 15th consecutive year of real cuts in defense spending. We are facing a situation now where we have an all volunteer force. Unlike 20 years ago, where we could draft people and pay them next to nothing, today a much larger portion of our defense budget goes for quality of life issues: housing, education, health care costs. Unlike 20 years ago, in the past 6 years we have deployed our troops 26 times. That is 26 times in 6 years versus 10 times in the previous 40 years, and none of these 26 deployments by our Commander in Chief were budgeted for. None of them were paid for.

Said by

W. Weldon

Republican · Pennsylvania

Source

govinfo.gov

Editor's note · Context

Discussing defense spending and military deployments during a House floor speech.

Share on X Share on Facebook Email this quote