[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 25813]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             URGING PRESIDENT TO SIGN DEFENSE SPENDING BILL

  (Mr. ARMEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, after vetoing the foreign aid bill because 
the President thought it was too little spending, the President now is 
threatening to veto the defense spending bill because he believes it is 
too much spending.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the same bill that will correct the Clinton-Gore 
neglect of our military that has stretched our forces thin in the past 
8 years. Since the end of the Gulf War, our military has shrunk by 40 
percent. At the height of the Reagan administration, the Navy had 586 
ships. Today, it has 324. Since 1987, active duty personnel have been 
cut by more than 800,000 people.
  Mr. Speaker, the defense spending bill we sent the President will fix 
these problems and it will do more. Our bill would give our troops a 
long overdue pay raise. It will also give our troops modern weapons and 
a better standard of living.
  I urge the President not to play politics with our military pay 
raise. I urge the President not to play politics with the quality of 
life of our troops. The American people overwhelmingly support our 
defense spending bill. In fact, this bill got more than 370 votes in 
the House of Representatives.
  Mr. Speaker, our service men and women deserve more than politics. 
They deserve President Clinton's signature on our defense spending 
bill.

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