Duncan Hunter

Mr. HUNTER

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I would answer the gentleman that this aircraft has proved to be a superb performer and lift. We are behind on air lift. We need more air lift, and it is the perfect candidate for this job of expanding our air lift to the point where we can project power around the world in the way that we have planned and are today somewhat deficient. Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that I have had numerous conversations with high level Air Force officials on this matter, and we want them to know that the language that is in the subcommittee chairman's language, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Bartlett), as well as in the Senate language in the bill passed in the other house is serious. This is a serious matter. And we hope that they will fully take it into consideration as they make decisions about how to move forward on this matter.

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is absolutely right, and the language that was in from the other body that had very large barriers to early production, that is, requiring that we go with the totally new production activity, that we not engage in a low-rate initial production, that LRIP be done away with, and a provision requiring bringing in outside competitors, which to me means bringing in a foreign bird which is manufactured by Airbus, all of that language was stricken. So what we are left with in this conference report is an authorization for the Secretary to utilize $100 million, which presently exists, for the multiyear procurement of 100 tanker aircraft. Let me tell the gentleman, we need those tanker aircraft. The old Eisenhower aircraft are not going to last us much longer, and the projection of American air power requires that we have a fleet of new birds ready to carry American force projection around the world.

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I think it is appropriate we follow this discussion with the gentleman who chairs the Subcommittee on Projection Forces, which oversees the projection of aerial forces as well as naval forces around the world. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Bartlett).

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the vice chairman of the committee, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon). (Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to come with my partner, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), and offer for the consideration of the Members the Ronald Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, in simple terms, a defense bill for the troops of the United States who are serving in dangerous theaters around the world and troops and Guard together numbering over 2.5 million personnel. This is a bill, Mr. Speaker, that is a joint effort, Democrats and Republicans have come together to put together this legislation, which I think is really a soldiers' bill, a people's bill, in large measure. We have a 3.5 percent pay raise across the board. We have extension of new TRICARE benefits to Guard and Reserve. We have the new survivor's benefits, something we have never had before in our history, that allows a phasing out now of the offset that used to take place between a survivor of a military retiree, where they had to weigh that against their Social Security check. We have an increase in the receipt that disabled veterans will receive on the so-called concurrent receipt of their disability and their retired pay. We have over $700 million worth of armor for Humvees and over $100 million worth of armor for trucks. We have a bill that has freed up the 24,000 housing units that were hanging in limbo for construction starts this year. This bill, very simply, Mr. Speaker, is a great bill, and I hope that we can move the conference report through quickly for the consideration and approval of the Members and move it quickly to the President's desk. I want to compliment my colleague, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), for working in a bipartisan manner in putting this bill together, as well as all the Members and all our great subcommittee chairmen who did such a wonderful job, and our ranking members and membership of the full committee. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Turner), a very distinguished member of the committee.

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 843, I call up the conference report on the bill (H.R. 4200) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2005 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe personnel strengths for such fiscal year for the Armed Forces, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton), the chair of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities and oversees our special operators.

Mr. HUNTER. Yes, we understand how important ferromanganese is for steel production in the U.S. We certainly do not intend to ask the Secretary to perform the impossible by forecasting the future with absolute certainty. We are just asking for his best judgment.

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes and 20 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller), a great member of the committee who is considered to be the godfather of the survivor benefit program that we have manifested in this bill.

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes) for his outstanding work and for going time and again to the war-fighting theaters in Afghanistan and Iraq, and all our Members who did that throughout the year to get information to help put this bill together. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith), who was a very distinguished outside conferee from the Committee on Science. (Mr. SMITH of Michigan asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Hefley), who chairs a very important committee on readiness.

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh), the gentleman who has the responsibility of overseeing this 2.5 million person force wearing the uniform of the United States, a gentleman who oversees all of our personnel operations.

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the very distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey), who has done great work on the Committee on Armed Services.

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is correct. There is $100 million that authorizes SECDEF to procure 100 tankers on a multiyear basis.

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Everett), who oversees our strategic forces in the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. (Mr. EVERETT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HUNTER. Any support work, since we are not doing a lease, support work obviously is entirely appropriate that that be competed, and I know that there are organic depots, as well as private sector, that look forward to engaging in that.

Mr. HUNTER

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. HUNTER

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I offer a privileged resolution (H. Res. 842) requesting return of official papers on S. 1301, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. HUNTER

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, this is the last piece of the border fence. We have 14 miles of the most extensive smugglers' corridor in the United States. That is where more smugglers move cocaine, undocumented workers and potentially terrorists through this corridor that lies between San Diego and Tijuana. In a bill signed by President Clinton, in fact giving the Attorney General the right to waive the Endangered Species Act, it was considered to be so important. We have built now of this 14-mile stretch, 11 miles. Only 3 miles remain. The Secretary of the Navy has sent us a letter saying that there are security reasons to have that last piece of the border fence constructed. Let me just tell you what is happening in the 6 years that these slow-roll negotiations have gone on and on and on, and the California Coastal Commission and other agencies never go along with this thing. While that has happened, we have had North Koreans coming in the smugglers' corridor, as documented by the Border Patrol. We have had Iraqis coming in through that corridor. We have had Iranians coming in through that corridor. If you want to come in as a terrorist into the United States, do not come in through LAX. Come in on the land border between Mexico and the U.S. If you come through the gap in the fence that we are talking about, you are right there at one of the most sophisticated American naval bases in the world. We need to build this fence. It is in line with national security, in line with President Clinton's law. Let us get it done.

Mr. HUNTER

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time. I will say, I have the highest respect for the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) who is a very valuable member of our committee, and we have done great work over the last many months putting this bill together. And I would hope that the members of the House, rather than focusing on what this bill does not do in terms of stopping the BRAC process or other issues that were of concern to members, to focus on what it does do. I just remind my colleagues that, in this bill, we have a 3.5 percent across-the-board increase for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States. For the first time in our history, we have what is known as a survivor benefits program. We are doing away with the so-called widow's tax. And that is where the surviving spouse of a military retiree will no longer have to offset their survivors' benefits against their Social Security check. We increase what is known as concurrent receipt for our veterans. That means that a disabled veteran will no longer have to offset to the degree that he did before his disability check against his retirement check. We have over $700 million for up-armoring our Humvees. Those are the vehicles that will be driven by young men and women in theaters like Iraq and Afghanistan. We have, across the board, enough personnel benefits to really justify calling this bill the bill that represents the year of the soldier and marine. We have this increase of some 20,000 and some 3,000 Marines. A hard increase and a permissive increase of the Army and Marine Corps of an additional 10,000 soldiers and an additional 6,000 Marines. We have this increase in imminent-danger pay and an increase in family- separation pay. And the 24,000 housing units, which the presumed paralysis of that housing program, where we thought we would actually have 24,000 family housing units hanging this year because of a funding glitch and a scoring glitch; we fixed that in this conference. And that means that the families of the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States will have family housing much quicker than we thought they would have it. So, for all those reasons, I just hope and would ask my colleagues, Democrat and Republican, to support this rule and to vote for the previous question when the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) raises it. I tell the gentleman that I understand his concern and that he and I both know that it is tough to retrieve these bases with the maze of environmental regulations that will face any administration in the future who wants to reach in and retrieve a base that has been closed, but that, nonetheless, I think that with the good judgment of the Members of this House overseeing this and watching this process and the members of Blue Ribbon Panel watching this process, and all the good things that are in this bill, it is appropriate for us to move forward. I hope that we pass this bill.

Mr. HUNTER

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Chairman, I will not take that much time, but just to say like the gentleman that offered this amendment, this amendment is practical, it is a smart thing to do, and we support it very strongly.