Conference Report on H.R. 1735, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal YEar 2016

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, this is my 35th year in the Congress of the United States. I don't know that I voted against, prior to this year, either a Defense Appropriation bill or a Defense Authorization bill.

I will vote against this bill. I regret that I will vote against this bill because I regret that we have not gotten ourselves on a fiscally sound path in a bipartisan way that makes this country more secure not only on the national defense side, but secure on the domestic side as well.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this conference report, which I believe does a disservice to our men and women in uniform and undermines our national security.

I do not believe this is the chairman's fault. I want to make that very clear. The chairman has been dealt a hand, and he is trying to play the best hand he can. I understand that.

I agree fully, however, with the ranking member, with his concerns and opposition to this bill not because of most of its substance, but because of the adverse impact it has on so much else.

This continues the Republican sequester sneak-around strategy. What do I mean by that? My Republican colleagues historically--since I have been here--talk about spending money. What they don't like to do is pay for things. That is, of course, what we do with taxes.

It is not for free: national security, education, health care, law enforcement. You have to pay for it. And if you want to put a level of doing something, you need to pay for that or you pass it along to the next generation.

This bill continues the sequester sneak-around strategy of blowing through their own defense spending cap by misusing emergency overseas contingency operations funding for nonemergency base defense spending. That is why the Pentagon is opposed to this. That is why the Joint Chiefs believe this is bad policy fiscal policy for the military.

As our military planners and Secretary Carter have made clear, such an approach to funding undermines the Pentagon's long-term planning process, which is based on multi-year budgets and predictable funding streams.

Unfortunately, the fiscal policies of the leadership of this House over the last 6 years have been anything but predictable.

We avoided a shutdown of government yesterday, notwithstanding the fact that 151 of my Republican colleagues voted not to fund government today. Only Democrats ensured the fact that we kept the government open. Ninety-one Republicans voted with us, but that was far less than half of their caucus.

This proposal undermines the chances for a bipartisan budget agreement to replace the sequester before the CR we passed yesterday expires on December 11. Mr. Speaker, 151 Republicans voted even against keeping government open for a short period of time, approximately 2 months.

This approach included in this bill also harms fundamental national security priorities by characterizing core defense items as part of contingency operations. That is not true. It is not fiscally helpful.

This includes the Iron Dome missile defense program and all other U.S.-Israel joint missile defense programs that help Israel protect civilians from Hamas and Hezbollah rockets.

Additionally, this report continues to prevent the administration from closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, which remains a recruiting tool for terrorists and undermines America's role as a beacon of constitutional rights and freedoms around the world. Meanwhile, we are spending $2.4 million per detainee every year for those we hold in Guantanamo.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HOYER. The ranking member of the Armed Services Committee opposes this bill strongly, as do members of that committee. The President has made it clear he is going to veto this bill not because he is against national security.

Ironically, Republicans have come to the number that the President proposed. There is a difference. The President paid for his number. He didn't pass it along to our children.

We must recognize this conference report for what it is: a vehicle for partisan messaging and an instrument for breaking with the Murray-Ryan principle of parity in defense and nondefense sequester relief. It is not a bill that makes America safer and a stronger force for justice around the world. Therefore, I will oppose it.

I thank my friend, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Smith) once again for his work in trying to improve this bill in committee, on this floor and in conference, and for his untiring work in support of the men and women of our Nation's armed services.

I thank the chairman of the committee for the same thing. He was dealt a bad hand. I understand the hand he has to play. It is not good for our country.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source