Political Quotes

“This amendment basically unnecessarily ties the hands of our administration in terms of choosing how best to spend Defense dollars. Now, the gentlewoman mentions that this does not say anything about reducing our submarine force or reducing our bomber force. It does, however, lock in a certain amount of ICBMs that we have to have, and, in that sense, it does impact all other choices in terms of our Defense policy not just within the nuclear framework. But within the nuclear framework, there is, as I keep emphasizing and people keep resisting, a finite amount of resources available to fund the Department of Defense. In fact, that is the central problem with this whole bill, as I have mentioned. We don't have a budget resolution. This is $72 billion over-the- budget caps that the House has shown no willingness to vote to lift. So here we have $72 billion that we are just kind of hoping is going to be there. So at some point we are going to have to make some choices. I keep saying that. We keep delaying it--doing CRs. We even shut down the government once. We continue to sort of stumble forward with no clear plan, but amendments like this are just another example of how we lock in a lack of flexibility in terms of how we spend our money. What is the best approach to our national security? Now, it has been mentioned and I keep harping on the fact that we don't have a national security plan yet.…”