Providing For Consideration Of H.R. 1585, National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2008

Floor Speech

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1585, NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 -- (House of Representatives - May 16, 2007)

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Mr. COLE of Oklahoma. Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the rule. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee and having formerly served on the Rules Committee, I'm both disappointed and disturbed by the manner in which the rule has been reported to the floor.

Let's be forthright about this, Madam Speaker. The committee authorized an enormous number of amendments. But numbers alone do not translate into meaningful policy options and good debate on the floor of this body.

Let's look at a couple of things that the committee chose not to make in order. The committee did not make in order an amendment by Mr. Akin that addresses important concerns, including the evisceration of the Army's only modernization effort and reducing by $867 million the Future Combat System.

The committee did not make in order many of the amendments that were necessary to address the evisceration of our Missile Defense System and that, Madam Speaker, at a time when our intelligence tells us the North Koreans and the Iranians are continuing to develop dangerous missile capability.

With respect to the underlying legislation itself, Madam Speaker, Chairman Skelton was given an incredibly difficult job. He was not given enough money, in my opinion, enough authorizing authority to address all the needs that he faced.

Nevertheless, he and Ranking Member Hunter and their subcommittee chairmen accomplished some important things that we should not lose sight of. One good thing that was accomplished was the increase in the end strength of both the Army and the Marine Corps, something many of us have long advocated, something the President now agrees to and something I'm glad to see underway.

Additionally, the legislation included the Wounded Warriors Act, and also included my language to create a program for pre- and post-deployment neurocognitive assessments of our servicemen. I think that was a very good thing, and I appreciate the chairman for working with us on that.

The underlying legislation also addresses depot concerns and maintenance in a way that encourages me, that increased the amount of money in depot accounts.

And finally, I was happy to see that the majority continues to recognize, as we do, the importance of developing the non-line-of-sight cannon and remains committed to the new field increase.

With that, I still remain disappointed the rule did not allow the options.

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