Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I thank Chairman Smith and his staff for working with our office, and also the ranking member and his staff for working on making this a bipartisan amendment. I would like to speak about an amendment that will do a Western Hemisphere resource assessment. This amendment will require the Office of the Secretary of Defense to contract for an independent study on the sufficiency of U.S. resources in the Western Hemisphere by the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the United States Agency for International Development. The purpose is for Congress to receive an unbiased view of all U.S. investments in the region. With ever-increasing investment by China, Iran, and Russia in the Latin American region, we must refocus our efforts with our southern neighbors. Russia is flying nuclear-capable bombers out of Venezuela, near our U.S. border. China intends on investing $250 billion in Latin America by 2025. A new study also has shown that China has become more popular than the United States in many of the Latin American countries. The United States must remain vigilant in Latin America and help the region from succumbing to Chinese, Russian, and Iranian influences. Again, this Western Hemisphere resource assessment is the first step in helping refocus U.S. efforts in the region, and I ask my colleagues to support this amendment and the en bloc amendment.…”