Political Quotes

“I rise today in opposition to the amendment offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts. To suggest that supporters of this amendment are being disingenuous in their comments on the amount allocated for national defense in the budget resolution would be kind. By suggesting that the $2.4 billion at issue here today represents an increase in the Defense budget is to ignore basic simple facts about the Federal budget in general and the Defense budget in particular. Defense spending as percentages of the Federal budget and of gross domestic product reached their peaks in 1985. Since then, it has declined steadily. The Armed Forces are shrinking; the amount of the Defense budget spent on the actual procurement of weapons has declined by 67 percent over the last 10 years; military careers, many of them exemplary, are being cut short; readiness is degrading; recruiting is suffering. To suggest, as supporters of the Frank amendment do, that Defense has not been reduced and reduced substantially is, Mr. Chairman, simply not correct. The $2.4 billion in question is the fiscal year 1995 share of a 2.6- percent active duty pay raise Congress passed last year. It does not represent an increase in the Defense budget.”