Bishop Votes To Support Troops, Military Families
Press Release
Today, Congressman Tim Bishop voted to support our troops and their families by providing them with the weapons, support, and equipment they need. The Defense Appropriations Act makes critical investments in the health, well-being and readiness of our armed forces, and includes a number of emergency provisions to help American families weather this recession.
"Our troops must be prepared for battle with the best possible equipment, from body armor to vehicles," said Rep. Bishop. "This bill makes key investments in troop readiness so that every American soldier has what he or she needs to protect themselves, their fellow soldiers and our country."
The Defense Appropriations Act keeps our commitments to our troops and their families by including a 3.4% pay raise for our military. We also continue to pay our troops an additional $500 for every month their term of service is involuntarily extended by the practice of stop loss. To keep our men and women in uniform and their families healthy, we invest more than $29 billion in the Defense Health Program and boost funding to support our military families with programs like child care, job training for spouses, and expanded counseling services.
This legislation provides our military with first class equipment to protect our troops on the battlefield and make sure that our soldiers are well-prepared for any challenge that comes their way. It gives them the weapons they need to fight the wars of today and prepare for the battles of tomorrow. For the first time since the beginning of operations in Iraq, this bill also honestly budgets for Overseas Deployment and other activities in Iraq and Afghanistan for the upcoming fiscal year.
This legislation also makes a commitment to fiscal responsibility by reigning in outsourcing and putting Defense personnel, not contractors, in charge of critical department functions. At the same time, it will allow the Inspector General to hire additional investigators to ensure proper oversight of Department of Defense acquisition and contracting.
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