Providing For Consideration Of Conference Report On H.R. 2647, National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2010

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, as one of the House conferees of this report, I have no confusion in terms of why I'm here and what we're doing to support the troops. I rise in strong support of this rule and the conference report of H.R. 2647, and I will submit my full statement for the Record.

I thank Chairman Skelton for his continued skillful leadership, for the Speaker appointing me as a conferee, and Mr. Oberstar for recommending me. What is the report about? There's no covers here. The report is clear. It's about restoring and enhancing the readiness of our troops and the equipment. It's about taking care of our military personnel, and it also authorizes needed investments to keep our Nation strong.

So let's talk about what that means. Troops, enabling that the Department of Defense would have 213 C-17s so we can support our men and women; that our military families would not have to wait on a 3.4 percent military raise that they've long deserved. But let me focus my final moment on why and what my specialty is and what I think is so important in this bill, talking about port security as national security.

When we consider the provision that is in this bill, port security, infrastructure, development program, it will enable our ports to finally come up to speed where we can be competitive, as well as the economic engine that we reside in.

Now, let's talk about the ports. The role of our ports is not just economics. It's to connect the ports. That's the point. And when you look at 14 commercial ports currently in the United States, two of which are in my area, they are called strategic ports for that very reason. When you look at Operation Enduring Freedom, that was the largest area where we had the sealift tonnage and troops that were moved through the ports to enable us to respond.

So when we talk about this Defense authorization bill, it's quite clear why we're here today. We're here to talk about our troops, to prepare them and to give them the resources that they so richly deserve. Currently, our ports are struggling without enough money for the Army Corps to do the proper dredging.

I urge my colleagues to support this, and I stand in support of Ms. Slaughter as we move forward on this rule.

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