Norman D. Dicks: “I rise in very strong opposition to the gentleman's amendment. The decrease appears to be directed at funding provided…”

“I rise in very strong opposition to the gentleman's amendment. The decrease appears to be directed at funding provided in operation and maintenance defense-wide for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The operation and maintenance defense-wide account received a thorough review during the committee process and has already been reduced by $258 million from the budget request. The Office of the Secretary of Defense account has similarly been reduced by $36.4 million based on a detailed review of specific programs within this account. Adjustments have been made to duplicative efforts and to programs that were poorly justified. Further reductions risk harm to operations in the defense-wide account such as special operations activities; education programs like the National Defense University and the Defense Acquisition University; and organizations that perform basic operational functions like finance and human resources. I urge all my colleagues to vote against this amendment.”