Jim Saxton: “let me begin by thanking and congratulating the chairman and the ranking member for the great leadership that they have…”

“let me begin by thanking and congratulating the chairman and the ranking member for the great leadership that they have each shown in bringing us through this process beginning in January, working through February, March and April; and here we are on May 20 taking another step forward in this process of making sure that we provide the resources that are needed by our troops in this, The Year of the Troops, which is what this bill is named after. I rise in strong support of the bill, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005. Last week the Committee on Armed Services approved this bill unanimously, continuing the committee's tradition of bipartisanship in addressing the defense needs for our Nation. The bill contains several initiatives that will aid the armed services and the Federal Government as a whole in the ongoing war against terrorism and contains several promising provisions that will help to transform the military services.”