Gene Taylor: “again, I appreciate, number one, both the majority and the minority giving me the opportunity to bring this amendment up…”

“again, I appreciate, number one, both the majority and the minority giving me the opportunity to bring this amendment up tonight. To the point that the chairman raised, I have served on the authorizing committee for about 16 years now. In the span of that 16 years, I don't ever recall a request from our colleagues on appropriation to pass language to either force or encourage the commissaries to be self-insured. And I think I am pretty keen on this issue and I am pretty confident in saying we have never received a request from your committee to do that. So now that the President is willing to make this commissary whole, that obviously the need is there, that it was indeed an act of God, that it is authorized, I find it strange that at this time Keesler Air Force base and AAFES would be punished for not fulfilling a request that they never got. On the other hand, I think we could fulfill requirements of the President's request, fulfill what is best for AAFES, fulfill what is best for the airmen, for the retirees and the active duty personnel. The people who flew the missions into the hurricane shop at this commissary. People who fly missions in Iraq shop at this commissary. It is a part of their compensation that was promised. It is a part of the compensation that has been denied. Anyone who has visited Mississippi gulf coast knows that the shopping opportunities in the private sector have been greatly diminished as a result of the storm.…”