Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. BEYER. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of the Rep. Cartwright's Amendment to H.R. 5293, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2017, of which I am a proud cosponsor.

Rep. Cartwright's amendment would keep in place a moratorium on the use of the Office of Management and Budget's Circular A-76 privatization studies at the Department of Defense. These studies use a faulty methodology to determine whether or not to outsource federal civilian jobs.

It is wrong to jeopardize their livelihood in the name of privatization, especially when the tools to justify it are so faulty and biased against our federal workforce. Multiple reports, including by the Government Accountability Office and the Department of Defense Inspector General, criticized the A-76 process for failing to properly track costs and savings.

A-76 studies improperly alienate our hard working civilian employees critical to the military. These personnel provide depot maintenance and equipment recapitalization, logistics capabilities, engineering expertise necessary for modernization, warfighter training, base support and facilities sustainment, medical care and treatment, and family care programs that are critical to our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and their families.

We cannot afford to leave such costly decisions up to faulty data. A- 76 studies cost the Department of Defense money, at the expense of military readiness, troop safety, and our federal civilian workforce. We should not lift this moratorium.

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