Political Quotes

“I take issue with the characterization of what has transpired with respect to the legislation before us. We have passed, by voice vote even, four bipartisan en bloc amendments with items like China, Taiwan, readiness, munitions, and Israel--a host of issues that do not fall into the category that the ranking member raises, which I am happy to address in a moment. There are countless other amendments that we have raised and addressed. For example, my friend Mr. Rosendale's amendment, which I know is near and dear to the heart of Mr. Griffith from Virginia, limits indefinite detention. There are other amendments. For example, Mr. Norman's requires that any Department of Defense component that fails to pass an independent audit have 1\1/2\ percent of its budget returned to the Treasury for deficit reduction. These are a lot of very good, commonsense amendments. We went through the process, combed through 1,500 amendments, and made decisions in the Rules Committee on how to equitably bring them to the floor. They cover the gamut of issues that the American people are concerned about when they see their Department of Defense no longer able to defend the United States. That is the question.…”