Mike Coffman

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $16,738,249,094,798.80. We've added $6,111,372,045,885.72 to our debt in 4 and a half years. This is $6 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $16,738,281,074,058.77. We've added $6,111,404,035,145.69 to our debt in 4 and a half years. This is $6 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $16,738,580,905,836.39. We've added $6,111,703,856,923.31 to our debt in 4 and a half years. This is $6 trillion in debt our Nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $16,738,629,048,819.09. We've added $6,111,751,999,906.01 to our debt in 4.5 years. This is $6 trillion in debt our Nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $16,738,602,543,527.17. We've added $6,111,725,494,614.09 to our debt in 4.5 years. This is $6 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a constituent of mine, Dr. Mitchell T. Munson, of Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Dr. Munson will soon be elected president of the American Optometric Association (AOA) during their 116th annual meeting, where he will be installed as the association's 91st president on Saturday, June 29, 2013, in San Diego, California. Dr. Munson is a graduate of the Southern California College of Optometry and has a private practice in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. He has been a leader in his profession at the local, state, and national levels. The Colorado Optometric Association (COA) named him Young Optometrist of the Year in 1993 and he became president of the COA in 1995. Dr. Munson is a past president of the Southwest Council of Optometry and a Fellow in the American Academy of Optometry. Dr. Munson has built a renowned record of service and leadership in his profession and I am confident that he will have a very successful term as president of the AOA. The sixth District of Colorado is proud to have Dr. Munson as a constituent and I join his family, friends, and colleagues in congratulating him on this achievement and wishing him the very best of luck.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $16,738,602,543,527.17. We've added $6,111,725,494,550.09 to our debt in 4 and a half years. This is $6 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $16,738,642,755,073.31. We've added $6,111,765,706,160.23 to our debt in 4 and a half years. This is $6 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $16,738,653,639,711.53. We've added $6,111,776,590,799.45 to our debt in 4 and a half years. This is $6 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $16,738,664,595,327.64. We've added $6,111,787,546,414.56 to our debt in 4.5 years. This is $6 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $16,738,697,370,019.81. We've added $6,111,820,312,106.73 to our debt in 4 and a half years. This is $6 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $16,738,708,293,971.53. We've added $6,111,831,245,058.45 to our debt in 4 and a half years. This is $6 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $16,738,704,836,178.59. We've added $6,111,827,787,265.51 to our debt in 4 and a half years. This is $6 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Chair, on rollcall Nos. 241 and 242, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Chairman, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Chairman, in this bill, there's already $76 million for Quick Reaction Special Projects, $62 million for emerging capabilities technology development, $174 million for joint capability technology demonstrations, and $34 million for the Defense-Wide Manufacturing Science and Technology program. The Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs spend about $1 billion per year in research and development funding for our Nation's small technology companies. The issues that they're talking about are already addressed in multiple ways; and this is, unfortunately, wasteful Pentagon spending that should be cut. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COFFMAN. In closing, I did apply and work for the DOD. In fact, I served in both the Army and the Marine Corps, and in the 1980s, I served in NATO as well as in the 1970s. The mission has changed. Times have changed. We need to change. In doing so, we've got a unit there that really has no tactical purpose at this time. It is not an expeditionary force that can be readily moved. It would have to be moved to a railhead and then to a port facility and then be brought by ship in the most cost-effective manner. We are at a time when we have excess capacity in the United States in terms of the United States Army. The last report was in 2004 of 20 percent excess capacity for the United States, and the administration wants to do another Base Realignment and Closure Commission. We ought to bring that unit home to the United States. It can deploy as needed, where needed, and not be in a country that's spending less than 2 percent of its GDP on defense when we're at 4.7 percent. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. COFFMAN. Madam Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Chairman, my amendment, No. 208, cuts $250 million from the Defense Rapid Innovation Program--or commonly called DRIP--and moves the money to alleviate training and readiness shortfalls. The DRIP program is a relatively new program started by Congress in the wake of the earmark ban in 2010. The funding was not requested by the Department of Defense, and Congress uses the program through DOD to provide grants to small businesses. The funding can be better applied. Yesterday, Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the sequester hits particularly hard in the operations and maintenance accounts. As a result, training is hurt and our Nation's military readiness plummets. This is unacceptable. But we can't just bemoan this fact; we have to address it. It is our duty to our men and women in uniform and our Nation's security to ensure that we spend our defense dollars in the most efficient and critical way possible. A quarter billion dollars for the DRIP program is not the wisest use of our tax dollars. As a former small business owner, I am naturally very protective of our Nation's small businesses. I understand the pressures they operate under. But I am also aware of the effect sequestration is having on our military's operations and maintenance accounts. We are seeing across- the-board cuts to vital operational funding. The Air Force grounded 13 squadrons for the year. The Navy has canceled ship deployments and deferred maintenance. The Army has canceled major training exercises for the year. While I am sure that there have been good results from some of the spending in the DRIP program, I am sure that this program is duplicative of many other efforts in the Department of Defense. There is already $76 million for quick reaction special projects, $62 million for emerging capabilities technology development, $174 million for joint capability technology demonstrations, and $34 million for the Defense-Wide Manufacturing Science & Technology program. There is over $1 billion for Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research funding, and so on, DARPA, joint programs, and technical support programs. Transferring this money will not leave small businesses or technology development without funding. What it will do is signal to the American people that we are willing to make the hard choices necessary to prioritize our men and women in uniform by supporting the operations and maintenance accounts they rely on, which are a higher priority than the potential DRIP results. I repeat, the DRIP program was set up in 2010 as a way to get around the ban on earmarks. In today's restrictive fiscal climate, we have higher defense spending priorities that we should fund instead. I ask for your support for this amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COFFMAN. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. COFFMAN. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. COFFMAN. I think we both have experience in NATO. You serve on this parliamentary committee, and I served in the United States Army in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in the very type of unit that we are talking about today. That unit was designed to defend the border between what was West Germany and Czechoslovakia against Warsaw Pact forces that were on the other side. That border no longer exists. The Warsaw Pact no longer exists. Yet we still maintain a regiment there, which is not an expeditionary unit, to do the very things that you're talking about. We also have the capability to move our forces when needed over there. When I was in Europe during the height of the Cold War, protecting the very border in the same units that we are talking about today, we did the Reforger exercise on an annual basis in which U.S. forces would come over to Europe, in about the middle of western Germany, to reinforce our positions and to push those Warsaw Pact forces back.

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Chairman, every dollar wasted in the defense budget is a dollar not spent on defending this country. This is not a program that was ever requested by the Department of Defense. This is a jobs program. I think, given the fact that the Defense Department is under incredible stress, that we've got to fund the priorities that our men and women on the front lines need. And that is putting this $250 million to operations and maintenance--$250 million to the spending program that is already duplicated in other parts of the Department of Defense budget. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.