Department of Defense, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise to present H.R. 933, the Department of Defense and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations, and Full-Year Continuing Resolution for fiscal year 2013.

Our Nation faces a three-pronged threat to its finances as we deal with sequestration, the debt ceiling, and, most immediately, a looming government shutdown.

This bill takes the risk of a government shutdown off the table, funding the government for the remainder of the fiscal year while helping maintain our national security and providing our troops and veterans with consistent, adequate funding.

First and foremost, this bill contains fiscal year 2013 appropriations bills for the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. These bills were crafted by Chairman Bill Young, chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, and very handily done.

These bills passed the House with broad bipartisan support last year. They have been negotiated on a bipartisan basis by the House and the Senate, and agreed to by the Senate Committee. They do not add a cent to the overall top line of the CR.

I want to take a minute here to thank Bill Young and his subcommittee, who did such a tremendous job of balancing the interests of the country but with the overriding concern for the security of the country as they drafted--and passed on a bipartisan basis--the Defense appropriations bill.

Last week, I had the opportunity to ask the Joint Chiefs of our military if they supported this CR package, and the answer was an absolute, wholehearted ``yes.'' In fact, each one of them was asked if it was critical, and each one of the Joint Chiefs said this was critical to the defense of the country.

This legislation addresses severe funding constraints that would put our national security in dire straits. Military hospitals would not be built, veterans would not be cared for adequately, and our readiness would be seriously jeopardized. With sequestration now in effect, this bill allows the Pentagon some leeway to do its best with what it has.

The bill provides $518 billion, the same top line level as last year. Within this top line, accounts have to be re-prioritized to ensure adequate investment in critical programs, such as operation and maintenance, while finding savings in lower priority areas.

The legislation right-sizes spending that would otherwise have been wasted. For instance, we eliminate funding for unneeded spare parts and save funding from outdated programs and projects related to operations in Iraq no longer needed.

In addition, the bill provides $71.9 billion in discretionary funding for military construction and veterans affairs to ensure that our veterans get the care they have earned and that the quality of life in our military is continued. This includes an increase of about $2.5 billion in veterans funding, offset by savings in military construction.

The remainder of the bill, Mr. Speaker, funds the rest of the Federal Government until the end of the fiscal year on September 30. Nearly all funding will remain consistent with current levels, except for the very few exceptions that are needed to prevent catastrophic changes to government programs or to ensure good government. These include provisions allowing critical law enforcement entities to maintain current staffing levels, additional funding for embassy security and critical weather satellite launches, and an extension of the current pay freeze for Federal employees--including Members of Congress.

We've also required every single Federal agency to provide spending plans to Congress to ensure transparency and strong oversight of taxpayer dollars.

Nearly all of the funding in this bill is subject to the President's sequestration, bringing the grand total for discretionary spending to around $984 billion. The bill is designed to help with the damage caused by continually putting off the regular annual appropriations bills, but it does not solve the many serious problems caused by these automatic spending cuts in sequestration.

A full-year continuing resolution is not the way this Congress should be appropriating taxpayer dollars. Each year, we should assess the needs and excesses of our government and make decisions accordingly in the regular appropriations process. We must return to regular order, pass individual spending bills on time, and fulfill our constitutional duty to fund government programs wisely and effectively. To do all of this, we have to have a partner in the Senate, and we've not had that now for these several years. Our hope springs eternal that the Senate will help us get back to regular order.

In light of the circumstances we face, we must make a good-faith effort to provide limited but fair and adequate funding for vital government programs and services through the end of the fiscal year. It is up to Congress to make these decisions to set the course for our financial future.

We must act now to make the most of this difficult situation, and that starts with avoiding a government shutdown on March 27 and providing for our national defense and veterans.

This CR package is the right thing to do, the right time to do it, and it is the fair thing.

And so I urge, Mr. Speaker, my colleagues to show our Nation that we can get our work done by supporting this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. While we're waiting for the Senate to send us a bill relieving us of sequestration, while we're waiting for the President to send us something to relieve us of sequestration, we have no choice but to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government operating.

Sequestration I hope we can deal with in the future, but now we're dealing with whether or not to shut the government down. Is that not correct?

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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute and would ask Mr. Visclosky if he might rejoin us at the microphone.

On the point the gentleman just broached and, that is, the passage of bills, one of the most frustrating things of my life is that we cannot get the Senate to pass any appropriations bills.

As the gentleman knows--because he helped pass the Defense bill for this year and all years--we passed, through the House committee, all 12 bills. We sent them to the Senate, and all we got back was a resounding snore. They didn't do anything. When the Senate doesn't appropriate, in spite of the fact that we've passed all of our bills over here, we have to pass a continuing resolution. That is where we are. I lament that, as does the gentleman. And I know that he joins me in wanting us to pass, through regular order, each individual bill, bring it to the floor, let the Members have their say and vote on amendments and the like.

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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, this is all about whether or not we shut down the government. This is a bill to keep the government operating while we debate, then, how we deal with sequestration.

This is not a sequestration bill. This is a bill to continue funding the government for the balance of the fiscal year and to help the military cope with the restrictions so that our Nation is adequately defended by our men and women in uniform.

I urge the adoption of the continuing resolution. Let's keep the government going.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, the budgetary problems we face are unprecedented, and the American public demands that we address them. This continuing resolution is the first step in that process.

The measure before us does four important things: one, it takes threat of a government shutdown off the table; two, it fulfills the agreements made in the Budget Control Act; three, it protects our troops in harm's way; and, four, it binds up our veterans' wounds.

This is not the time, Mr. Speaker, to argue about sequestration. Today is the day to keep the government running and show the people back home we've not lost the ability to govern.

The House has passed two separate responsible sequestration replacement bills only to have both of them languish in the other body without action. We're still waiting, Mr. Speaker.

The President must come to the table with a real proposal to solve the sequestration crisis instead of sending us the same old talking points and doing campaign trips around the country.

The public is tired of government putting politics ahead of people. Now is the time to take a shutdown off the table. Now is the time to give our troops and our veterans the resources they need, deserve, and have earned. Now is the time, Mr. Speaker, to govern.

Vote ``no'' on this motion, and vote ``yes'' to keep the government operating.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

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