[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6921]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         RECOGNIZING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF OUR MILITARY FAMILIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 4, 2005, the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Davis) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. DAVIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join the 
gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt). I have long admired and 
respected his efforts since I was elected to Congress and began serving 
with him on the Committee on Armed Services.
  I want to take a moment now to specifically mention our military 
families. By now, every American should be familiar with the daily 
contributions and sacrifices made by our service members, but we have 
to remember that their families serve, too. Many spouses remind me all 
the time that when the military prepares for deployment, well, so do 
their families. As a former military spouse myself, I am incredibly 
grateful and humbled by their unique sacrifices. With so much of our 
attention on other things, their contributions often go unnoticed and 
underappreciated. I want our military families to know that we are 
working to improve the family-support infrastructure that exists for 
them. Access to family support services should be consistent without 
regard to where the families reside. Use of technology can certainly 
enhance their access to family support, but it sure cannot take the 
place of a support network.
  Democrats are seeking more innovative ways to fund child care for 
military families, to provide a fully resourced, comprehensive and 
portable health care benefit, and to increase the value of the 
commissary and exchange benefit.
  We have also made progress with addressing the demand for family 
housing. This has included privatization initiatives, military 
construction, and adequate funding for the basic allowance for housing. 
Democrats are also exploring ways in which we can work together with 
DOD to enhance educational and employment opportunities for military 
spouses.

                              {time}  1245

  And I can tell the Members firsthand how difficult this is when faced 
with the challenges of the military life-style. By recognizing the 
contributions of our military families, we have identified a critical 
part of addressing future recruiting and retention needs of the 
military. We must continue to recognize their sacrifices as well as 
those made by the service members themselves.
  This is an important task, and I am hopeful that Congress will 
continue giving this the concerted attention it deserves as we prepare 
the Defense Authorization bill for next year.

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