Political Quotes

“I would also like to thank my colleague, Mr. Byrne, for his hard work, both on the Armed Services Committee and on the Rules Committee, on this important rule. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the rule that will allow for consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018. Mr. Speaker, as elected Members of this body, we have no higher obligation or responsibility than to provide for the support and the defense of our Nation. No matter what else we do in this body--and we debate very big, important issues. We debate tax cuts, we debate healthcare, and these are crucial issues, but none of those issues matters if we fail to get the resources necessary to defend this Nation from our adversaries. For far too long, Mr. Speaker, we have failed to do that. Over the last 8 years, we have seen policies that have failed to provide the kind of resources our Defense Department needs. We have also seen, Mr. Speaker, legislation from this body--in particular, the Budget Control Act--that has caused significant damage to the military. We have heard on the Armed Services Committee, week after week, briefings from every layer of the military--from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, from the Secretary of Defense, and from the combatant commanders--briefings about the extent to which there is a gap that is growing between our abilities and the abilities of our adversaries. Now, this is a gap that people seem to want to ignore, Mr.…”