Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the MILCON amendment. This is actually something that we agree on, that most people would agree on. We have apartments that our airmen are staying in at Hill Air Force Base where literally they have to section off corners of the sidewalk because bricks are falling off the building. This is not up to the standard of what we would like to provide for our men and women who are willing to go and serve in this capacity. This is something that we all agree on. The reason I stand to oppose the amendment is because it just increases the costs for a MILCON budget that is already laden with a lot of work with very little money. This will require a sort of preference for local hiring, which is a good thing, but it also adds in a lot of bureaucracy with respect to licensing and making sure that every single military construction contractor has all the little prerequisites for each State. This is something that we have rejected in the past, and it ultimately just adds a lot of cost. It is ironic that both the Trump and Biden administrations disagree with this. Chambers of commerce actually oppose this. A few others that are noteworthy are the defense industry of America, Association of General Contractors, and American Council of Engineering Companies. They all oppose this effort. Again, this impacts the skilled workforce. Every single construction company that I talk to right now says they can't even hire in their local area.…”