[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 83 (Monday, May 21, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1105-E1106]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 17, 2007

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill. (H.R. 1585) to 
     authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2008 for military 
     activities of the Department of Defense, to prescribe 
     military personnel strengths for fiscal year 2008, and for 
     other purposes:

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Chairman, I rise in stong support of this 
bill.
  I applaud Chairman Skelton for his leadership in guiding this bill to 
the floor today. He and Ranking Member Hunter have done a tremendous 
job, and they have been ably supported by the expert staff of our 
committee.
  I'm grateful to Chairman Skelton for working with me to include 
things important for Colorado, including limits on how the Army can 
pursue possible expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site in 
Colorado. I agree with Senator Salazar and others in the Colorado 
delegation that any expansion, if it takes place at all, must be 
conducted in a way that it is a win-win situation for the Army and for 
Colorado and that any expansion plan should not

[[Page E1106]]

involve condemnation of private land. My proposal will shine a 
necessary caution light before the Army charges forward, and force the 
Army to do what it has so far failed to do--that is, to make a 
compelling case for why the proposed expansion is necessary to meet the 
training needs of our soldiers in the 21st Century.
  Other provisions I offered in the bill include: Funding for a new 
squadron operations facility for the Colorado Air National Guard; 
promoting agreement between the Air Force and the city of Pueblo about 
flight operations at the Pueblo airport; urging the Defense Department 
to use on-site disposal of chemical weapons stockpiled at the Pueblo 
Chemical Depot; asking the Army to track pilots who train at the High-
Altitude Aviation Training School in Eagle, Colorado; reporting on 
opportunities for leveraging Defense Department funds with States' 
funds to prevent disruption in the event of electric grid or pipeline 
failures and encouraging the Defense Department to leverage Energy 
Savings Performance Contracts with Energy Conservation Investment 
Program funds to provide additional opportunity for renewable energy 
projects; and naming a housing facility at Fort Carson in honor of our 
former colleague Joel Hefley.
  I am also pleased that the Committee adopted two of my amendments, 
including one to repeal a provision adopted last year that makes it 
easier for the president to federalize the National Guard for domestic 
law enforcement purposes during emergencies. By repealing this, my 
amendment restores the role of the Governors with regard to this 
subject. My other amendment will continue the office of the Ombudsman 
that assists people claiming benefits under the Energy Employees 
Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) and expands its 
authority.
  Mr. Chairman, this bill rightly focuses on our military's readiness 
needs.
  After 5 years at war, both the active duty and reserve forces are 
stretched to their limits. The bill will provide what's needed to 
respond, including a substantial Strategic Readiness Fund, adding funds 
for National Guard equipment and training, and establishing a Defense 
Readiness Production Board to mobilize the industrial base to address 
equipment shortfalls.
  It also provides important funds for the Base Realignment and Closure 
process, including $62 million to assist communities expected to absorb 
large numbers of personnel as a result of the BRAC decision. This 
funding is especially important to Colorado, given that Fort Carson in 
Colorado Springs will add 10,000 soldiers and will be home to 25,000 
troops by 2009.
  The bill provides substantial resources to improve protection of our 
troops, including additional funds for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected 
Vehicles, body armor, and up-armored Humvees for our troops in the 
field. The bill enlarges the Army and Marine Corps, consistent with the 
Tauscher-Udall Army expansion bill in the last Congress. And it will 
provide for a 3.5 percent across-the-board pay raise for service 
members, boost funding for the Defense Health Program, and prohibit 
increasing TRICARE and pharmacy user fee increases.
  The bill incorporates provisions from the Wounded Warrior Assistance 
Act, which recently passed the House and was driven by the revelations 
of mistreatment and mismanagement at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. 
These provisions establish new requirements to provide the people, 
training, and oversight needed to ensure high-quality care and 
efficient administrative processing at Walter Reed and throughout the 
active duty military services. The bill also establishes a Military 
Mental Health Initiative to coordinate all mental health research and 
development within the Defense Department, and establishes a Traumatic 
Brain Injury Initiative to allow emerging technologies and treatments 
to compete for funding.
  Given the increased use of the National Guard and Reserves in recent 
years, the bill gives important new authorities to the National Guard 
to fulfill its expanded role, including authorizing a fourth star for 
the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, making the National Guard 
Bureau a joint activity of the Department of Defense, and creating a 
bipartisan Council of Governors to advise the president on how best to 
use the National Guard for civil support missions. The bill also 
requires the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to consider how to 
incorporate more National Guard and Reserve personnel into positions at 
Northern Command, based in Colorado.
  I'm pleased that the bill fully supports the goals of the Department 
of Energy nonproliferation programs and the Department of Defense 
Cooperative Threat Reduction program, consistent with the 9-11 
Commission recommendations. The bill also slows development of a 
Reliable Replacement Warhead and the construction of a new plutonium 
production facility, and establishes a bipartisan commission to 
evaluate U.S. strategic posture for the future, including the role that 
nuclear weapons should play in our national security strategy.
  I also want to mention funding for missile defense in the bill. The 
bill increases missile defense funding for systems that address current 
needs and vulnerabilities, while reducing funding for less mature and 
higher risk systems. The cuts in missile defense programs in the bill 
have been cause for concern among some on the other side of the aisle. 
But the bill funds 93 cents of every dollar of the president's missile 
defense request, so the cuts are far from extreme. It fully funds the 
budget request for the Patriot PAC-3 missile, the Ground Based Missile 
Defense System, and THAAD development and deployment, and adds funding 
for Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense. But it makes reductions to the 
Airborne Laser program and funding for the 3rd BMD Site which the 
Administration has proposed building in Eastern Europe.
  Importantly, the bill provides for an independent study to examine 
the political, technical, operational, force structure, and budgetary 
aspects of the proposed European missile defense deployment; an 
independent study to examine the future roles and missions of the 
Missile Defense Agency; a 2 year extension of the requirement for GAO 
to annually assess the missile defense program; and assurance that the 
Director of Operational Test and Evaluation has access to all MDA 
operational test evaluation information.
  In my view, the bill strikes the right balance with regard to missile 
defense. I did not support the amendment by Rep. Franks (R-AZ) to 
increase missile defense funds because I believe the Committee takes a 
better approach in its bill. Likewise, I did not support the amendment 
offered by Rep. Tierney (D-MA) to decrease missile defense funds 
because I thought it went too far in the other direction. There are 
emerging and real, near-term threats facing the Nation, the warfighter, 
and our allies that we need to be able to counter, so I think it would 
be irresponsible to terminate the longer-term missile defense programs, 
as Rep. Tierney's amendment proposed to do.
  Finally but no less importantly, the bill requires the Secretary of 
Defense to submit a detailed report on the implementation of the Joint 
Campaign Plan for Iraq, on national reconciliation efforts on the part 
of the Iraqi government, and on metrics to measure American efforts in 
Iraq, based on assessments by Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador 
to Iraq Ryan Crocker. The bill also requires the Secretary to produce a 
report outlining the direction of U.S. activities in Afghanistan along 
with indicators of progress, and the bill establishes a Special 
Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
  Mr. Chairman, the bill we are considering today does an excellent job 
of balancing the need to sustain our current warfighting abilities with 
the need to prepare for the next threat to our national security. It is 
critical that we are able to meet the operational demands of today even 
as we continue to prepare our men and women in uniform to be the best 
trained and equipped force in the world.
  This is a good bill, a carefully drafted and bipartisan bill, and I 
urge its passage.

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