[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17246]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     THE NDAA AND MILITARY BENEFITS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, let me quote from Roger Simon in a recent 
article, titled, ``Down the Opium Rathole.'' Mr. Simon writes about 
Afghanistan:

       If you spent 13 years pounding money down a rathole with 
     little to show for it, you might wake up one morning and say, 
     ``Hey, I'm going to stop pounding money down the rathole.'' 
     Unfortunately, the United States Government does not think 
     this way.

  Mr. Speaker, last week we passed a $585 billion bill known as the 
defense bill, with a large percentage of that money going into overseas 
contingencies: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. I question how much damage 
this bill causes our military Active Duty and our retirees.
  Let me quote from Lori Falkner Volkman, a former prosecutor and 
spokesman for the Keep Your Promise Alliance, an online coalition of 
military families and organizations. She said: ``This is the second 
Christmas in a row that national leaders have tried to cut military pay 
benefits. Earned benefits should not even be on the table when 
entitlement budgets soar and appropriations budgets are billions of 
dollars over budget.''
  I did not vote for the NDAA bill. It was 1,648 pages, and we did not 
have enough time to read and comprehend the contents of the bill. In a 
recent article in the Jacksonville Daily News regarding my ``no'' vote 
on this bill, Mike Hayden, a retired Air Force colonel and present 
director of governmental relations for the Military Officers 
Association of America, known as MOAA, said: ``An E-5 servicemember 
would lose more than $800 in purchasing power annually when the bill 
takes effect. This is going to cost them a loss of about $600 a month 
just in pay.''
  In the same article, Jim Davis, a retired marine who now lives in 
Jacksonville and serves as a senior vice commander of the local DAV 
chapter, said the cuts could adversely affect military families.
  Charlie Brown, a quartermaster for the VFW post in Jacksonville, 
agreed with Mr. Davis and said the bill doesn't accurately reflect what 
servicemembers actually deserve.

                              {time}  1015

  Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote James Madison. James Madison 
wrote: ``The power to declare war, including the power to judge the 
causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.''
  Mr. Speaker, for too long, we have not had policy debates on the 
floor of this House, whether it be Iraq, Syria, or Afghanistan. When I 
look at the waste, fraud, and abuse in Afghanistan, I want to say to 
the Active Duty in the military and the retirees, I regret so much that 
the Congress is not debating the issues that we should be debating 
based on our constitutional duties.
  Mr. Speaker, I would also like to quote Pat Buchanan. Pat says: ``Is 
it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the world so we can 
defend the world?'' I repeat: ``Is it not a symptom of senility to be 
borrowing from the world so we can defend the world?'' Mr. Speaker, 
that is so prophetic. And I thank Pat Buchanan for trying to wake up 
Congress before it is too late.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, I have a poster beside me with Uncle Sam. And 
Uncle Sam says: ``I want you to understand that if you can't afford to 
take care of your veterans, you can't afford to go to war.'' That, 
again, is what Pat Buchanan is saying.
  Mr. Speaker, those of us in Congress in both parties need to 
understand that we have a constitutional responsibility to not commit 
our young men and women to fight and die and be wounded unless we 
debate the policy on the floor of the House.
  And with that, Mr. Speaker, I ask God to please bless our men and 
women in uniform and their families, and please, God, continue to bless 
America.

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