On the recordJune 17, 2015
I am speaking on an amendment that the Senate will be voting on shortly, the Inhofe-Mikulski amendment. Really, the amendment was led by the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma, Mr. Inhofe. This is really about commissaries. We are here ready to vote on the Department of Defense authorization. We want to stand up for our troops. One of the most important things we can do is to stand up for their families. Senator Inhofe and I are deeply concerned that DOD has the misguided viewpoint that shrinking or eliminating or privatizing the commissaries will save money for the U.S. Department of Defense. We do not even know what the impact of that will be. Senator Inhofe, with my encouragement and support, wants to have an amendment that would actually look at the impact of privatization and a private program to do so. So I want my side of the aisle to know we stand shoulder to shoulder on this. The Senator from Oklahoma has done an outstanding job as always in standing up for the troops and their very important benefits. I note that he is on the floor. I ask that when the rollcall is called, we support the Inhofe-Mikulski amendment. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
