Jim Saxton: “let me just begin by recognizing the true bipartisan nature of this bill. The bipartisan nature of this bill is due in…”

“let me just begin by recognizing the true bipartisan nature of this bill. The bipartisan nature of this bill is due in no small part to our great chairman and my friend, Duncan Hunter, and the person that he often refers to as his partner, Congressman Ike Skelton, and their respective staffs. Ike, thank you very much for your great cooperation, and for working through the summer as conferees with our colleagues in the Senate to fine tune this measure to provide the maximum benefit to our troops in every possible area, from pay to health care to equipment to armor and to advanced weapons systems for now and those contemplated far into the future. We funded 11 of the top unfunded requirements for the U.S. Special Operations Command, adding almost $200 million to the command's acquisition budget. We also funded technology initiatives within each of the services and in DARPA, ensuring the continued future supremacy of U.S. weapons systems and equipment. Cutting-edge medical research was also addressed. Seeing a continued greater need for modernization airlift, one the Air Force clearly needed but could not afford, we authorized 12 C-17 aircraft requested by DOD and added 10 more, for a total of 22 C-17 aircraft. I see this as a good start and hope we can continue to fund the C-17 line in future years. The best Army and Marine Corps in the world, which is that which we have, must be able to get to the fight to be effective.”