Political Quotes

“This is truly a bill that I think reflects the need for this Congress to move forward aggressively in supporting our defense in a way that we perhaps have not done over the past several years. I am ecstatic that we have struck a balance. We have continued to fund aggressive support for missile defense, we have continued to fund aggressive support for modernization, and in this bill we begin to address the needs of the readiness shortfall that our troops have experienced. Just 2 weeks ago, a group of five of us traveled around the country interacting with 20 of our colleagues as we toured 24 bases in 15 States to get a glimpse of the capability of our military to respond. What we saw was atrocious. We saw military bases that one would not put their worst enemies on. We saw raw sewage coming out of barracks. We saw day care centers for the children of the offspring of our personnel with mold on the wall, without adequate fire protection. This bill begins to address those long-term maintenance and improvement needs that we have had for so many years and begins to address the readiness shortfall.”