Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2005

EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005

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Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. President, I rise in support of Senator Warner's amendment. I believe it is of crucial importance to our Nation that we maintain the readiness of our carrier force.

I thank my colleagues from Virginia, and also the senior Senator from my State, Mr. Nelson, who has been so dogged in his fight in this effort. I believe we have made a lot of progress since we began to talk about keeping the Kennedy and keeping 12 carriers in the fleet.

The thing that has impressed me as this discussion has proceeded is a commentary from the Secretary of the Navy, as well as the Chief of Naval Operations as they have discussed the need for readiness of 12 carriers, as well as the fact there is a need for maintaining operations on the east coast of the United States with two ports available to our Navy.

I believe as this debate and this discussion has ensued, it has become increasingly clear that at a time of great stress upon our Armed Forces, at a time when we expect our global reach to be just that, global, we cannot make do with 11 carriers to satisfy short-term budgetary goals.

The fact is our Nation is best served by a 12-carrier force. Our Nation is also best served by having two ports on the east coast that can handle nuclear carriers. I believe we should move forward in that regard as well to allow that diversity and that opportunity.

I yield the remainder of my time and thank the Senator from Virginia.

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