On the recordJuly 18, 2012
This week, the House is debating the Defense appropriations bill, which provides an excellent opportunity to point out something quite ironic about my colleagues in the majority because, Madam Speaker, for all of their talk about getting spending under control, that same rhetoric is surprisingly absent when we are talking about the Pentagon budget, which we are talking about this week. You see, they're eager to slash and burn when it comes to programs that invest and support middle class working families, but somehow, when it is time for sacrifice to be shared, the military industrial complex is nowhere to be found. While we have to fight for every penny of domestic spending, the Pentagon simply fills in its amount on a blank check, it appears. So I think we ought to have a dollar-for- dollar match in spending cuts. I will be offering a series of amendments to the DOD appropriations bill that call for defense cuts in the exact amounts by which other important programs are being reduced. For example, the proposed Labor-HHS-Education spending bill eliminates the title X program. Title X, the family planning program that historically has been passed with bipartisan support, has provided contraceptive and preventive health services to low-income women for more than 40 years. The Republicans want the title X $294 million investment gone.…
