[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 7478-7479]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          PERSONAL EXPLANATION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 18, 2012

  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I was unfortunately unable to cast a vote on 
rollcall vote 291 on Friday, May 18, 2012 because I was tending to a 
family matter. H.R. 4310, the National Defense Authorization Act of 
Fiscal Year 2013 does not sufficiently address the strategic or fiscal 
realities we are facing and I would have voted ``no'' on its passage. I 
would not in good conscience have been able to vote for this 
authorization bill that forces the Pentagon to accept $8 billion that 
it neither requested, needs, nor wants. Many weapons programs, like 
upgrades to the Army's ground vehicles, were funded not only above the 
President's request but the Pentagon's. Some programs, like Block 30 of 
the Global Hawk, the Pentagon doesn't want at all. Funding for East 
Coast missile defense dumps money into systems that don't work against 
a remote, unlikely threat. Lastly, there are not sufficient

[[Page 7479]]

safeguards in place to ensure that we are not only funding the right 
programs, but receiving a fair price for them.

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