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Mrs. DAVIS of California. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Dr. Heck and the committee staff for working in a bipartisan manner to develop this bill and particularly recognize Chairman Thornberry and Ranking Member Smith for their leadership during this process.
The bill includes many provisions that will provide the military services flexibility to recruit and retain members of our Armed Forces and to continue our commitment to taking care of military families.
One provision that we have expands parental leave for military members to 14 days as well as expanding adoption leave for dual military couples to 36 days to be split between them.
It also requires DOD to study flexible maternity and paternity leave sharing for all of our dual military couples.
This bill includes reforms that will put the commissary on a sustainable path while protecting the benefit for our servicemembers, retirees, and their families. It also begins to reform and modernize the military healthcare system.
Although we would all agree it is not perfect, this bill is long needed to start ensuring that our servicemembers, retirees, and their families continue to receive the best health care in the world through efficient and economical means.
Important issues were addressed in this bill. I support many of the reforms and all of the hard work that went into them. However, I am extremely concerned with how this bill is funded.
I applaud Chairman Thornberry's desire to increase funds for end strength, modernization, and the operations and maintenance accounts. But the $18 billion required comes from the Overseas Contingency Fund and cuts short resources required for our troops in harm's way.
This will require the next Congress to pass a supplemental before May, and that assumes current operations don't increase over the next year. What programs do we cut midyear to find that level of funding?
This gimmick creates a hollow force. It will require the military services to hedge their bets that the funding to maintain the increased end strength authorized will be available in fiscal year 2018 when sequestration hits.
The world we know is very dangerous in many places, and the pace of combat operations will most likely not diminish in the near future.
In light of these dangers, I do not disagree that the Army may need more soldiers. But the Army has not provided us with the requested number, nor have they told Congress how they would create the appropriate force structure to use these additional soldiers.
Lastly, this NDAA passed out of committee continued to expand on Congress' efforts to increase opportunities for women to serve our Nation by requiring women to register for the Selective Service. This was only possible because the Department of Defense, after several years of intense review, opened the last remaining combat arms positions to women earlier this year.
Unfortunately, the rule for the NDAA strikes the provision without debate. I understand that we are not always going to be in agreement, and that is why we debate and vote issues on the House floor. But to resort to gimmicks to hide debate is unconscionable. This is a national issue that Congress must debate and vote on.
I certainly look forward, Mr. Chair, to continuing to work with the chairman and the rest of the committee to ensure we resource our military services in a responsible manner so that we can face the challenges of today and tomorrow.
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