[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 1, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


     EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS AND RESCISSIONS FOR THE 
               DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FOR FISCAL YEAR 1995

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                               speech of

                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california
                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 22, 1995

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 889) making 
     emergency supplemental appropriations and rescissions to 
     preserve and enhance the military readiness of the Department 
     of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1995, and 
     for other purposes:

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise to strongly oppose this bill to 
punish the American people for the management errors of Congress and 
the Pentagon. Of course we need to fund military readiness, and of 
course we have to pay for our peacekeeping operations. But it is not 
acceptable to do this by stealing money from environmental cleanup, 
defense conversion, job training, and school funding for our kids. We 
are punishing the children and punishing our communities because 
Congress can't find enough money in the $260 billion defense budget to 
pay for readiness.
  I oppose cutting these programs because they are not the reason we 
might be short on readiness funding. Let me tell you what has really 
been damaging readiness:
  The Trident D-5 nuclear missile, a $5 billion cold war relic, 
designed to hit targets which no longer exist in the former Soviet 
Union.
  The Star Wars Program--a Reagan dream which hasn't given us a single 
concrete result after $36 billion worth of wasteful spending since 
1984--more than the entire annual budget for the Department of 
Education.
  And, Mr. Chairman, if you truly want to be intelligent about paying 
for readiness and peacekeeping, you should do it by cutting the 
inflated intelligence budget.
  We wouldn't have a readiness problem if Congress and the Pentagon 
could just stop wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on these cold war 
relics. These are the programs we should be targeting to offset this 
supplemental appropriations bill.
  Instead, H.R. 889 attacks programs that are essential to the future 
of our children and the health of our economy. I am truly ashamed that 
despite the end of the cold war, and despite the fiscal crisis facing 
our public school system, we are now considering a bill which takes 
money away from the $30 billion Department of Education budget and puts 
it into the $260 billion military budget. We're finally beginning to 
see the fine print in the contract on America.
  Not only does this bill propose to cut important domestic programs to 
make up for military waste, it cuts important programs within the 
defense budget as well--programs that are vital to the economic future 
of California and the rest of the Nation.
  I am not the only Californian who feels this way. Allow me to read a 
quote about H.R. 889's cuts in environmental cleanup funding from 
California's Republican Governor:

       The continued erosion of cleanup funding inevitably will 
     threaten the health of armed services personnel and civilians 
     who work at military bases where contamination is present. It 
     will also exacerbate economic suffering in communities that 
     are struggling to redevelop closing bases.

  The cleanup of military bases is not a partisan issue, Mr. Chairman. 
It should be recognized as an essential ingredient in the economic 
recovery of California and the rest of the Nation, and it should not be 
cut.
  Another essential ingredient is the technology reinvestment program, 
the cornerstone of President Clinton's landmark defense conversion 
initiative. In two short years, this program has moved California's 
economy forward by helping defense firms produce goods and services 
that can be used in the civilian sector. Despite the TRP's importance 
for California's economy, and indeed America's economy, H.R. 889 
slashes funding for this as well.
  This bill, along with the National Security Revitalization Act which 
was passed last week, is sending the military budget back to the Dark 
Ages by preserving cold war relics and cutting the programs that are 
vital to our economic future. I urge my colleagues to vote against H.R. 
889, and to fund readiness and peacekeeping by cutting the truly 
wasteful military programs.


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