[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7081]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             DEFENSE BUDGET

  (Mrs. DAVIS of California asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. DAVIS of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today with great 
concern over our defense budget. Our crushing national debt looms, yet 
we continue to ignore the issue.
  The National Defense Authorization Act came in at $8 billion over the 
Budget Control Act because the committee put back high-cost items that 
the Pentagon had not listed as their highest priority. How is that 
responsible spending? When the issue arises as to what to cut, what 
must make up that difference to make the numbers work, what will come 
first? Will our military personnel accounts be under the knife?
  I do not believe that this is smart legislating, when we choose to 
ignore the current fiscal environment. And when we raised concerns on 
the plans to build a missile defense site on the east coast with money 
we do not have, the Rules Committee would not even allow it up for 
debate.
  Shouldn't we be discussing these issues so that we can move forward, 
so that we can come to an agreement on how the Department of Defense 
and our servicemembers are best served?

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