Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2013

Floor Speech

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Chairman, I'm very proud to join with my colleague from California (Ms. Lee) and Mr. Smith, the ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, in support of this amendment.

This amendment is, in fact, different than every other amendment that has been offered on this bill. This amendment is very simple and very clear in its purpose: it's to make sure that this Congress complies with the Budget Control Act agreement that was set by this body on a bipartisan vote just last year.

I would just refer my colleagues to the Budget Control Act and refer them to section 302, Enforcement of Budget Goals. It's right there in plain English what the 050 number will be, the Defense appropriation number will be. That was the Budget Control Act that was supported and voted on by the chairman of the Budget Committee, by the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, by the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and by the chairman and the ranking member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

In fact, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Mr. Rogers, said last year, when we passed it:

Tough choices will have to be made, particularly when it comes to defense and national security priorities, but shared sacrifice will bring shared results.

He went on to say:

The Appropriations Committee has already started making tough decisions on spending and will continue to under the spending limits and guidelines provided in this bill--meaning the Budget Control Act.

That was August 1 of last year. The chairman of the full Appropriations Committee was right last year, but the bill that's coming to the floor today is in violation of that bipartisan agreement. As a result of that violation, while the Defense appropriation bill exceeds significantly what was requested by our own Defense Department as what was necessary to meet our national security needs--because this bill dramatically increased that level above what was requested--the reality is the other bills that are coming through the Appropriations Committee are taking very deep cuts--deep cuts to education, deep cuts to health care programs. In fact, the ranking member of the subcommittee, Mr. Dicks, described that Labor-H bill as one of the most partisan bills that he has seen. That's true, and that is a direct result of the fact that this bill that's before us today dramatically explodes the Budget Control Act agreements.

Now, Mr. Chairman, I would just refer the body to the statements made by Admiral Mullen recently, who of course was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pointing out that our military strength depends on our economic strength and our economic strength depends on our long-term fiscal health and the soundness of our fiscal policy. And I quote Admiral Mullen, who said:

Our national debt is our biggest national security threat.

He went on to say:

Everybody must do their part.

He said:

We can no longer afford to spend taxpayer resources without doing the analysis--this is Admiral Mullen--without ensuring every dollar is efficiently and effectively invested. We can no longer go along with business as usual if we are going to get our fiscal house in order.

That is why this body, on a bipartisan basis, agreed to the Budget Control Act. So it's very unfortunate that this bill now comes to the floor in violation of an agreement, in violation of an understanding that in order to get our fiscal house in order, we had to make tough decisions on defense and nondefense alike.

By violating the agreement in this regard, what the committee is saying is they're willing to make really tough decisions. In fact, they make irresponsible decisions with respect to the nondefense domestic spending, and we doubt we'll even see a Labor-H bill on the floor of this House, it's so bad. The reason it's so bad is because, in part, that Budget Control Act was violated and so much was added to the Defense Department, again, as my colleagues have said, more than requested by our military leadership and more than requested by the Defense Department.

I agree with Admiral Mullen, who said we all need to share in this responsibility. I agree with what my Republican colleague said just last year when we passed the Budget Control Act. Let's stick to an agreement and let the people know that when this body comes to an understanding after a hard compromise, we stick with it for the public good.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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