Pete Sessions: “I sometimes think we are like ships in the night as we discuss this issue and what the priorities of this country ought…”

“I sometimes think we are like ships in the night as we discuss this issue and what the priorities of this country ought to be. I know Senator Reed is an esteemed colleague and a capable advocate, but I would like to talk about a few of the things he said that I think really do not give us the right perspective. Of course, terrorism is the No. 1 issue. We voted on a $40 billion FY01 supplemental budget. We have an FY02 supplemental in conference. A huge part of what we are spending in defense, transportation, and in all agencies of our Government, from the FBI to the CIA, is focused on securing this homeland. The arguments the Senator from Rhode Island make that suggests any other expenditure is not as valuable as homeland defense and that we can spend on nothing else apparently but homeland defense I do not believe are sound. In other words, are we going to stop all R&D for missile defense? Are we going to stop developing the future combat system we have been working on down the road that may be a decade in development? Are we just going to stop that because we have an immediate threat? The Navy's DD(X) program or other weapons systems we are developing, the new and superbly efficient precision guided munitions, should we continue to develop them? Well, of course we should. We cannot stop all that because we are into this war on terrorism. We need to fund every dime that is needed on homeland defense.”