Richard K. Armey: “ladies and gentlemen, yes, this has been an important bill. It has been an important debate. It has not been the most…”

“ladies and gentlemen, yes, this has been an important bill. It has been an important debate. It has not been the most important bill, nor the most important debate on this Nation's role in protecting the peace and freedom and dignity of nations as well as ourselves across the globe. In the 10 years I have been here, I have seen more exciting debate. I have seen more fitful differences of opinion. I have seen more important and more immediate and more pressing issues with extraordinarily more sharply divided and heartfelt differences of opinion. The debate we had for so many years over Nicaragua, for example, comes to mind. It has been a strange debate. People have been lining up in positions that we have not been accustomed to seeing them in over these past few years. There is no need to hyperbolize this. This is not this Congress' last word. This is not the last word on defense of this session of Congress. There will be a defense authorization bill later. What is this bill about today within this contract period? It's a course correction. It is a statement by this Congress that, yes, we, too, have heard the voices of the American people. These voices have said it is necessary to this Nation and to this world for this Nation to have a strong, independent, and able defense--first and foremost of its own national interest and then also, and importantly, the interest of peace and freedom across the globe.”