[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 31, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H1785]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  WILL OUR MILITARY FORCES BE UNABLE TO MEET NATIONAL SECURITY NEEDS 
                BECAUSE OF ILL-CONCEIVED BUDGET CUTTING?

  (Mr. RILEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. RILEY. Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues know, this year will 
represent the 14th consecutive year of real decline in Federal defense 
spending. In less than a decade we have gone from 18 Army divisions 
down to 10. We have gone from a 600-ship Navy down to 300. Our 
soldiers' optempo continues to increase, our equipment continues to 
age, and yet the defense budget seems to get smaller and smaller with 
each passing year.
  Yet to my dismay, I read in the March 25 Congress Daily that some of 
my colleagues are disappointed that the supplemental appropriations 
bill was not offset with DOD funds.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleagues that we have a 
constitutional obligation to provide for the common defense of this 
Nation. It will be far more costly in dollars, and potentially in 
American lives, if our military forces are unable to meet the Nation's 
national security needs because of ill-conceived budget cutting.

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