[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 86 (Thursday, May 24, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E732-E733]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2019

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                               speech of

                        HON. GERALD E. CONNOLLY

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 23, 2018

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5515) to 
     authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2019 for military 
     activities of the Department of Defense and for military 
     construction, to prescribe military personnel strengths for 
     such fiscal year, and for other purposes:

  Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment to 
the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act offered with 
Representative Stephanie Murphy, which would provide not less than $12 
million for the assessment, monitoring, and evaluation of our defense 
security cooperation programs as part of the more than $700 million 
this bill authorizes for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
  Each year, the United States spends as much as $10 billion on our 
security cooperation programs.
  This includes the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund, the Counter-ISIL 
Fund, the cooperative threat reduction program, and other security 
programs that help build the capacity of foreign security forces.
  The United States trains, educates, advises, and equips our foreign 
partners all around the world.
  However, we have done next to nothing to understand the effectiveness 
of these programs at accomplishing their goals and advancing U.S. 
interests.
  I commend the Department of Defense for its work to establish an 
office tasked with creating a monitoring and evaluation framework for 
security cooperation programs and conducting evaluations.
  I am glad the first evaluation will be conducted this year on 
military logistics in the Baltics.
  This amendment will ensure that this good work continues and expands 
in a manner commensurate with the amount of money we are currently 
spending on security cooperation programs.
  I thank Chairman Thornberry, Ranking Member Smith, Representative 
Murphy for working with me on this amendment.

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