Rodney Frelinghuysen

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky).

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Reclaiming my time, it was my understanding with Mr. Young that the gentleman would consider withdrawing the amendment if we gave a commitment to continue to work with him on this very important issue, which he has dedicated so much time and effort to. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I yield back the balance of my time. Moment of Silence in Memory of Officer Jacob J. Chestnut and Detective John M. Gibson

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I thank the gentleman for yielding. We support your amendment. As you said, it is similar to what the bill carried last year and what was a provision in the armed services bill, so we are supportive of it. We're obviously mindful and respectful of the ranking member's position, but the majority of Congress felt the way you and I do and the committee did as well.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Madam Chair, it is in our interest that we have a strong, stable, moderate, and truly democratic Egypt. It's in the best interests of both our countries. We've had a 30-year relationship, and those interests would be damaged if we decide to in any way disengage from Egypt and its people in their quest for a true democracy or reduce current levels of support for the Egyptian military. This is a country of 80 million people, a cornerstone of peace in the Middle East, despite its recent troubles, and we need to make sure that we keep the Egyptians close to us as a strong ally and work with their military operations.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the time and rise in support of his rule and the underlying Department of Defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2014. First of all, I congratulate my chairman, Mr. Rogers, and also Defense chairman, Mr. Young, as well as Mr. Visclosky and Mrs. Lowey, for their hard work and leadership getting this legislation forward. Mr. Speaker, as we are all keenly aware, the budget of the Department of Defense is under severe stress. We are already seeing the effects of the President's budget cuts and the sequester on military readiness. To fight effectively, our Armed Forces must be staffed, equipped, and trained to operate under dangerous, complex, and uncertain conditions, often with little or no warning. They require the right personnel using the right equipment and the right training. But if history teaches us anything, it teaches us that the future is highly unpredictable. Unanticipated events often catch us by surprise. We constantly ask our military to be prepared for any contingency. Yet today we have burdened them with new levels of budgetary uncertainty hampering modernization, planning, and training. Mr. Speaker, our men and women in uniform need this Defense appropriations process to move forward. We should not force them to contemplate another inefficient continuing resolution on top of additional crippling sequester cuts. That is what will happen if this House cannot find a way to pass this important legislation: more delay, more uncertainty, diminished readiness, more risk for the men and women we ask to go into harm's way. Is this a perfect rule, this structured rule? Absolutely not. The committee always prefers open rules and regular order. At the same time, I urge my colleagues to support this rule and the underlying bill so that we can work with the Senate to fulfill our most basic mission under the constitutional duty--to provide for the common defense.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Chairman, thank you for yielding me the time. Madam Chair, I rise in strong support of our Defense appropriations bill. Under Chairman Young's leadership and collaboration and strong support from Mr. Visclosky, our committee held a lengthy series of hearings examining varied topics: our operations in Afghanistan, the so-called pivot to the Asia-Pacific, the Army and Air Force's need for modernization, Navy shipbuilding, marine end strength, military health care, acquisition reform, sexual assaults, among other important issues, and, of course, the impact of the sequester, the negative impact. Most of our hearings related to reducing risk in the defense budget and the new strategic guidance from the Department of Defense-- protecting our gains as well as preparing for current and future threats--China's growing military capability; continued uncertainty in North Korea and that peninsula; the destabilizing civil war in Syria; Iran's race to develop a nuclear weapons capability and their threat to close the Straits of Hormuz, among others. Our goal throughout this bill is to provide the resources to support our warfighters now and in the future, whenever the next crisis arises. Madam Chairman, our subcommittee, like other Appropriations subcommittees, clearly recognizes the Nation's debt and deficit and found areas and programs where reductions are possible without adversely impacting our Armed Forces and our modernization efforts. Frankly, it is important that we find savings without harming readiness or increasing the risks incurred by our warfighters. Under Chairman Young's leadership, our committee has had a close examination of military needs and very necessary oversight, so our legislation before us includes funding for critical national security and intelligence needs based on a very strong hearing process. In addition, the bill provides essential funding for health and quality of life programs for all of our men and women in uniform--all volunteers-- and their families. They deserve nothing less. I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their leadership, and I strongly support the bill.

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

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman. Is there some movement to withdraw this?

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I look forward to working with the gentleman. Amendment No. 17 Offered by Mr. Nugent

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim time to speak on the amendment.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Chairman, this Israeli cooperative program is an important program, and the Israelis are very good and loyal allies of ours. So we support the gentleman's amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim time to speak on the amendment.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. We're pleased to accept the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Let me associate myself with your remarks. Respectfully, we need to assure we have a relationship with the Pakistani Government to make sure that their nuclear weapons capacity is well secured. And while polls may reflect, as the gentleman says, a very poor view by Americans of Pakistan, we need their support and cooperation not only for the 68,000 troops we have there but the international forces that are working with our troops to help the people of Afghanistan have a better life. So yes, there may be corruption and there may be ill will among the Pakistani people, in our view, of our involvement over there, but we need to, as we exit Pakistan, to make sure that we get our forces out of there using the road network. Otherwise, we'll have to take a lot of our supplies and men by air, and that would be enormously expensive. We need to keep a good relationship with the Pakistani Government. I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I thank the ranking member for yielding to me. I rise to oppose the gentleman's amendment. Mr. Chairman, according to the President's own budget request: The Afghan Infrastructure Fund has been an invaluable resource in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Initiated in fiscal year 2011, the AIF funds infrastructure projects in Afghanistan that are a key feature of the counterinsurgency strategy and the civil-military strategic framework endorsed by the commander, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan to lock in security gains and maintain stability by providing basic, essential infrastructure of the people of Afghanistan. Mr. Chairman, in other words, these projects that would be eliminated or reduced are vital to protecting our currently deployed troops and civilian employees besides the Afghanis themselves, and that is a worthy investment. We still have 68,000 troops over there, a lot of civilians supporting the effort, contractors even, and a lot of international forces. They deserve this protection. This is a good long-term investment.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I rise to claim the time in opposition to the gentleman's amendment.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Chairman, over the past several years, this committee has taken a very hard look at all of our military information operations programs--a very hard look. While the committee reduced or eliminated funding for those we judged not to be appropriate Defense Department activities, this was not one of them. This is a fully acknowledged program, with each Web site sponsored by a geographic combatant commander. These Web sites provide important news and information about events in their regions and about U.S. activities being conducted in those regions. These Web sites are an important opportunity for the United States Government to inform foreign audiences about U.S. military activities in their regions, including joint military training exercises or, very importantly, about humanitarian assistance. Too often, we find ourselves frustrated that foreign populations fail to appreciate the support they receive from the United States, particularly from the United States military, or to understand the U.S. position on issues impacting their parts of the world. This is often because people are unaware of our efforts. These Web sites offer the combatant commanders the ability to get the word out, and I believe and we, the committee, believe that that's important. Therefore, I urge the rejection of the amendment. With that, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky).

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Chairman, this program also supports our very brave men and women. I oppose the gentleman's amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, if this Strategic Partnership Agreement involves the protection of our American troops and our allies, then there's good reason to oppose this amendment. This is an agreement between two sovereign nations. Understandably, the two proponents of this amendment are against our involvement and would like us to leave tomorrow--and indeed we may. But in the process, I would hope that we wouldn't be putting ourselves and our soldiers at risk by an amendment of this type and nature. For those reasons, I oppose it.