Charles Skelton: “I am blessed to be a Member of the House of Representatives. Under the Constitution of our country, this is a co-equal…”

“I am blessed to be a Member of the House of Representatives. Under the Constitution of our country, this is a co-equal branch of government. We are charged here in Congress to raise and maintain the military of the United States. The President is charged with being the Commander in Chief. Our job is clear. We must prepare and maintain our military to the highest standard possible. 1950, the North Koreans invaded South Korea. We had a small force there. General MacArthur, supreme commander in that part of the world, sent a unit that was untrained, underequipped and undersized, called Task Force Smith to stem the tide of the North Korean armies. They fought valiantly and found themselves in the southeast corner of South Korea in what is now known as the Pusan perimeter, and they were in serious trouble. General MacArthur's brilliant Inchon landing on the western coast of Korea changed the nature of the Korean War at that moment. But the lesson of all of this is the lack of readiness of the United States Army as it was in 1950. Our job is to see that that does not ever happen again. This rule, this bill, this resolution is the right one for our time. It will help the readiness of the United States military, in particular our Army. I am very concerned about the stretching and the straining of the Army in Iraq, so much so we just have to fund them, and this is a major step in that direction.”