Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we are wrapping up the year in the Senate, and I am looking forward to getting home to South Dakota for Christmas. Before we leave, we will wrap up this year's spending bills, including the Defense funding bill. Yesterday we passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which is yearly legislation to authorize funding for our military and our national defense. I am pleased to report that this year's bill authorizes the full annual funding request for development of the B-21 bomber, which will be coming to Ellsworth in the not-too-distant future. The news that Ellsworth Air Force Base had been selected as the first home of the future B-21 Raider was exciting news this year. Ellsworth Air Force Base has been a priority of mine since I first came to the Senate and worked with a lot of dedicated people to prevent Ellsworth from being closed by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 2005. Since then, I have worked with the other Members of the South Dakota delegation and the Air Force and community leaders to make sure the base never again finds itself in the same position. Among other things, our efforts resulted in the expansion of the Powder River Training Complex into the largest training airspace in the continental United States. It is undoubtedly partly thanks to this airspace that Ellsworth was chosen as the first home for the B-21. Ellsworth is going from strength to strength.…”