[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 11 (Thursday, January 18, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H481-H482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               SAVE THE POLITICAL THEATER FOR ANOTHER DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Byrne) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my great frustration 
with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for their reckless 
behavior that is threatening the safety and security of the American 
people.
  Let me explain. Some Members of the House and Senate are holding 
funding for the Federal Government, including funding for our Nation's 
military, hostage in an effort to advance their immigration agenda.
  I understand that immigration is a very important issue. I have many 
priorities in the immigration debate myself, like increased border 
security. But I understand that there will come a time and a place to 
debate immigration issues. That time is not now, and that place is not 
on a bill dealing with funding our military and other essential 
functions of government.
  Mr. Speaker, this is what the American people hate about Congress. 
Instead of simply doing one of our most basic jobs, funding the 
government, we are having an unrelated debate about an immigration 
issue.
  Let's be clear about what is going on here. Congressional Democrats 
are using our military men and women as pawns in a political game. They 
think they can use funding for the military as leverage to get their 
way on a very complex immigration issue. I think that is not only 
wrong. I think it is irresponsible and it has very grave consequences.
  I want to strongly reject the notion that this is a Republican 
problem. The House passed a bill back in September, over 4 months ago, 
to fund the military and the entire Federal Government. That bill has 
been stuck in the Senate, where 60 votes are necessary to pass the 
bill. There are only 51 Republican Senators, so that means it will be 
necessary to have bipartisan support to get any bill across the finish 
line. I vehemently reject this is an issue just facing congressional 
Republicans. Frankly, that is a lie.
  So why am I so passionate about this issue? Because our Nation's 
military is facing a serious readiness crisis, and we as the Congress 
are making things worse. We have the smallest Army since before World 
War II, the smallest Navy since before World War I, and the smallest 
and oldest Air Force we have ever had.
  General Daniel Allyn, vice chief of staff for the Army, put it best 
when he said the budgetary problems have ``left the Army outranged, 
outgunned, and outdated. As a result, the Army risks falling behind 
countries like Russia and China.''
  There are similarly alarming quotes from the other services as well. 
Our military needs and demands funding certainty in order to make 
purchases and perform long-overdue maintenance.
  Every time we pass a continuing resolution and kick the can down the 
road, that hurts our military. It hurts the very men and women we send 
into battle each day. It makes their job harder, and, frankly, it puts 
lives at risk.
  We have seen fatal accidents aboard the USS Fitzgerald and USS McCain 
caused by insufficient time to train sailors and maintain ships. We 
have also seen fatal aviation accidents in the Marine Corps as their 
equipment ages and their training is limited.
  The average age of Air Force aircraft is 27 years, and only 5 of 58 
Army combat brigades are ``ready to fight tonight.''
  Continuing resolutions also hurt our taxpayers. In fact, the 
Secretary of the Navy recently said that the lack of funding certainty 
has cost the Navy between $4 billion and $5 billion. It makes it 
costlier to buy military equipment, and that added cost is 
ultimately passed on to the taxpayer.

  The threats we face today are so great. From China to Russia, to 
Iran, to North Korea, to terrorist groups around the globe, we haven't 
seen this serious a threat environment since World War II.
  What makes this issue even more frustrating is that both the House 
and the Senate, in an overwhelmingly bipartisan manner, have passed a 
defense authorization bill showing our clear support for funding our 
military at $700 billion. The bill passed with 356 votes in the House 
and on a unanimous voice vote in the Senate, yet we find ourselves at a 
deadlock and our government on the verge of a shutdown because 
congressional Democrats want to advance their immigration agenda.
  Mr. Speaker, enough is enough. I know my colleagues may not like our 
President; I know my colleagues may not agree with me on immigration; I 
know my colleagues have different priorities than I do; but for 
goodness' sake, can we not at least agree that we

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should adequately fund our troops and the Nation's military? Can we not 
at least agree that we shouldn't be playing political games with our 
military men and women? We can save the political theater for another 
day.

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