Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I rise today to express my concern with the reduction in military construction funding to Guam for the realignment of U.S. Marines from Okinawa, Japan to Guam. I appreciate the Committee's recognition of the strategic importance of this realignment as well as their general support for these efforts. However, I remain concerned that these cuts send the wrong message at the wrong time. It is unfortunate that my counterparts in the Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs did not follow the funding levels for Guam military construction that were agreed to in H.R. 5136, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011. Given the recent reluctance by the Government of Japan to reaffirm the Guam International Agreement, I believe it is important to collectively move forward with a unified position. However, these cuts do make one point clear to my constituents. Congress holds the power of the purse. There are concerns on Guam and with certain federal agencies that the pace of construction during the military build-up could place an undue burden on our civilian infrastructure. However, I have made it clear that if construction was outpacing the local community's ability to handle the additional people we could put our foot on the brakes. Given the concerns raised by our local government this reduction in funding highlights how Congress can ensure that we get this build-up done right.…”