Joe Cunningham: “our military cannot fight one MRC, that is regional conflict, today. General Ryan shut down the Air Force that put 1…”

“our military cannot fight one MRC, that is regional conflict, today. General Ryan shut down the Air Force that put 1 year of life on every aircraft from Kosovo. Last week the press reported that the services are being hit with a $5 billion tax, due to a sudden loss of defense budget. We stood in the well on this floor and said that the President's budget was gimmicks. He said that inflation would stay the same over the next 10 years, and so would fuel prices. They have gone up. Those prices cut $5 billion out of our defense system. The President knew it when he did it and he still did it, and when the Joint Chiefs said they needed $150 billion just to come up to fight two conflicts at the same time, the President said, I will give you a $1 billion offset, which means a net zero. We need to invest in our defense systems and provide for our men and women the training and assets when we ask them to go into conflict.”