C. Young

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Barr].

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter], a member of the Committee on National Security.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment. Again, this amendment was defeated in the full committee on a very large vote, and I would ask that we have that same negative vote on this amendment now. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Washington [Mr. Dicks].

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that all debate on this amendment, and all amendments thereto, close in 10 minutes and that the time be equally divided.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for those comments, but I have the list here. This is a copy of the Air Force unfunded requirements list, and the C-130 requirement is right on this page. Mr. Chairman, I ask for a ``no'' vote on this amendment.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment, and I would call to the attention of our colleagues that we have already reduced the C-130 line in the manager's amendment we adopted earlier today. Among the six aircraft that the Obey amendment would eliminate are four hurricane hunters, WC-30s. These hurricane hunters are extremely important to the United States and especially areas that are subject to hurricanes. The other two of those aircraft would be airborne command and control aircraft. We have already eliminated one of those in the amendment that we have already done. The gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey] makes the case that the Air Force does not want them. Not so. During our hearings, for those Members who attended the hearings, they will recall that when we asked the Air Force for their list of unfunded requirements, these aircraft were on that list. So the Air Force does not want these airplanes and those of us who are concerned about prediction of hurricane paths and things of this nature, we want these airplanes. We want them to be able to fly, to give us advanced warning to protect our properties and our lives. So I hope we will defeat this amendment. It is definitely on the Air Force's list of aircraft they would have funded if they did not have a political number so low that they could not ask for it. But it is on their list.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I withdraw my unanimous-consent request.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Twenty?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, does the gentleman want to change the time?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. My unanimous consent request is still pending; correct, Mr. Chairman?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that all debate on this amendment and all amendments thereto close in 10 minutes, to be equally divided.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. I would like to point out to my colleagues that we have discussed this, and although the Department of Defense strongly opposes this, we think there is some merit to what the gentleman from New Jersey and the gentleman from Vermont are trying to do. We have agreed to accept the amendment with the understanding that we would certainly allow the Department of Defense to come back to us with whatever legal information that they would have relative to this. One of the reasons we did this was to save a lengthy debate. If we are going to get into a lengthy debate, we may have to start getting into the details of this and maybe we will not be able to accept it. So at this point I am prepared to accept it with the understanding that we will have to take a close look at this between now and conference, because the Department of Defense is definitely opposed to it.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I withdraw my reservation of objection.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, reserving the right to object, I do so to inquire of the gentleman if this is amendment No. 20 as printed on page 6287 of the Congressional Record of June 12?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, this amendment was offered in the Committee on Appropriations and it was defeated on a very strong bipartisan vote of 35 against, 12 for. I hope the ratio is equally strong here. I ask the Members to oppose this amendment.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment. Mr. Chairman, the vote we have just had already reduced this submarine line by $100 million. Without going into a lot of detail why we need the new submarines, the old submarines are getting older and older. The fact is that the Navy had planned to build 30 of these new attack submarines and do them at one yard. We believe that the idea of building all of the submarines in one yard is not good for the taxpayer. We believe that competition is the smart way to go in dealing with large military procurement programs. The program in this bill provides for competition. If we do not have the competition, it is going to cost us a lot more per submarine as we get into the future. I would just give one big example. A few years back we were having a major battle over aircraft jet engines. One supplier, one manufacturer, was making basically all of the jet aircraft engines. We decided to go into competition and we ended up with a strong competition between two aircraft jet engine builders, and we got a better engine for less money. The same thing will happy to the submarines. So let us defeat this amendment. Let us continue the program as we have worked it out in the committee and with the administration. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Bateman].

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania and will look forward to the gentleman keeping the committee informed.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for yielding to me. I have read the information the gentleman has provided to me about the need for the database center at the Harrisburg International Airport. We see merit with the gentleman's conclusions that such a database center is, in fact, necessary for the continued environmental restoration of the former Olmstead Air Force Base and that the Air Force should fund such a database center.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, we are willing to accept this amendment.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, just to make sure that we understand, the paper that I was given originally as the gentlewoman's amendment that did relate to operations and maintenance, that is not the operational amendment that we are dealing with now?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment because we are not exactly sure what the effect of it would be. Basically these cuts come from operation and maintenance for all the services. We have made substantial efforts to substantially improve quality of life for the people who serve us in the military. Mr. Chairman, having just been handed a different copy of the amendment, let me ask the question, is this one not operational now? Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentlewoman to answer the question. We are not sure what amendment is pending. It is difficult to get these amendments at the last minute and not know exactly what the effect might be. We have been very careful in crafting the bill to pretty much know what the effect of what we did might be. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the gentlewoman from Oregon [Ms. Furse], to give us some assurance that her amendment is not directed at operation and maintenance for the services that would affect barracks repair, for example, or quality of life issues, education, things of this nature. I yield to the gentlewoman from Oregon [Ms. Furse].

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 3610, making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1997, and for other purposes, and that I may be permitted to include tabular and extraneous materials.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

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