[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12401]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   PROVIDING RAPID ACQUISITION AUTHORITY TO SECRETARY OF DEFENSE TO 
                     RESPOND TO COMBAT EMERGENCIES

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. PETER A. DeFAZIO

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 14, 2004

  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a few minutes to 
discuss H.R. 4323. This legislation has the best of intentions. It 
would provide authority for the Secretary of Defense to expedite 
procurement of equipment that is necessary to protect against combat 
deaths. While I agree with the premise, I am concerned about the 
details of the bill.
  Obviously, we all, regardless of political party, want our men and 
women in uniform to have the equipment they need to protect themselves 
and successfully carry out their mission. Just last month, I voted in 
favor of H.R. 4200, the fiscal year 2005 Department of Defense 
Authorization Act. This legislation boosted funding above and beyond 
the levels requested by President Bush for a variety of critical 
equipment like armored Humvees, advanced body armor, and roadside bomb 
suppression devices.
  H.R. 4200 also included a provision to speed up the procurement of 
equipment necessary to prevent combat casualties that is identical to 
the text included in H.R. 4323. While I had some reservations about the 
provision, I supported its inclusion in H.R. 4200 and voted for final 
passage of the bill because it contained a variety of important pay and 
benefit improvements for our men and women in uniform. And, as I 
mentioned, it increased funding for critical equipment. I was hoping 
that the procurement provision could be fine-tuned in the conference 
with the Senate.
  However, the House Republican leadership decided to bring the 
procurement provision to the floor as a stand-alone measure, H.R. 4323, 
in order to fast-track the bill through Congress and get it to the 
President without getting bogged down in the various debates 
surrounding H.R. 4200. The bill is on the floor this week under a 
procedure that prohibits amendments to perfect it.
  I voted against H.R. 4323 because I am concerned about rushing 
through a bill that, while well intentioned, may not provide the 
benefit to our men and women in uniform that its proponents claim.
  The bill would require that the Secretary of Defense establish an 
expedited procurement process for equipment that can prevent combat 
casualties occurring in the field. In order to speed up the process and 
allow a contract to be awarded within 15 days of an identified need, 
H.R. 4323 would waive the statutory requirement that the equipment be 
tested and evaluated for effectiveness.
  Some of my colleagues may remember during the Vietnam War when 
modified M-16s were rushed into soldiers' hands. Tragically, the 
weapons were not adequately tested prior to distribution in Vietnam. It 
turns out they jammed frequently, causing untold number of deaths when 
soldiers' were left without an automatic weapon when facing enemy fire.
  Rather than waiving the requirement that emergency equipment be 
tested and evaluated for effectiveness, as H.R. 4323 currently does, 
and risk the repeat of another debacle like the M-16 during Vietnam, I 
believe this bill should accelerate the testing and evaluation of 
critical equipment so that it can be procured more quickly, but still 
safely.
  It does our soldiers no good to have equipment procured and 
distributed quickly if it doesn't work as its supposed to. Amending 
H.R. 4323 to keep the requirement that equipment to be procured under 
this new streamlined authority still be tested would ensure that the 
equipment our troops need would provide the expected level of 
protection.

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