C. W. Bill Young: “Each amount appropriated or otherwise made available by this act is hereby reduced by 3 percent. That means you go…”

“Each amount appropriated or otherwise made available by this act is hereby reduced by 3 percent. That means you go through the bill, pick out the items that are not mandatory, that are not entitlements, and they will be reduced by 3 percent. All of the debate will not change that, and I say again that part of those accounts are O&M and personnel. $4.5 billion of this reduction would be applied to those two accounts. That is where the pay raise comes from. What else comes from that? Barracks. We have heard all year long about the sad condition of so many of our barracks. Pentagon officials who testified told us if you drive your kids up to college and their dormitories looked like these barracks, you would put them in the car, take them home; you would not let them stay. That is not fair that your military personnel have to live in facilities like that. During the break I had a chance to visit some of the military bases, and I have seen some of the barracks that go back to World War II. The tiles are falling off the ceiling. The pipes are leaking. The money is not there to either rebuild them or refurbish them. So they are in poor condition, and they need to be corrected. What about promotions? This would, in effect, stall a lot of promotions that are already scheduled.”