Pete Stark: “I adamantly oppose H.R. 4576, the Defense Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2001. This bill spends $288.5 billion for…”

“I adamantly oppose H.R. 4576, the Defense Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2001. This bill spends $288.5 billion for defense programs. However, this amount does not include the $8.6 billion already passed by the House in the Military Construction Appropriations bill (H.R. 4425), nor does it include the $13 billion expected to be allocated for defense needs in the upcoming Energy and Water Appropriations bill. The three measures provide $310 billion on defense needs alone. Monday, the Washington Post reported that the Joint Chiefs of Staff are preparing to request increases in military spending of more than $30 billion per year over the next 10 years starting in FY 2002. The U.S. Congress must not yield to the whims of the Joint Chiefs and the demands of military contractors when the American people have real needs that Government can provide. This is the wrong time to throw money at pork-barrel defense projects such as the national missile defense (NMD) system and the F-22 program. The U.S. is experiencing unprecedented economic growth and the federal budget is balanced. Now is the time that we should provide health insurance for the eleven million children without it, provide a Medicare prescription drug benefit for 39 million Medicare beneficiaries, and ensure solvency of the Social Security and Medicare systems for the millions of baby boomers in their near retirement years.”