Political Quotes

“as many people are now aware, the largest increase in defense spending in two decades, is not really an `increase' so much as it is a `payment past due' on a defense budget that was significantly under-funded in the 1990s. This outstanding debt is most easily seen in the Navy. It was the Navy that brought the Marine Expeditionary Units to the Afghanistan theater of operations, and it is the Navy that conducted 75% of the strike sorties flown in Afghanistan. As we speak, Navy assets are not just in the Indian Ocean, but also off the coasts of Somalia, Yemen, and the Philippines. The Carrier Battle Group was the force enabler in Afghanistan--and it will be the force enabler in the next theater of operations in the war on terror. America's defense requires a combat credible expeditionary force. America's aircraft carriers with 2.5 acres of sovereign territory are just that. In the early part of the last century, President Theodore Roosevelt sent his `Big Stick' fleet around the world to deter other nations from developing an aggressive stance towards the U.S. In the year 2002, we have sent our `Big Stick' around the world to keep those that would terrorize America on the run. Now is the time for a `Big Stick' budget and investments in carrier battle groups are crucial to maintaining our superiority over America's enemies--conventional, and unconventional.”