Norman D. Dicks: “I went out with General Soriano, the Commanding Officer at I CORPS. We went out and walked through these brand new…”

“I went out with General Soriano, the Commanding Officer at I CORPS. We went out and walked through these brand new houses being built under the Residential Construction Initiative. The wives of the sergeants were telling us this is the greatest thing that has ever happened in the Army. I have been out there when these deployments occur, and one of the things the spouses say and one of the things the members of the services say when they are deployed is they worry about their family, they worry about the housing, they worry about health care, they worry about what is going to happen to their families while they are gone. I know from my years of experience, 26 years on the Subcommittee on Defense, 18 years on this subcommittee, that quality of life and having this new housing and getting it done in a timely way is crucial. That is why the objection to this by the majority party to me is so unexplainable, because one thing we have always been good about in this House is on a bipartisan basis rising above limitations, things of that nature, to get the job done for the men and women who are serving, and especially now when we are in a time of war, especially now when the services are stressed in a most difficult way, and with all these deployments. We are over-deployed. We saw what the GAO said today. There is not enough money out there to properly deal with the problems we have got.…”