Jeff Fortenberry: “I rise to engage in a colloquy with my colleagues to ensure that our defense community has the resources necessary to…”

“I rise to engage in a colloquy with my colleagues to ensure that our defense community has the resources necessary to carry out an important security mandate that this body passed this year. Mr. Chairman, the Lord's Resistance Army has terrorized central Africa for 25 years. But last year, Congress and the administration took unprecedented steps to end the group's campaign of violence. This body passed broadly supported bipartisan legislation called the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act requiring the administration to prepare and present to Congress a comprehensive strategy to bring LRA commanders to justice. Mr. Chairman, with the administration's strategy released in November, we should move to implement an international strategy to help end the atrocities committed by the LRA, protect innocent civilians, and stabilize a region of Africa that is critical to the United States' national security interests. Through over 20 years of civil war, this brutal insurgency has created a humanitarian crisis that has displaced over 1\1/2\ million people and resulted in the abduction of over 20,000 children in one of the world's most difficult ungoverned spaces. With that, I would like to yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), who is continuing to take a lead role in this international effort, which I appreciate. Mr. McGOVERN. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his support of this international imperative.…”