C. Young

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for bringing this matter to our attention and assure him that we will look forward to working with him between now and conference to come to a final resolution on this matter.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I would be more than happy to engage in such a colloquy.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will yield, we are prepared to accept it and move on to the next amendment.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, we reviewed this amendment and asked the gentleman to modify his amendment, which he did. We are prepared to accept it on that basis.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I just think it is time now to get real about what it is that we are doing and what it is we are talking about. We've heard all of the facts and figures being thrown out. This $2 billion cut will have the effect of reducing this budget $6.7 billion below last year's level, adjusted for inflation. Whether my colleagues like it or not, there is an inflation factor out there that we have to take into account, and so this would not be a freeze, it would be $6.7 billion below last year in terms of actual buying power. Now, this subcommittee that brings this bill here today has already cut $1.3 billion out of the original number that this House gave us to work with. They gave us the number, and we worked from that number. We have had to cut it $1.3 billion already, from subcommittee to the floor. Now we talk about the defense budget. For the last 12 years, including this year, the real dollars invested in our Nation's security have declined while almost every other spending account that has been mentioned in that same 12-year period increased. So, in effect, we are playing catchup, and there is a lot more that needs to be done than we are doing here, and I am going to talk about that in just a minute. But I think it is important that the Members know that two-thirds of the money, listen to this, two-thirds of the money appropriated by this bill goes for pay, housing, education, medical care, quality-of-life issues for our people in the military, as well as training and readiness; two-thirds of this bill go for these purposes. Now, why is that, and why is it we spend more on our military than other nations? Mr. Chairman, it is because we have an all-volunteer military. Those men and women serving in uniform today are volunteers. They are serving their country because they want to. They have not been drafted or conscripted. they are a volunteer military, and we have an obligation to take care of them. Some $540 million of the money in this budget is going to pay for Bosnia, one of the many contingencies that our troops have been involved in. With all the operational tempo, the contingencies, we are wearing out our equipment, and we need to replace some of that equipment. What do we do today, my colleagues? What we do today not only determines where we are in our military capability in 1996 and 1997. What we do today determines what our readiness situation will be 5 years from now or 10 years from now. Let us not take the chance. Let us be prepared, let us reject this amendment, and let us get on with passing this bill and getting to conference with the Senate and getting it to the President. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time. parliamentary inquiry

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Washington [Mr. Nethercutt], a member of the subcommittee.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Washington, [Mr. Dicks], a member of the subcommittee.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Livingston].

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Florida [Mr. Mica].

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California [Mr. Lewis], a distinguished member of the subcommittee. (Mr. LEWIS of California asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Nevada [Mrs. Vucanovich].

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to yield 15 minutes of my time to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Murtha].

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. If the gentleman will yield, I would suggest we deal with that if we get to it. As we did with the gentlewoman from Colorado [Mrs. Schroeder], we are not going to deny anyone the opportunity to be heard.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that all debate on this amendment close in 1 hour and that the time be equally divided.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I would respond that the gentleman is correct. The U.N. Participation Act requires prior congressional approval before the President can submit any troop to peacekeeping or peace enforcement operations. So the answer is ``no,'' the gentleman is correct.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. The gentleman is correct.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, the $475 million that I just identified that we added for medical care for military and their families was not in the President's request, so it obviously would be at the top of the list of those items to cut if the cutting amendment would be agreed to.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. If the gentleman will yield further, I would like to say this, that it was the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Murtha], the ranking member of our subcommittee, who first raised this issue in the subcommittee with the witnesses who appeared, and he has been the driver on this issue to get us to where we are. The gentleman has our commitment that we are going to continue on this issue.