Blog: Congressman Jim Bridenstine Votes to "Provide for the Common Defense"

Statement

Today, Congressman Jim Bridenstine voted for the Conference Report to HR 1735, the bipartisan FY16 defense authorization bill. The Conference Report reconciles differences between the House- and Senate-passed defense authorization bills.

Congressman Bridenstine said, "The defense authorization bill allows Congress to set spending and policy priorities for our military. The bill unwinds defense sequestration for one year and prevents more devastating cuts to the military."

President Obama has threatened to veto the bill in order to force Congress to break budget caps on non-defense social welfare spending.

Congressman Bridenstine responded, "Providing for the common defense is the Federal government's core constitutional responsibility. President Obama should sign the defense authorization bill and stop holding national security hostage to social welfare spending."

Congressman Bridenstine has become a recognized leader on military space issues. The FY16 defense authorization Conference Report includes numerous provisions and amendments authored by Congressman Bridenstine including the following:

Includes Rep. Bridenstine's bill, H.R. 1864, which would streamline the DOD process of acquiring SATCOM services.

Reallocates funding to fully fund the Air Force's Satellite Communications (SATCOM) Pathfinder program, an innovative SATCOM acquisition test bed.

Mandates a new SATCOM Pilot Program to field new SATCOM systems offering order-of-magnitude capability enhancements over legacy systems.

Reallocates funding toward the Air Force Office of Operationally Responsive Space.

Requires DOD to meet certain weather satellite requirements without reliance on China and Russia.

Requires DOD to develop a plan to incorporate commercial space-based weather data into military weather forecasting.

- See more at: http://bridenstine.house.gov/blog/default.aspx?postid=534#sthash.VgdPxsPP.dpuf

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