Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for his comments and for coming this evening and spending some time with us. And your comments, before I yield to the gentleman from Virginia, have spurred some thoughts that I would like to add to the conversation. One of the things you touched upon is the fact that, as we make cuts and we downsize government, defense has to be part of that conversation, and the gentleman from Kentucky recognized that in his comments, and I recognize that. But I recall a conversation, as a freshman Member I came here and we've met some individuals over the time, and one conversation that really sticks out in my mind when it comes to this issue is a conversation that we had, a handful of us, with Secretary of Defense, then-Secretary of Defense Bob Gates. And what Mr. Gates expressed to us is he says, Lookit, we can go through this process, and we need to go through this process and downsizing our military and downsizing and tightening our belt where we can because of the national debt crisis that we now found ourselves in. As former Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Mullen advised the President, the biggest threat to America was not a military threat; it was the national debt. And that type of sentiment is shocking to me, and it should scare all of us in that we have to get this fiscal threat under control. But the conversation with Bob Gates was we're going to do this.…”