Cruz: The DoD Should Look at Every Penny Before Cutting a Soldier
WASHINGTON, DC -– U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today spoke at the National Security Action Conference regarding the need for a foreign policy that speaks to the world with clarity and protects the United States’ national interests. Excerpts are below.
“In the midst of the world becoming a more dangerous place, we have been visited by leadership from our President and Secretary of Defense that says the best response is to dramatically reduce the size of our army. In fact, to shrink our army to pre-World War II levels. The world has only become a more dangerous place.
“Everyone would agree that there is waste, fraud, and abuse at the Pentagon, like any large bureaucracy…Yesterday I had the opportunity to question Secretary Hagel. I asked him why the Pentagon is continuing to spend $170 million on algae fuel that costs four times as much as regular fuel and is instead cutting Army infantry troops. I asked him why they are we spending $7 billion on renewable energy projects, including $14 million on wind turbines in Alaska in a place where there was no wind… why do they continue to pour that money down a rat hole. And rather than cut that waste they propose cutting the Army’s Brigade Combat Teams.
“The answers he gave were utterly unsatisfactory. At first he had to reach for the comptroller and say, I don’t know what we’re spending on that. Maybe he should know what we’re spending on that if he’s proposing cutting tens of thousands of people from our army. Before you cut a solider, let me suggest the Secretary of Defense should find out every penny that’s being wasted in this building and take that penny and use it to support the men and women in our military and to defend our national security.
“The Secretary of Defense did respond to these programs as ‘luxuries,’ and I don’t know that algae fuel has ever been considered a luxury, but I am glad he used that characterization because he agreed that in a time for scarcity this was not a time for luxury. So I am looking forward, consistent with his scarcity, for the announcement that they are going to cut these unnecessary luxuries and instead put our resources to the men and women who risk their lives every day to defend this nation.”
Sen. Cruz also spoke against Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, President Maduro oppression of Venezuelans’ freedoms, and a nuclear-armed Iran.
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