Political Quotes

“Madam President, our Nation asks a lot of our troops. In return, we must give them the best possible equipment to fulfill their vital missions and come home safely. We have a powerful obligation to them to ensure the proper performance of weapons systems, body armor, aircraft parts, and countless other mission-critical products. Today, however, America's military faces a significant and growing threat from counterfeit products entering the military supply chain. I rise to speak about a bill I have introduced with Senator McCain, Senator Graham, and Senator Coons: the Combating Military Counterfeits Act of 2011. This bill will enhance the ability of prosecutors to keep counterfeit goods out of the military supply chain. In so doing it will help protect America's Armed Forces from the risk of defective equipment. These counterfeit products do not meet military standards. As a result, they put troops' lives at risk, compromise military readiness, and cost the country enormous sums in replacement costs. In the case of microelectronics, counterfeit parts also provide an avenue for cybersecurity threats to infiltrate military systems, possibly enabling hackers to track or even disable crucial national security applications. With troops from Rhode Island and all over the United States serving overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan, we cannot accept criminals selling fake versions of products used by our troops.…”