Ike Skelton

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. I certainly thank the gentleman for that. I yield 1 minute to my friend, a very special lady, the Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development and FDA, the gentlelady from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

Mr. SKELTON. May I inquire, Mr. Chairman, the time remaining, please.

Mr. SKELTON. At this time, I yield 1 minute to my colleague, the gentleman from New York (Mr. McMahon).

Mr. SKELTON. I yield 2 minutes to my friend, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney)

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, we have no more speakers on this en bloc amendment. I yield back.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, pursuant to H. Res. 572, I offer amendments en bloc entitled No. 4.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I urge the committee to adopt the amendments en bloc, all of which have been examined by both the majority and the minority. At this time, I yield 2 minutes to my friend, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Griffith).

Mr. SKELTON. I yield one minute to the gentlelady from Florida (Ms. Castor).

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to my colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt).

Mr. SKELTON. I yield 1 minute to my friend and colleague, a member of the Armed Services Committee, the gentlewoman from Guam (Ms. Bordallo).

Mr. SKELTON. Let me take this opportunity, Mr. Chairman, to recognize several of our staff who, after wonderful service, are going on to new challenges in their careers: Loren Dealy, who will handle communications for the Office of Legislative Affairs at the Department of Defense; Frank Rose who is off to work on strategic weapons and missile defense issues at the State Department; Bill Natter, who recently left to be the Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy; Sasha Rogers, who is off to get a master's of public policy; Christine Lamb, who is off to get an MBA; and Ben Glerum, who will be working on a law degree. In addition, I wish to recognize those unsung heroes who allow our staff to put together a bill of this enormous size and complexity. Those staff members who are called staff assistants: Andrew Tabler, Zach Steacy, Liz Drummond, Megan Putnam, Rose Ellen Kim, Caterina Dutto, Kathleen Kelly, Mary Kate Cunningham, Scott Bousom, Trey Howard, Cindi Howard, Derek Scott and Katy Bloomberg all deserve a special thanks. And I also want to thank Joe Hichen for a long effort with us, as well as Alicia Haley. Without their hard work, coordination, and patience, we would not be as successful as we are today. A final thanks to the team in the Office of Legislative Counsel led by Sherry Chriss, and the Parliamentarians who provide such excellent support. We thank them, and we are very grateful for their hard work. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, let me say a special word of thanks to our ranking member, Buck McKeon. As we welcome you and you are off and running, you are doing an excellent job, and we thank you for your first-class efforts in making this come to pass. You've done wonderfully, and we should all be very grateful to you.

Mr. SKELTON. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SKELTON. I thank the gentleman. And I stand in support of the Connolly amendment to section 526 of the Energy Independence and Security Act, which provides an exception for certain generally available fuels while retaining the greenhouse gas emission standard that 526 sets for new alternative fuels. Let me, Mr. Chairman, say a word of thanks. We have thanked the staff, under the leadership of Erin Conaton. They have just done so very, very well. And we thank the members, Buck McKeon, who is doing so well, and the subcommittee chairmen and the ranking members all made their excellent statements. But there is one group we need to give a special thanks to, and that's the young men and young women in uniform as well as the civilian employees of the Department of Defense. They are very special, and we are appreciative and very grateful for their efforts.

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, this is one of the most interesting motions to recommit I have ever seen. In truth, in fact, in looking it over, which is a multipage motion, it is an effort to rewrite the work of two subcommittees within the Armed Services Committee, the Strategic Forces Subcommittee and the Air and Land Subcommittee. And we have already, a few moments ago, discussed at length on this floor a good part of this, which is the missile defense area, which we gave $9.3 billion toward. But what I really find interesting in this is that the budget will cut the cleanup for radioactive waste and special materials in half. At this time, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from California (Mrs. Tauscher), the subcommittee chairman.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Hawaii, the chairman of the Air and Land Subcommittee, Mr. Abercrombie.

Mr. SKELTON. How much time is remaining, please?

Mr. SKELTON. I thank the gentlelady. I thank the gentleman. This is a bad motion to recommit.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that in the engrossment of the bill, H.R. 2647, the Clerk be authorized to correct section numbers, punctuation, cross-references, and the table of contents, and to make such other technical and conforming changes as may be necessary to reflect the actions of the House in amending the bill, and that the Clerk be authorized to make the additional technical corrections, which are at the desk.

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend remarks and in which to insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill that was just passed.

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 2647 and to insert extraneous material thereon.

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. The House Armed Services Committee brings before the House a bill reported out of committee by a vote of 61-0. This consensus was achieved after a great deal of hard work. Our mark lasted almost 17 hours. We considered 129 amendments; we adopted 107 of them. We had an excellent debate on the issues in the best traditions of our committee. I am confident we will have a similar experience here in the full House. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to be joined in support of the bill by my friend and my partner, Buck McKeon. I am thrilled that he is our ranking member, and I commend him for jumping in head first on his first official day on the job, which of course was a full day for our markup. He has been a very able and constructive partner as well as, when required, a skilled opponent. I must, however, mention our esteemed colleague, John McHugh, who has agreed to become the Secretary of the Army, but who leaves our committee having established a lasting legacy, especially on issues of personnel. In this debate we will consider, and I am confident that we will adopt, an amendment that is sponsored by both Mr. McKeon and me that is a tribute to the work of John McHugh on our committee. Likewise, I must thank the subcommittee chairmen and ranking members who contributed so much on this bill. They did their homework, and I am pleased with the outcome of our efforts. They solved almost every problem set out for them, and they accomplished a lot of good government at the same time. They were ably assisted by our committee staff, the amazing professionals in the Office of the Legislative Counsel, and the Office of the Parliamentarian. This bill authorizes $550.5 billion in budget authority for the Department of Defense and the national security programs of the Department of Energy. The bill also authorizes $130 billion to support ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan during fiscal year 2010. These amounts are essentially equal to the President's budget request for items in the jurisdiction of our committee. H.R. 2647 reflects the Congress' deep commitment to supporting American servicemembers and providing the necessary resources to keep Americans safe. The bill provides our military personnel with a 3.4 percent pay raise, an increase of .5 percent above the President's request. The bill also includes a number of initiatives to support military families. In this, the Year of the Military Family, we provide funds to establish a Center for Care for military members and their families. We also increase the weight allowance for senior noncommissioned officers, and authorize the transportation of a second vehicle for members who are changing stations from or to a nonforeign area outside the United States. The bill also provides funding to enhance the Health Professions Scholarship program for mental health providers to support the troops and their families. The mark fully funds the President's budget request for military training, equipment, maintenance, and facilities upkeep. By doing so, the committee continues its efforts to address readiness shortfalls that have developed over the past 8 years. To address some of these concerns in this mark, we have added $1.6 billion to operation and maintenance, including $395 million for Navy aviation and ship depot maintenance, $762 million to achieve 100 percent of the requirement for sustainment of facilities, including the Department of Defense schools, which, by the way, are excellent, and $450 million to improve the quality of Army training barracks. The war in Afghanistan is a critical mission that is finally getting the attention it demands, and I've been saying that for quite some time. To ensure our strategy in both countries is effective and achieves the intended goals within well-defined timelines, the bill requires the President to assess American efforts and regularly report on progress. It also authorizes the new Pakistan Counter-Insurgency Fund to allow our commanders to help Pakistan quickly and more effectively go after the terrorists in their safe havens. On Iraq, the committee supports the President's policy while also upholding the Congress' responsibility to provide oversight to the process of drawing down the mountain of material purchased, transported and built up in Iraq at tremendous expense to the taxpayer. In the area of nonproliferation, the bill increases funding and creates new authorities to strengthen the Department of Defense's Cooperative Threat Reduction program. The bill also fully supports the Department of Energy's nonproliferation programs, and adds substantial funding in support of the President's plan to secure and remove all known vulnerable nuclear materials that can be used for weapons. The bill takes additional steps on acquisition reform beyond what we did in the bill on weapons acquisition which was enacted and signed into law by the President last month. It also ensures that the Quadrennial Defense Review currently being undertaken by the Department of Defense both complies with the law and gives Congress the insight it needs to make judgments about force structure and programmatic changes. In summary, Mr. Chairman, I believe this bill can be supported by every Member of this House. I recognize that some who have deep objections to current defense policy on various issues may feel compelled maybe to oppose the bill. That's their right, of course. But even in most of those cases, I believe that solid progress is made in this bill toward protecting our national security in the right way. I ask Members to vote for H.R. 2647, for our troops and their families, and for a strong national defense for our Nation. The object of our affection, Mr. Chairman, are the young men and young women in uniform who do professional, outstanding work for our country. This bill helps them in their efforts. All of us are proud of them, and I hope that the vote on this bill, when we vote tomorrow, will reflect that pride in the military of the United States of America. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, the Member I am about to yield to for 3 minutes will be giving her last presentation in this House, for she will be, very shortly, a member of the administration within the State Department with a high-ranking position. We wish her well, as well as wishing her well in her upcoming marriage. I yield 3 minutes to my friend, my colleague, the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, the gentlelady from California (Mrs. Tauscher).