National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2010

Floor Speech

NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010

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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. I thank the gentlelady from California for yielding, and I rise in opposition to the Franks amendment.

The committee's bill does provide $9.3 billion for missile defense which fully funds the capabilities that the United States needs to protect our country. The threat to our Nation from ballistic missiles is real. Our adversaries have a multitude of short- and medium-range missiles and are developing more advanced missiles as well.

This budget will help keep our Nation and our servicemembers safe from the threats that we face. For instance, the number of Aegis ships will grow from 21 to 27; the number of SM-3 interceptors from 131 to 329; and the number of THAAD interceptors from 96 to 287. These are urgently needed investments to protect our troops in the field. This budget also includes funding for the operation, testing and sustainment of Ground-based Midcourse Defense, and follows Secretary Gates and the Missile Defense Agency recommendations to have that number of interceptors at 30.

Secretary Gates has also said at the level of capability that North Korea has now and is likely to have for some years to come, 30 interceptors, in fact, provide a strong defense against North Korea.

But even more so, for the first time ever, combatant commanders were part of developing this budget, and the combatant commanders have said that this budget meets their needs as well.

I also have to oppose this amendment because of where the offset is coming from: $1.2 billion from the DOE's environmental cleanup. We had this debate in committee in some respects, not over this amount, $1.2 billion, but over some amount. I think we need to understand that cleaning up the nuclear legacy, the Cold War legacy in this country is an obligation. Some people have called this an obsession. Is it an obsession to clean up nuclear waste that is in the groundwater around communities in this country?

It is not an obsession; it is an absolute obligation. And if we cut these dollars, we are cutting away that obligation.

Something more important as well. Even though the Recovery Act put up to $5 billion in this budget, it's because we've neglected this obligation in the past.

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