Motion to Instruct Conferees on H.R. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. THORNBERRY. 5515) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2019 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes, with the Senate amendment thereto, disagree to the Senate amendment, and request a conference with the Senate thereon.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from California has just laid out a number of arguments in support of a Senate provision. There are obviously Members who may think differently on his arguments, although I do not believe this is the time or the place to have that debate. That will be discussed in the course of the upcoming conference with the Senate.

At this point, I would just like to offer two thoughts. One is the provision that the gentleman talks about requires that there be a mandatory spending offset. Now, when you look for how that spending can be offset, really, the Armed Services Committee only has two ways: one is to increase TRICARE copays, pharmacy copays, and the second one is to reduce retirement benefits. So I notice that the gentleman's motion to instruct does not deal with that part of the equation.

My thought is that it is far better to look at the whole universe of issues in the course of a conference rather than to try to dictate one outcome or another that doesn't include how you pay for something.

Second point, Mr. Speaker, there are 907 House provisions and 603 Senate provisions that will be the subject of this conference. They will all have to be hashed out in one way or another, but the conferees should have the flexibility to deal with all of those 907 and 603 provisions in a way that makes the most sense for national security.

So my suggestion is that the House reject this particular motion and allow the conferees to do their work in looking at the whole universe of what is best for the men and women who serve and what is best for the country's national security.

So my point is we need to look at the whole universe not only of what we would like to have done, but also of how it would be paid for.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source