Political Quotes

“About $379 billion, which, in the view of most objective observers, would probably not have the priority of the men and women in the military. I know of no higher priority. That is the reason why the Senator from Georgia and I made a tough decision here, saying: Look, we will leave it up to the conference to find the money. I could give the Senator a list of projects that are authorized in this bill, which I think, according to most objective observers, many of which could be described as porkbarrel projects, which have a far lower priority than that of the men and women in the military. We are facing an urgent problem. We are facing a serious problem. We think it deserves the attention of the Senate and, following passage, of the conference. It is not unusual to put in a provision on the floor that is not funded. That is why we do have conferences. Certain tradeoffs are made. There will be tradeoffs made between the conferees from the Senate and the House. I understand the difficulty that is entailed, but I also understand better the difficulty that right now the men and women in the military are having in carrying out their functions, their duties, and their missions. I hope the Senator will understand that we believe this issue is transcendent to a $500 million out of a $379 billion piece of legislation.”