Rob Portman Quotes

I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world.

In State of the Union addresses, I always look at the foreign policy and military parts first, which are generally pretty minimal.

We have to defend America and be strong.

There's nothing wrong with being a Conservative and coming up with a Conservative believe in foreign policy where we have a strong national defense and we don't go to war so carelessly.

The Defense Department has a great deal of influence on foreign policy, and State has very little impact on defense policy.

I work on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees to keep us safe at home and strong in the world.

As a member of the Armed Service Committee and a co-chair of the Democratic National Security Task Force, I will continue to work to keep Americans safe at home and abroad.

War is just one more big government program.

Let no one expect us to disarm unilaterally. We are not a naive people.

I believe in peace through strength. I would prefer to rely on the military rather than diplomats to protect our homes.

… a rich nation always defends itself badly.

There is only one Republican presidential candidate that has a proven, courageous, and conservative record on national security: Marco Rubio.

As chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I am confronted every day with the security concerns and threats to our own nation's safety, as well as threats to the rest of the world.

War is just a racket... I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else.

I'm finding myself really angry over spending and the deficit. I'm finding myself really angry over what's happening in the Middle East, the decision to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely. I'm angry about cap and trade. And I've been on record for a long time on the failed war on drugs.

President Bush has a track record of making the right decisions when it comes to national security.

I've been very sensitive for a long time to the repeated pattern, during economic hard times or after a war, of the United States' essentially unilaterally disarming.

The Pentagon budget, like all government spending, is an expression of priorities.

Let me remind you all that the first task of American foreign policy is to reduce threats to the United States.

Wars should be over in three days or less... and the American people must be all for it from the outset.

So long as peace is not attained by law (so argue the advocates of armaments) the military protection of a country must not be undermined, and until such is the case disarmament is impossible.

And I have no doubt that the American people generally believe the world is safer, and that we are safer, when we are stronger.

This is not going to be decided by public opinion polls. It is a national security issue.

If I were President I would veto arms sales to countries we damn well know our going to shoot our ass the minute our backs are turned.

Very near the heart of all foreign affairs is the relationship between policy and military power.