Political Quotes

“This bill has elicited a great deal of rather passionate and emotional debate. As important as the subject matter is, I think there has been more passion and more emotion than the bill, by its terms, certainly warrants. It is a bill that says we perceive there are certain threats to the national security of the United States, and it is a policy consideration that they should be addressed by the deployment of a system as soon as practicable. I can assure my friends throughout the Chamber, as the chairman of the Readiness Subcommittee, I am not going to preside over the sacrifice of our readiness to a ballistic missile system, theater or national, that is not ready for deployment, is not proven, and demonstrated to be practical and affordable in the context of our other national security needs. There is nothing in H.R. 7 that indicates otherwise. But there is nothing in this bill that dictates any requirement that we sacrifice other programs of priorities as we separate them out as we go through the authorizing and appropriations process.”