The reason he rejected the agreement was because it didn't have enough money to get him through the election of November 2012. The President's campaign consideration is not putting America first. We need to put America first and vote down…

Today I rise to honor a soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice and laid down his life for our freedoms, United States Army Sergeant Nathan Ryan Beyers. Sergeant Beyers, a 2006 graduate of Thunder Ridge High School in Highlands Ranch…

I object. The Acting CHAIR. Objection is heard. The Clerk will continue to read. The Clerk continued to read. The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Tennessee is recognized for 5 minutes.

There is no question that the Pakistanis are a troubled ally. They are an unstable Islamic country with extremist tendencies and a country that has nuclear weapons. The funding that we are talking about right now is that which is for…

As we speak, our marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen are fighting for freedom in some of the toughest places imaginable. A vote for this resolution is a vote to pull the support out from under our troops and to leave a legacy of failure…

War is not predictable. We have men and women today engaged in combat. And I am a combat veteran with the United States Marine Corps. I served in the first gulf war, and I served in the Iraq war. I wish that war was predictable. I wish we…

We have three security objectives in Afghanistan. The first is to make sure the Taliban don't take over the entire country. The second is to keep al Qaeda out of the country. And the third is to have a permissive environment from which we…

In listening to the opposition, the statements against this legislation, it would make it sound like the EAC, the Election Assistance Commission, is a branch of the Justice Department, that it's there to enforce the right to vote. It…

I stand with the American people in wanting to make sure that our returning servicemembers from Iraq and Afghanistan are taken care of. The signature wound in this war has emerged to be post-traumatic stress disorder. Since 2008, almost…

Reclaiming my time, the chairman has raised a similar issue. I certainly agree with him and understand about the issue of expanding the definition in this amendment to reflect terrorist activity that would be beyond a combat zone. Again…

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will report the amendment. The Clerk read as follows: At the end of the bill (before the short title) insert the following: Sec. __. None of the funds made available in this Act…

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of H.R. 1540, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. I would like to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their leadership on this committee and in particular…

When I was a young enlisted infantryman in the Army, I took advantage of this program to begin my own college education, but it has room to be perfected. A change in cost sharing has caused funding for the Tuition Assistance program to…

Many heroes from the great State of Colorado have answered our Nation's call to serve in the military. Today I rise in honor of one of these heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice and laid down his life for freedom: U.S. Army Corporal…

I thank the gentleman from Ohio for yielding. I also thank the gentleman from Colorado for raising this issue and particularly for questioning our military forward-basing in Europe. I think it's certainly time to do that. I'm not sure…

I thank the gentleman from New Jersey. Somebody asked me, as an Iraq war veteran, if I had learned any lessons from that war, and I said, Yes, never do it again. But I volunteered for Iraq because I believed that once we were involved in…

On rollcall No. 237 I inadvertently voted ``yea'' when I intended to vote ``nay.'' Amendment No. 9 Offered by Mr. Markey The Acting CHAIR. The unfinished business is the demand for a recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentleman…

There are many heroes from Colorado who have fought and continue to fight the global war on terror. Today, I pay tribute to one hero in particular, Marine Lance Corporal Christopher Steele Meis. Lance Corporal Meis of Bennett, Colorado…

I thank the gentlewoman from Florida. We have strategic interests in Afghanistan. It would be wrong, it would be irresponsible at this time to expeditiously withdraw all of our forces from Afghanistan, again, without recognizing our…

I thank the gentlewoman from Florida, and I thank the gentleman from Ohio for bringing this resolution forward, and I reluctantly rise in opposition to it. I volunteered to serve in Iraq not because I believed that invading, pacifying, and…

I am extremely concerned about the budgetary decision-making process, and the lack of coordination between the land management bureaus.

I am shocked at the ongoing lack of transparency by this Administration and the Department of the Interior.

To provide clear guidance on strategic requirements, Congress mandates the number of operational aircraft carriers and submarines that the Navy is required to maintain.

I am concerned about certain assumptions being made about the long-term affordability of the shipbuilding plan.

I think that there is a lack of understanding here in Washington, D.C., as to the extent that we have a fragile economic recovery right now and that American families are suffering right now and a prolonged spike in energy costs will put…