Brian Jones: “Last week, I voted against the Defense Appropriations bill because of $79.4 billion included it included in OCO funding.…”

“Last week, I voted against the Defense Appropriations bill because of $79.4 billion included it included in OCO funding. During the amendment process, I joined many of my colleagues in both parties in voting to stop funding the war in Afghanistan after 2014. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in this effort, and I am on the floor of the House today because the American people are frustrated with the administration and with Congress for continuing to spend taxpayer money overseas in unnecessary military interventions. I share this frustration with the American people. Mr. Speaker, I want to bring to the attention of the House an article in the Daily Journal Online titled ``No End for Afghanistan's War on the United States Taxpayer''--``No End for Afghanistan's War on the United States Taxpayer,'' which states: John F. Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, known as SIGAR, may have taken Uncle Sam and shaken him by the lapels last month, but the media missed it. Americans, however, need to hear how Sopko, in an address at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., laid out why Afghanistan remains ``relevant''--and a cause for outrage--for every U.S. taxpayer and policymaker. In short, Afghanistan is on life support, and Joe Citizen is its permanent IV. These are the words of John Sopko.…”