Conference Report on H.R. 2863, Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2006

CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2863, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - December 18, 2005)

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Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the rule for this conference report and for the underlying conference report.

This bill will make our nation's military stronger, by providing funding for the equipment, salaries, and materials we need to prosecute the War on Terror around the world and the War in Iraq.

On behalf of my constituents, particularly those in our armed services, I have committed to never cutting off support while they are serving in a war zone.

Congress authorized the President to act, based on numerous assurances about the nature of the threat from Saddam. Much of that information turned out to be wrong, and as a result, the responsibility for the war now rests with the Administration's civilian leadership.

Congress' role should be to provide the necessary support and conduct vigorous oversight of our activities.

This appropriations bill also provides beneficial hurricane relief and improves our national energy security by providing access to ANWR for oil and gas exploration and production.

I want to thank the appropriators for hearing the concern of Texas, which has been hit indirectly by Hurricane Katrina and directly by Hurricane Rita. We have 150,000 evacuees in Houston, but funding and red-tape are still major burdens.

On the topic of ANWR, our nation's energy crisis this year proved we need a more robust supply of petroleum, because hurricanes can disrupt vital production in the Gulf of Mexico.

I encourage supporters of oil and gas exploration and production in ANWR to support the rule and support this conference report because this is a historic opportunity to finally achieve what many Congresses could not achieve.

This legislation may not be the ideal vehicle, and I would have preferred to do this on the energy bill.

However, a majority of the House and a majority of the Senate support opening ANWR, but procedural moves in the other body have stood in the way of our energy security.

As a result we need this procedural maneuver to get ANWR done, to provide energy and jobs for America.

I have visited the North Slope on several occasions and I can personally attest to the strong environmental protections.

Unfortunately, ANWR has become a symbolic issue for environmentalists, blown far out of proportion to the actual affects of oil and gas production on this coastal plain.

History will likely prove their dire predictions of environmental problems to be incorrect.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I encourage all Members to support the rule and support the underlying conference report for Fiscal Year 2006 DOD Appropriations.

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