Political Quotes

“I begin by thanking the gentlewoman from Wyoming for all of her efforts, as well as all of my colleagues for their continued effort to do everything possible to assure the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act and the Defense Appropriations bill prior to the end of the fiscal year. That is key. We have heard testimony about how money is wasted and uncertainty has led us to where we are today. Without that, we must do everything we can to assure passage of both of those bills. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 998, which expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Navy's total readiness remains in a perilous state due to high operational demands, increased deployment lengths, shortened training periods, and deferred maintenance all while the Navy is asked to do more with less as financial support for critical areas waned in the era of sequestration and without consistent congressional funding. We have heard that laid out. We agree on both sides that this has created the uncertainty that creates the situation we found ourselves in today. I think it is important to define what the term ``Navy total readiness'' truly means. The Navy conducted an independent Strategic Readiness Review composed of retired Navy admirals, as well as current senior civilian executives in the aftermath of the tragic USS Fitzgerald and USS McCain collisions.…”