Political Quotes

“I call to the attention of my colleagues two amendments that Senator Webb and I have filed to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for 2012. Each of these amendments relates to the Navy's proposal to build a new nuclear pier facility to support east coast aircraft carriers. With annual recurring costs, this new project would likely cost just shy of a billion dollars. At a time when our Nation is in a severe fiscal crisis and the Navy cannot pay to maintain the infrastructure it currently owns. As Admiral Mullen has said, the greatest challenge to our national security is our mounting debt. Together, these amendments would save nearly $15 million for an unnecessary Navy military construction project at Naval Station Mayport, FL. We are awaiting completion of an independent GAO assessment of the strategic risks to our carrier fleet which include manmade and natural disasters. It would also consider the cost and benefits of what other measures we can take to mitigate risk. This is not a small project, the Navy estimates its homeporting plan will cost nearly $600 million, but that cost could escalate to up to $1 billion during the eight years ahead. Tack on to that more than $20 million in annual maintenance costs currently estimated for an additional homeport and we are signing the taxpayer up for a big bill, much of which is not funded. It is in the ``outyears'' as they say.…”