Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. MOULTON. Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage as amended.

Mr. Speaker, this amendment is simple. First, it will add $2 million to the Army Threat Integration Center to protect our troops and their families from terrorist attacks.

ISIS, al Qaeda, and other terrorist groups are directly threatening Americans, our troops, and our allies abroad every single day. In fact, a group related to ISIS recently posted the photos and addresses of about 100 hundred U.S. troops online so that, in their words, ``our brothers residing in America can deal with you.''

Our military families have also been threatened with attacks. We can't stand idly by; we must act, and this additional funding will help.

The amendment also adds $2 million for the Yellow Ribbon reintegration program to help Active Duty and National Guard troops. As a veteran myself, I know just how difficult the reintegration process can be. In fact, I am in regular contact with many of the marines from my platoon, and we talk about this every day.

These men and women have put their lives on the line for our country and our freedom. We owe it to them to provide them with the resources they need both on and off the battlefield.

Lastly, this amendment adds $5 million for Joint Warfighter Medical Research, which provides the latest cutting-edge techniques to save injured troops on the battlefield.

The men and women who fight on our behalf should know that we have their backs at the most difficult times.

These initiatives are fully paid for with a reasonable and commonsense reduction in funding for Defense Media Activity, which provides magazines and movies for our military.

I ask my colleagues: Is it more important to fund the fight against ISIS or to fund government-sponsored Scooby Doo? After all, if the troops really want to watch it, they can get their cartoons on their smartphones anyway.

Rarely in this Chamber do we have a choice that is so clear. Let's take a small step to improve this bill for our military families and for our troops.

I urge Members to vote ``yes'' on this motion to recommit, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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