[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17692]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   SMART SECURITY: PROTECTING AMERICA BY RELYING ON THE VERY BEST OF 
                            AMERICAN VALUES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Reed). The Chair recognizes the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, every one of us in this Congress believes 
that keeping the Nation safe, as well as providing benefits to our 
veterans as promised, is our very top priority. It's a question, 
however, of just how do we do that. And a decade of war and military 
occupation is not the best way.
  Whenever spending cuts are on the agenda, as they are right now with 
the supercommittee racing to meet its deadline, military and defense 
programs continue to get a pass. Why should the Pentagon get a blank 
check while safety-net programs have to look for ``change in the couch 
cushions'' to keep their programs going?
  It's time for the Pentagon to share in the sacrifice, especially 
since it's been so generously funded over the years, a 50 percent 
increase in the DOD budget over the last decade, bigger in real dollars 
today than it was at the height of the Cold War.
  Ending the war in Afghanistan would save at least $10 billion a 
month--actually, it's more like 12 now--to say nothing of the lives we 
would save and the injuries that would be avoided.
  But I think we should go further in cutting the base Pentagon budget. 
Just to give a few examples, I'm a longtime advocate of eliminating the 
V-22 Osprey aircraft. It's a program that, if we eliminated it, would 
save $10 billion, and it's a program that is notorious for cost 
overruns and for huge safety concerns.
  And we can dramatically reduce the Nation's nuclear arsenal. Why do 
we need--I ask you this--why do we need 5,000 warheads when just one is 
enough to destroy life on Earth?
  We can wring huge savings out of the system by fundamentally changing 
how we think and how we deal with national security. For pennies on the 
dollar we can keep America safe by implementing a smarter security 
policy, by supporting a civilian surge over a military surge.
  My SMART Security platform, which is H. Res. 19, would make war a 
very last resort and adopt a different posture toward the rest of the 
world. It's not isolationism. When I say I want to bring our troops 
home from Iraq and Afghanistan, I'm not saying we abandon those 
countries. I'm saying we must engage them in a different way. That 
means investing in their people and their capacity to lead lives free 
of deprivation and despair.
  So instead of weapons systems, let's invest more on development in 
humanitarian aid, more on maternal health programs, more on mosquito 
nets to prevent malaria, more on education, health care, microlending, 
et cetera, et cetera.
  You know what would promote our national security, Mr. Speaker, like 
nothing else is a genuine, well-funded commitment to eradicating 
poverty and malnutrition in the developing world. Instead of invasions 
and occupations, SMART Security emphasizes diplomacy. It emphasizes the 
civilian surge, multilateralism, and peaceful conflict resolution.
  It also calls for more investment in energy independence, nuclear 
nonproliferation, democracy promotion, and civil society programs 
abroad. Isn't that a better way to combat terrorism than sending 
100,000 troops to a part of the world known for widespread anti-
American sentiment?
  We must stop equating national security with armed aggression because 
that's how we ended up with out-of-control Pentagon budgets and an ever 
more dangerous world. In fact, Mr. Speaker, military force has been 
proven to oftentimes undermine our security instead of enhancing it.
  SMART Security protects America because it relies on the very best of 
American values, moral leadership, compassion, our commitment to peace 
and freedom. It costs pennies on the dollar. It is efficient and 
fiscally responsible.
  So let's bring our troops home, cut the Pentagon budget, and 
implement SMART Security now. Then we can have real cost savings in the 
United States.
  And, Mr. Speaker, that's just the way it is.

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