Bob Beckel Quotes

If the military is to show the capabilities that we demand and expect of it, then the defense budget has to continue to rise.

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Congressional Joint Strike Fighter Caucus, I have been a staunch supporter of the production of the F-35 since day one and understand the importance of its production for my fellow Texans and our nation's security.

Our military has been so badly depleted. Who would think the United States is raiding plane graveyards to pick up parts and equipment? That means they're being held together by a shoestring. Other countries have brand-new stuff they have bought from us. It's insane.

The administration has a disturbing pattern of behavior when it comes to budgeting not only for the ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan but also for military requirements not directly related to these conflicts.

What I say is, national defense is the most important thing we do in Washington, but there's still waste in the military budget.

Where the public money runs deepest the hogs fight each other to get their snouts in the trough, and the big trough nowadays runs through the Pentagon.

The defense budget is more than a piggy bank for people who want to get busy beating swords into pork barrels.

The ideal weapons system is built in 435 congressional districts, and it doesn't matter whether it works or not.

There is so much crap [waste] going on over there [the Pentagon], I could run the Navy Department on the cost-of-living increases alone.

What chiefly governs the military budget is the need to spend enormous sums of money in a useless way. The allegedly powerful Pentagon is simply a receptacle for wasteful expenditure, just as a city dump is the receptacle for the refuse of a city.

The Pentagon is the Poster Child for waste in Government.

I have long maintained the military budget is not a jobs bill... and will continue to support the lowest budget possible.

While the Pentagon ultimately awards military contracts, there is a reason for the review process. The Senate's subcommittee on Military Construction's approval carries weight.

We increased expenses, particularly in two areas: the military. If I put somebody in harm's way, they're going to get the best, as far as I'm concerned.

To defend Western Europe we have to let the Pentagon buy all these tanks and guns and things, and the Pentagon is unable to buy any object that that costs less than a condominium in Vail. If the Pentagon needs, say, fruit, it will argue that it must have fruit that can withstand the rigors of combat conditions, and it will wind up purchasing the FX-700 Seedless Tactical Grape, which will cost $160,000 per bunch, and will have an 83 percent failure rate.

This is another area in which savings can also be moved from wasteful - like the F-35 weapons system that will cost us $1.5 trillion by the time it's done and it's obsolete, you know, it's a weapons system - as well as this global military infrastructure, which is unlike anything the world has ever known at any time.

We buy products for our military and they come in at costs that are so far above what they were supposed to be, because we don't have people that know what they're doing.

America's military is second to none in the world. We're blessed with terrific soldiers, and extraordinary technology and intelligence. But the idea of a trillion dollars in cuts through sequestration and budget cuts to the military would change that.

If you refuse to acknowledge that there is any waste that can be culled from the military budget, you are a big-government conservative, and you cannot lay claim to balancing the budget.

I have spoken to Donald Trump about this. He understands the dramatic budget cuts our military has faced.

President Trump recognizes that the F-35 is a very large program - the largest program in the Department of Defense. He wants to make the sure that the American taxpayer is getting the lowest possible cost on the program.

If you look at the question of expenditure in Iraq, you have got to start from the one fundamental truth: that every request that the military commanders made to us for equipment was answered. No request was ever turned down.

I have long believed there is a lot of waste in the defense budget.

We need to cut unnecessary weapons programs like the F-35 fighter plane that cost trillions of dollars and don't even work.

I am confident that President Trump's administration is capable of making the Pentagon run at maximum efficiency and enacting procurement reforms that will get weapons and assets to our warfighters more quickly and efficiently.