Gary Condit: “I stand today to oppose the rule. I have a great deal of respect for the chairman of the Committee on Rules, but I want…”

“I stand today to oppose the rule. I have a great deal of respect for the chairman of the Committee on Rules, but I want those of my colleagues who can hear me, who can hear the sound of my voice to listen to the amendment that was turned down by the Committee on Rules yesterday. Here we are talking about the military, we are talking about equipment, we are talking about facilities. I had an amendment that said we have to honor, we have to honor our commitment to the men and women who serve in the military. If we tell them we are going to provide certain benefits to them when they retire, they are entitled to them and we ought to keep the promise. That is the simple amendment. I tell my colleagues, it does not make any difference how many pieces of equipment we build, what kind of facilities we build. If we do not have good men and women serving in the military, it makes no difference. All I was asking is that we honor our commitment. The U.S. military, when it makes a commitment to a young person who comes in and signs up and says they are going to get health benefits, they are going to get certain benefits when they retire, all of us know, we have casework. We know. they have a problem getting those benefits. Mr. Speaker, we are asking the United States to honor their commitment, to honor it.”