[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17946]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            PREPARING OUR MILITARY TO FIGHT THE WAR OF TODAY

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, during the debate of the 
Stump-Skelton amendment regarding missile defense, I did not have the 
opportunity to submit my statement; and I believe with the vote cast 
today it is extremely important to acknowledge that we are in a crisis.
  We do need to fund our military and ensure that our men and women are 
prepared, but I still believe that the missile defense funding is 
excessive and unnecessary. I, frankly, believe that we have a new war 
and a new day, but we need to use those dollars to prepare our military 
and to prepare us with the resources that we need and to be able to use 
those dollars to be able to really attack terrorism where it is.
  I think it is important to provide more dollars for FEMA. I think it 
is important to provide more dollars for our senior citizens, our 
veterans; and yes, I believe in a strong defense, as evidenced by my 
just recent vote.
  But I ask the President, I ask the administration, to clearly rethink 
the investment in missile defense. Let us invest more in our military 
in terms of its preparedness, so we can fight the war of today.

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