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Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4899, the Supplemental Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2010. Overall, this legislation provides necessary war funding and essential support for our Nation's military--without arbitrary benchmarks or timetables that would tie the hands of our military commanders--and much needed assistance for several other emergency needs.
For the men and women in uniform fighting in the defense of freedom, this troop funding bill is long overdue. Although the President had requested emergency funding in February, House Democrats have finally brought a clean version of the Supplemental Appropriations bill after multiple and convoluted attempts to attach expensive and controversial items on the legislation.
Approving this clean supplemental quickly and getting it to our military leaders is a top priority. Inaction would force our commanders to begin making compromising budget decisions that could negatively affect our military readiness. It would also signal to our enemies a lack of resolve that could undermine our mission in several very dangerous areas of the world.
In addition to providing our troops with this necessary funding, the bill also contains $162 million to support the victims of the Gulf oil spill. Although I own stock in Transocean, I did not place the funding for the oil spill in the legislation and do not consider it a conflict of interest to vote for this bill. All in all, this funding represents less than .3 percent of the entire funding contained in the bill.
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