Political Quotes

“this is a 1980s amendment; Ronald Reagan was President. The term ``Stars Wars'' is again resurrecting itself. It has no relevancy to what we are doing today. This is not a discussion of whether or not we are going to deploy a strategic defense initiative. That discussion is over; it ended in the 1980s and 1990s. There is no national missile defense, so the amendment is not relative. In fact, if we take this amendment, it is so poorly worded, which is why the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) had to get clarification, because even he has concerns, but to get clarification, he is trying to qualify some things. It is so poorly worded we could in fact end the only joint program we have with Russia. Does the gentleman know about the RAMOS program which the Russians proposed that we do, which Carl Levin on the Senate side led the fight to restore? That program is 2 satellites. Under the gentleman's amendment, we cut the funding for the RAMOS program because, heaven forbid, satellites are in space. But wait a minute. What about all of my colleagues here who care about Israel's security? We funded with our money the Arrow program. We spent almost $500 million on Arrow, the most successful missile defense program operating today. Well, guess what? Maybe the gentleman does not know this, but we are now retrofitting Arrow so it can interact with our systems. So what the gentleman wants to say is no more national missile defense. Well, guess what?…”