[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6135]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                OPPOSING THE DEMOCRATIC SUPPLEMENTAL ACT

  (Mr. BISHOP of Utah asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, it is said that politicians live in 
the past and statesmen vote for the future. Indeed, the options that we 
have today, both militarily and diplomatic, are based on votes that 
were taken by Congress 10 or 15 years ago.
  The supplemental act recently unveiled by the Democratic majority 
appears to have been written by politicians, not statesmen. It includes 
the postponement of the acquisition of two F-35 fighter aircraft, which 
by itself does not seem too significant, but it bespeaks an attitude to 
be feared. For when we postpone the acquisition of technologically 
advanced military equipment, we place the future air superiority, 
something we have had since the Korean War and take for granted, in 
jeopardy. When we divert dollars from one branch of the military to 
support another branch of the military, we place all of the military in 
jeopardy. All four branches of the military deserve to be fully and 
adequately funded, and that is something this supplemental does not do.
  This supplemental simply starts us down the road to a place where a 
future Congress will look back and criticize us for our failure to be 
statesmen.

                          ____________________