Political Quotes

“Mr. President, last night, the Air Force announced some historic news for South Dakota, and today I am proud to share that Ellsworth Air Force Base in Western South Dakota has been officially named Main Operating Base 1 for the future B-21 Bomber, home of the Raider. This designation not only means that Ellsworth will be the first base to host the B-21 Raider, but it will also host the formal training unit and the first operational squadron. Those who have heard me talk about the importance of this decision likely know the outlook for the base wasn't so rosy 16 years ago. I had just arrived here in the Senate in 2005 when Ellsworth was placed on the base realignment and closure, or BRAC, list that May. It was an all-hands effort by the congressional delegation and Ellsworth and State and community leaders to make the case to the Bush administration and to the BRAC Commission to remove Ellsworth from the closure list. Many thought South Dakota might not have the clout to make this stand; that we didn't wield enough influence. We were only given about a 12-percent odds of pulling through, but we were determined that we weren't going to lose Ellsworth. We started by challenging the cost-savings assumptions of the BRAC Commission, which began to unravel under scrutiny, and we proved it would actually cost money to close Ellsworth.…”