Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009

Floor Speech

SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2009 -- (House of Representatives - May 14, 2009)

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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I am submitting this motion to correct what I believe are three gross errors in the bill.

Whether it's funds to support the needs of our troops, proper support for Pakistan engaged in a vital counterinsurgency effort, or funds to fight the treacherous drug war raging along our border with Mexico, this bill falls short.

How in all good conscience can we increase foreign aid by nearly $3 billion and yet shave support for our troops overseas and our law enforcement agencies here at home? How can we take away support for Pakistan's counterinsurgency efforts and give the money to the State Department?

Mr. Speaker, emergency supplemental bills are about fine-tuning our priorities. This motion gives the Members of this body the opportunity to do just that.

On supporting the needs of our troops, the current bill cuts the 2009 regular defense budget. It unnecessarily cuts defense and prohibits DOD from using those resources on critical requirements that are sadly unfunded. So this motion would simply restore the $3 billion of 2009 moneys, current year, that are cut in this bill.

On the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Funding program, or PCCF, counterinsurgency, this bill puts it in the Defense Department, but the first day of the new fiscal year, it would then be moved to the State Department for fiscal 2010. Well, State does great diplomatic work, but counterinsurgency is not the State Department's forte, and that's what we're facing. Let's be clear. PCCF is not a diplomatic tool; it's a military tool designed for aiding what is arguably one of the most important military counterinsurgency efforts in history. I need not emphasize to the Members of this body the profound importance of keeping Pakistan's nuclear weapons out of the hands of the Taliban and al Qaeda. The Secretary of Defense has been clear that he does not feel the State Department currently has the capacity or ability to administer this counterinsurgency program. Our troops need the flexibility and agility that this fund provides, especially in dealing with the nontraditional Pakistani military forces in remote sections of that country.

Finally, on the Mexican drug war, this bill fails to include one red cent for the vital work of our law enforcement agencies fighting the cartels along our border with Mexico and their tentacles reaching into every city in America. A press release I have in my hand that just came out says that the largest seizure of methamphetamines in the eastern United States has just taken place in Atlanta, Georgia. And we could name Birmingham or Chicago or New York or any other city in America where the drug cartels in Mexico, who control 90 percent of the cocaine entering this country, are waging their battles.

And it's spilling over now into America. This is a war with severe consequences. More than 90 percent of the cocaine comes to us through Mexico, disbursed through a distribution network that touches virtually every major city in our country, not to mention methamphetamines and the other dangerous drugs.

Now, the $350 million in this bill that says it's for counternarcotics operations along the southwest border. Smoke and mirrors. These funds will go to unaccompanied alien children and serve as a contingency fund should we need the National Guard there. Both are important efforts, but, sadly, nothing to support the needs of our law enforcement agencies engaged in this bloody war, and that's what the problem is now. It's an anti-organized crime cartel fight on that border, and you need law enforcement there. Not a penny in this bill for it.

This motion that I have would shift 7 percent of the foreign aid in this bill and invest that in the security and rule of law here at home, just 7 percent of the increase in foreign aid that's in this bill. This motion takes $200 million out of the $3 billion plus-up in the bill for foreign aid and puts it to potent counterdrug programs in the Department of Justice, programs that can help break the back of these heinous cartels on our southern border and in our cities and towns.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this motion that will keep up our military assistance to Pakistan's counterterrorism fight, prevents a cut on the current year's troop support, and shifts a small part of the bill's increase in foreign aid to keeping the Mexican drug cartels out of American cities.

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