Political Quotes

“the CBO estimates that enactment of S. 4 will raise discretionary spending by about $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2000 and $13.8 billion over the 2000-2004 time period. There are, of course, direct spending and forgone tax revenue issues that we will have to overcome. I have been working with Senator Domenici, Senator Stevens, and others to address these issues in the budget resolution and the defense authorization bill, which are ongoing deliberations. The important perspective to consider here is that, even though this bill is expensive, the alternative is unacceptable. I wish to stress that: The alternative is unacceptable. We, simply, as a nation--the leader of the world, with the strongest and the largest armed force of any nation in the world, an armed force which is deployed overseas, now, in many places, preserving freedom and trying to secure freedom for others--we simply cannot allow the best military force in the world to wither and atrophy. We must be prepared to pay the price in dollars to fulfill our constitutional duties "To raise and support Armies," and "To provide and maintain a Navy." As I and other Members of the Senate--and that is of course taken from the Constitution. And subsequent thereto we have the Air Force, and of course the Marines have been with us forever, but that is the wording out of the Constitution.”