Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I rise in reluctant opposition to this bill.

Please allow me to acknowledge the tremendous work of Chairman Frelinghuysen, Ranking Member Visclosky, and the Appropriations staff in moving this Defense bill forward.

This bill deserves better treatment by the leadership of this House than to have it cloaked in unfinished budget wrangling that could force future changes harmful to the defense of our Nation.

The bill before us funds key priorities, such as assuring the strongest, most agile and resilient military on Earth; securing base and operational independence through energy innovation; improving defense health for the lives of our military and civilian forces; advancing cutting-edge research at our defense labs to improve efficiency on the battlefield and drive technology transfer to the private sector to grow our economy; and maintaining and upgrading essential defense facilities across our Nation and globe.

Moving forward, our Nation must still address lingering veteran unemployment of over half a million Americans, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A majority are 45 years of age or older, but over 200,000 are between the ages of 18 and 44.

The capabilities of our National Guard can be leveraged to address this imperative, engaging their talents to meet domestic needs.

Globally, too, as leader of the free world, the United States holds a special responsibility to uphold commitments made in the Budapest Memorandum to Ukraine and our allies in Central Europe. This was recently reaffirmed by President Obama and German Chancellor Merkel at the G7 summit.

A threat to liberty anywhere is a threat to liberty everywhere. Russia's invasion of Ukraine cannot be tolerated. Tough sanctions on Russia and enforcement of the Ukraine Freedom Support Act lay the base for liberty's advance.

Those Members who in good conscience ultimately will vote ``no'' on this measure will do so to fight for a responsible budget plan that not only meets the needs of our men and women in unform, but builds up the Nation and citizenry they are fighting to protect.

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