Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank my friend, the senior Senator from Arizona, for his great work over the years, and particularly now in the Committee on Armed Services, which he chairs. He has been tenacious in his attempt to make sure that no dollars are inadvertently or unknowingly wasted, especially when it comes to the Pentagon. I, for one, believe this is the No. 1 priority of our country. I know he shares that view. But it is pretty hard to make the argument that we ought to continue to give more money to the Pentagon if the money is not being used efficiently, either because of their internal administrative problems or for some other reason. I know, because I happened to be at the Pentagon this morning, that many of our military chiefs are concerned that the things that are being put in appropriations bills are not things they actually want or need and that there are other priorities. The best way to get those vetted is through the Senate Committee on Armed Services and working with the Appropriations Committee to make sure the money is being used as efficiently as possible and not wasted--certainly not on things the military doesn't want or doesn't need. So I thank my colleague for his continued leadership. Mr. President, I wanted to talk about a few topics here. No. 1 is the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, the legislation we have been working on now for 2 weeks.…”