Conference Report On H.R. 1735, National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2016
Floor Speech
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Mrs. HARTZLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Speaker, I agree with the lady that we need to make hard choices, but we don't need to do this in this bill. We can't solve the problems that have been reiterated in this bill. This is a budget issue.
I serve on the Budget Committee as well, and I believe we need to undo sequestration for our national defense. We need to come up with a comprehensive plan to address the cost drivers of our country that are causing us to go into debt.
We need to get our priorities back as a country and make sure we provide for the common defense. We need to do that in the budget in a comprehensive way.
But we don't need to hold our military hostage today by not approving the expenditure of funds for the vital things that they need. That is what my colleagues are doing. I appreciate their intent. I look forward to working with them--many of us do--to solve this overall problem, but today our military need to know that we are standing behind them and that we are going to authorize them with the things that they need.
This bill is full of the things that our country and our men and women in uniform need. As the chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, we are doing an investigation dealing with the transfer of detainees out of GTMO and what happened with Sergeant Bergdahl and the Taliban Five. So I was especially proud of the part in here that makes sure that the detainees are not removed from Guantanamo Bay and brought into our local communities. In addition, we set up an additional protocol so that the Secretary of Defense has to certify that any detainees that go to a foreign country, that that country is able to detain them, keep them safe, and make sure that they don't go back into the fight and continue their terrorist activities.
This bill takes care of our troops. It addresses the threats facing us. We have so many. Whether it is what is going on in Ukraine and with Russia, whether it is dealing with ISIL, or whether it is a cyber threat that we have, every day there are threats coming around us, and we address them in this bill. That is why we need to pass it. It also provides for the platforms that we need.
I urge my colleagues to do the right thing, to stand with our troops, to provide them with what they need, and to support this bill.
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