Political Quotes

“Mr. President, first, let me say with great respect how I appreciate the collaboration and cooperation of the chairman on so much of the bill where we worked together, but this is an issue that I feel very strongly about. Let me be very clear about what this amendment does. First, it recognizes the need--as the President did in his budget submission--for adequate resources for our Department of Defense. But what it does is it says that the additional money above the President's request for OCO--the $38 billion which was taken from the base and put into this overseas account--would be essentially fenced or set aside until we resolve the Budget Control Act, and I think we have to begin that process immediately. Senator McCain has said quite sincerely and quite persistently that we have to fix sequestration. Every uniformed service chief who came before our committee said we have to fix sequestration and the budget control caps. The reality is that this legislation does not do that. Indeed, my amendment does not do it, but it points us in that direction and gives us a strong incentive to fix the BCA and to do what all of our defense leaders have asked us to do for the welfare and safekeeping of our troops and forces in the field. The President recognizes this need. His budget is virtually identical to the top-line number we are talking about today.…”