Political Quotes

“let us cut through all of the rhetoric we have heard here today. Why is H.R. 7 before us in this body today? Is it only because of Republicans? I think back to last summer when this bill was first drafted. It was not drafted in January of this year. It was drafted because Members of both sides of the aisle said the President made a fundamental mistake. He cut defense spending by $128 billion over 5 years which Democrats and Republicans alike acknowledged was not achievable, and we said we had to do something about that. In fact, here we are today with the General Accounting Office saying we are $150 billion short over 5 years, the Congressional Budget Office saying we are $67 billion short over 5 years and our good colleague and friend Ike Skelton saying we are $44 billion short over 5 years. That is why we empower a commission. Because the leadership does not know what shortcomings we have in terms of spending. No one can agree. So we have to have an independent assessment look at that. The President was wrong in the cuts that he made. While cutting our defense spending over 5 years by 25 percent, he has increased nondefense spending in the defense budget by 361 percent. Can you believe that? The biggest increase in defense spending are non-defense items.”