[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 51 (Friday, April 8, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E684-E685]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND FURTHER ADDITIONAL CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS 
                               ACT, 2011

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. JARED POLIS

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 7, 2011

  Mr. POLIS. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill. This is 
not a good-faith effort to keeping the government running. Last night 
in the Rules Committee, Democrats offered an amendment that would have 
kept the government open for one week at current levels. Instead of 
allowing for an up-or-down vote on that measure, Republicans are 
attempting to force through another bloated spending bill.
  Under this continuing resolution, critical government services would 
face draconian cuts--hundreds of millions of dollars--while defense 
spending would jump 1.5 percent over last year's level. This means 
drastic cuts to education, law enforcement, and health care. Meanwhile, 
the greatest source of waste and overspending in the federal 
government--the Pentagon--gets even more money.
  Cuts to discretionary spending alone will never close our budget gap. 
But leaving defense spending off the table, which comprises roughly 
half of all discretionary spending, is counterproductive. Those 
domestic cuts won't balance the budget but they could stymie economic 
recovery now and harm our ability to compete globally in the years to 
come.
  Even our Defense leaders recognize that Pentagon spending restraint 
must be part of debt reduction efforts. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman 
Admiral Mullen stated that ``our national debt is our biggest national 
security threat.'' He also noted that the past decade's doubling of the 
Department of Defense budget has led to undisciplined spending. 
Secretary Gates concurs, stating, ``We can't hold ourselves exempt from 
the belt-tightening. Neither can we allow ourselves to contribute to 
the very debt that puts our long-term security at risk.''
  An array of bi-partisan non-governmental groups analyzing our debt 
crisis have studied our defense budget and identified reductions in 
annual defense spending in the $70-100 billion range. The recent bi-
partisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, often 
called the Simpson-Bowles Commission, called for ``substantial defense 
reductions over the next 10 years.'' They have recommended various cuts 
that would lead to $60 billion in savings from security spending in the 
first year. In fact, if we implemented the Commission's 
recommendations, we would save $100 billion dollars from defense 
spending in 2015 alone.
  Instead of following the lead of fiscally responsible efforts such as 
the Commission, Republicans have decided to increase defense spending 
and slash only domestic discretionary spending. To get a sense of how 
unbalanced this is, we would have to cut $14.5 billion from defense 
spending, in order to equal the cuts to domestic spending.
  Reasonable military spending reductions can be made without 
sacrificing national security or undermining our troops. The Department 
of Defense must be held accountable for ensuring that tax dollars are 
not wasted and

[[Page E685]]

military spending should be scrutinized to find meaningful reductions 
in outdated or unworkable programs. Anyone who denies the Defense 
Department is one of the largest sources of waste, fraud and abuse in 
the federal government probably thinks the Pentagon has four sides.
  It's clear that Republicans are not serious about the deficit. If 
they were, waste, fraud and abuse at the Pentagon would be as much of a 
focus as anywhere else in the budget. But rather than holding the line 
on spending, the Majority is actually feeding the beast. And they're 
playing political games with this continuing resolution rather working 
with the president to avert a government shutdown. It's not fiscally 
responsible or morally responsible, so I will vote no on the bill.

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