Hal Rogers: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding this time. Madam Chairman, I rise in support of this, the DOD appropriations bill.…”

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding this time. Madam Chairman, I rise in support of this, the DOD appropriations bill. This bill provides more than $512 billion in base funding for our national security and military efforts, and $85.8 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations war funding. This is a base funding decrease of $5.1 billion below fiscal 2013, but is about $28.1 billion above the current level caused by automatic sequestration spending cuts. This total reflects an appropriate, thorough analysis of what is needed to keep this country safe. Freedom isn't free. Our liberties, our rights, our property are preserved by our national defense, but at a cost. Sufficient funding for the Pentagon and our military is of the utmost importance to the continued prosperity of the United States of America. It is, and should be, our top priority. We have already seen the distressing toll that the heavy-handed, indiscriminate cuts of sequestration have taken on our military--from grounded planes, to reduced training time, to postponed maintenance-- all of which contribute to the loss of readiness of our troops. As we saw all this month as Department of Defense civilian furloughs began, our economy is also taking a significant hit. The funding level in this bill strikes a balance between fiscal responsibility and sufficient support for our military.…”