Political Quotes

“I rise to make one simple point. From the period of time in the 1990s, starting with President Bush, Sr., and continuing through President Clinton, our troops were deployed 149 times around the world. Many of these deployments were considered minor deployments. But of the 149 deployments that President Clinton and President Bush got us into, President Bush, Sr., 38 were considered major deployments. One of those deployments, which President Bush, Sr. got us into, was Desert Storm. And he went out, with no requirement legislatively by this body, and was able to bring in over $50 billion of reimbursements from our allies after Desert Storm was over. There was no mandate. There was no loan. He did it. The other 37 deployments, Mr. Chairman, which President Clinton got us into, which includes Macedonia, East Timor, Somalia, Haiti, Colombia, Kosovo, Bosnia, all of those were paid for after the fact. The President inserted the troops in harm's way, and we were left to foot the bill. Now, what was the cost of that? Mr. Chairman, those deployments cost well in excess of what we are talking about today. In fact, we passed, under the Republican leadership, 11 emergency supplementals funding President Clinton's deployments after the fact. Eleven. Eleven emergency supplementals.”