Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I first want to thank Chairwoman Speier for the hard work that we did together on the Military Personnel Subcommittee, Ranking Member Thornberry, who has provided leadership my entire time, and Chairman Smith for the great job that they have done in passing a bipartisan bill out of committee. I stand before you today in proud support of the bipartisan defense bill that we unanimously voted out of committee during the extraordinary circumstances of COVID-19. This bill does more for families and servicemembers than any that come to my mind. It is a huge step forward, but there is still work to do. However, I am concerned with the many amendments that would impose across-the-board budget cuts that may affect programs that support our military families. I am also concerned with the potential size of this cut, which, by my understanding, would be about $73 billion, more than twice the impact of the fiscal year 2013 sequester. The bill that was voted out of committee continues to support and improve the lives of those who sacrifice for our country on a daily basis by authorizing a military basic pay raise of 3 percent. This bill reinforces the committee's longstanding commitment to the military family by requiring the Department of Defense to redefine military family readiness and military family resiliency, and it provides for significant reforms to the Exceptional Family Member Program.…”