[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 5 (Thursday, January 9, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H84]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         MILITARY COMMISSARIES

  (Mr. FORBES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in opposition to media reports 
that have suggested the closure of military commissaries in the United 
States and that that may be under consideration by the Department of 
Defense.
  Our national defense, and the men and women who volunteer to serve, 
are not the cause of our current financial fiscal crisis. Proposals 
that ask them to carry the weight of solving it are unacceptable.
  Commissaries are a vital recruitment and retention tool essential to 
maintaining the all-volunteer force. President Obama recognized this 
fact earlier this year when he visited Camp Pendleton during a furlough 
day and said commissary closures are ``not how a great Nation should be 
treating its military and military families.''
  Each year, commissaries provide an average 31 percent savings for 
military families. Additionally, by allowing the Defense Commissary 
Agency, based out of Fort Lee, Virginia, to purchase products at higher 
volumes, the 178 commissaries in the United States bring down costs 
across all our commissaries.
  I urge my colleagues to oppose any effort to close our commissaries, 
a system that is highly valued by our servicemembers and part of the 
commitment we make to take care of them during and after their time 
volunteering in service to our Nation.

                          ____________________