Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, once again, I stand before you today to ask for your support to pass the fiscal year 2018 Defense Appropriations bill. It is past time that this essential, must-pass funding bill for our military be enacted into law. Congress must act responsibly and do its job to quickly get these dollars out the door and where they are needed as soon as possible. The legislation before you provides $659 billion for defense, more than $60 billion above last year's levels. When combined with the almost $5 billion already enacted into law in December, this bill matches the top-line funding level in the final National Defense Authorization Act enacted into law. All Federal dollars are not the same. We need to provide and prioritize national security after years of neglect and an increasingly dangerous international situation. Nor can we continue to hold our troops hostage as leverage for unrelated issues. We are almost 4 months into fiscal year 2018, and our troops still don't have their funding. It is time that the Congress fulfill its responsibility to fund our troops at the levels needed. It is time to lift the budget caps and enact a full-year Defense Appropriations Act so that our military can begin to rebuild. This bill does that by lifting the budget caps on defense and fully funding the Department at the top line already approved by the Congress in the National Defense Authorization Act.…”