Political Quotes

“three quick points. The procedure being employed is bad for the country, it is bad for the Senate, and my Republican colleague, Senator Cochran from Mississippi, expressed himself very well. If we give in to this, pack and go home. We don't deserve to be here. Now, I have a proposal, I say to my good friend, Senator Tester. I have a proposal that does two things. It helps those who leave the military get a better GI benefit. He is right; we need to increase the money we give to people who leave the service to go to college. But the Webb bill, unfortunately, according to CBO, hurts retention. The benefits of $52, $53 billion are all driven to the people who would leave, and the consequence of that is we are going to hurt retention, according to CBO, by 16 percent. Our approach, Senators McCain, Burr, and many of us here, is to do two things: Increase the benefit for those who leave but entice people to stay and reward those who will make a career out of the military. The backbone of the military, I say to Senator Tester, is the career NCOs, and we have a proposal that if they will stay in for 6 years, they can transfer half their benefits to their family members, to their spouse or to their child. If they will stay to the 12-year point, they can transfer 100 percent of their GI benefits to their spouse or their child. That would reward people for staying in and making a career. They can get their retirement pay and have money to send their kids to college.”