Steve Womack: “I encourage my colleagues to support the underlying bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.”

This is not an attempt to undo the Guard. It is a very small number of people.

I think a lot of us up here would agree that the federal bureaucracy has become bloated, but I think we need to be a little bit more precise in downsizing a department with a mission as critical.

Before I close, let me say, as most of my colleagues know and as Mr. Clyburn pointed out, my presence here today in the face of a terrible, personal hardship--the loss of my wife of over 41 years--I hope is indicative of the importance of…

I do think it is a bit dangerous, though, for us to enter into an era where we are usurping the authority of our Governors.