On the recordMay 20, 2014
In response, and I appreciate the gentleman's comments, the bookkeeping trouble that this would involve is first put on the Afghan Government in an attempt to save the trouble to our own Department of Defense folks. On your second point, I don't believe U.S. taxpayer dollars would be at risk because this would only be money withheld that would otherwise go to the Afghan Government and is committed for that purpose is my understanding. So you raise good questions, but I think both of those objections are satisfied by this amendment. At this point, Mr. Chairman, I would like to yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from California, Representative McKeon, the chairman of the full committee. Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentleman for his concern and for bringing this issue to the floor. We did address this in the underlying bill. DOD contractors are providing very important services. It supports the ISAF mission in Afghanistan, and they should not be illegally taxed. We need to address this. I think the gentleman's amendment will move the process forward. I think we have time between now and the Senate passage and conference to resolve the issue. Also, hopefully there will be a new President in Afghanistan that will have a whole different way of addressing the situation. So what I would ask is that we do continue to work together on this as we move the process forward through conference.
