Funding Our Troops

Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, the Pentagon said last week that layoff notices for Army employees could start going out the middle of this month.

``Merry Christmas, here's your pink slip'' may sound like a harsh way to greet an employee this time of year, but that is what the Defense Department will be forced to do with civilian employees and contractors in the run-up to Christmas.

Because congressional leaders refuse to negotiate with the President to fund our troops in the field, the Department of Defense has been forced to cut spending in other areas in order to pay the bills for continued operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even as our troops have made major security gains in Iraq, the Democrat majority wishes to pull the plug by cutting the funding to support their mission.

I believe we're sending exactly the wrong message to the men and women who serve in our Armed Forces: not funding our troops. Each day that goes by without such a bill is a failure of the leadership of this dysfunctional Congress.

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