Political Quotes

“I think we should listen to Senator McCain. Senator McCain made a point that I think he understands. He is the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee. He has served his Nation with a career in the military. And we have a Commander in Chief who is not leading. We have a majority leader in the U.S. Senate who is not leading. We are about to have no Defense authorization bill this year for the first time in 50 years. I would also note that this will be the first time since I have been in the Senate in maybe--I do not know how long--that we have passed not a single appropriations bill, zero, including a defense appropriations bill. It is going to be part of some massive, ominous CR for 6 months without any real oversight or thought as to how that money will be spent. I am a member of the Armed Services Committee and ranking member of the Budget Committee. I would like to point out how these cuts that, as Senator Thune established, were driven by the White House when they set up this committee last August--and we committed to reducing spending by $2.1 trillion over 10 years. Instead of spending $47 trillion, they would reduce it to $45 trillion. We are spending now at the rate of $36 trillion over 10. We are still increasing spending over current rates, but it would not be quite as much. But the way this fell is remarkable. I wanted to show this chart. Under the fallback sequester, the defense budget shrinks while nondefense spending soars.…”