Political Quotes

“it is in that spirit that I bring this message to my fellow Members of the U.S. Senate. I rise today to ask for support for the Defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2018. I would like to start by thanking the majority leader for bringing the Defense appropriations bill to the floor. Now, just because the majority leader brings it to the floor doesn't mean we will necessarily get the opportunity to debate it. It requires either the unanimous consent of all the Members or at least 60 Members agreeing to have that debate. That is one of the reasons why we haven't had any appropriations measures on the floor. It takes 60 Members, Republicans and Democrats, just to begin the debate of each one of these 12 separate appropriations bills, which make up what we normally vote on during a year. This is also part of that process which has been broken for more than 44 years because it has only worked four times in 44 years. But you have to start someplace. Providing long-term funding stability for our Armed Forces is vital to their ability to adequately train, equip, and maintain the force. In particular, under short-term, stop-gap funding measures known as continuing resolutions, which we are operating under right now, the Defense Department is restricted from starting new programs.…”