Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, this appropriations bill will ensure that all of the men and women of our Armed Forces have the resources they need to keep our country safe and secure.

I want to commend Chairman Frelinghuysen and Ranking Member Visclosky for their working together in order to craft a good bill under difficult budgetary conditions and with the uncertainty surrounding the OCO account.

Thank you to all of the members of the subcommittee for working together in a bipartisan and collaborative manner to put this bill together.

This legislation supports our troops and our military families. It strengthens the health care services available to our servicemembers, and it provides the essential support that our industrial base needs.

One issue I am very concerned about is the epidemic of sexual assault in the military. Sexual assault will not be tolerated and must be both prevented and prosecuted. There are resources in this bill to do that, and Congress must hold military leaders accountable to make sure that this progress is made.

I am also very concerned about the complete lack of oversight by this Congress in the armed drone program, which is funded under this bill.

The lack of transparency surrounding drone strikes hinders our ability to evaluate their impact on innocent civilians.

There are other challenges and other tough choices made in this bill, and our hearings highlighted the fact there are tougher choices to make in the coming years.

With sequestration on the horizon for FY16 and beyond, Congress needs to act responsibly to balance the need for military readiness with the many nondefense challenges domestically that the American people face.

Congress needs to stop spending billions of dollars on excess bases and obsolete weapon systems that the Department of Defense does not want, and this bill starts that process by retiring the A-10 aircraft.

I believe this bill is responsible, and an important step forward.

Again, I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their leadership and doing what we need to do together as a country to maintain our military superiority in the 21st century.

Mr. Chairman, I urge passage of the bill.

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