Charles Skelton: “let us clarify the issue before us today. We are not here to correct the overdeployment of our military troops or the…”

“let us clarify the issue before us today. We are not here to correct the overdeployment of our military troops or the underfunding of our military troops. The issue before us today is whether this is an emergency as prescribed by the budget law or whether it is one that is not and calls for an offset. Mr. Chairman, I wish I could rise in support of this bill, the emergency supplemental appropriation bill for fiscal year 1998. Unfortunately, the bill in its current configuration falls short in terms of timing, process and interpretation. First there is a matter of timing. Once again this body has reacted slowly to an emergency situation, with consequences that will affect our fellow citizens both here at home and overseas. And yet, while the other body has essentially passed a bill to deal with these measures, we are still debating the matter in this body, and the result is that by the time we begin our 2-week spring recess we will not have completed this important work. Second, there is a matter of process. Though 80 percent of the bill's appropriations are for military programs, all of the measure's offsets are in domestic programs. This is a sure invitation for a presidential veto, and I am sure that the President will accept that invitation. As many know, the other body has not offset, I will repeat, has not offset its version of the supplemental with spending cuts. It has accepted the emergency designation for the supplemental, as it should have.”