Political Quotes

“Let me thank our ranking member for yielding, and for your tremendous leadership on this subcommittee. I also want to thank the ranking member and our chair for including report language on the Department of Defense's efforts to achieve auditability by the end of fiscal 2017. Ensuring that the Pentagon is auditable is common sense, and it is something that Congress mandated, mind you, 25 years ago. It is long past time to address the culture of unlimited spending and zero accountability at the Pentagon, and I know this issue has strong bipartisan support. Yet, there are many provisions of this bill which I cannot support. The appropriations bill includes an additional $38 billion over budget caps in the overseas contingency operations slush fund, and that is what it is; it is a slush fund. This is simply outrageous and this fund, quite frankly, in my opinion, it should be eliminated. We should have transparency, and the public should know how much it is costing to fight these wars. This bill also includes $1.3 billion for DOD operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant. Mr. Chair, it has been 10 months since the war started and 4 months since the President submitted his draft authorization to Congress, and Congress has yet to act. Now we see additional troops being sent into this war zone. Again, no congressional debate, no vote.…”