Rodney Frelinghuysen: “I want to associate my remarks with my ranking member, Mr. Lewis. Following the time-honored tradition of our Defense…”

“I want to associate my remarks with my ranking member, Mr. Lewis. Following the time-honored tradition of our Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Chairman Dicks and Mr. Young have put together, in a collegial manner, a solid product. The funding for defense operations and maintenance, for the Afghan and Iraq Security Forces, for Army base operations, M-RAPs, National Guard and Reserve equipment, and the other portions of the defense and of the military construction portion of the bill are worthy of our support. If that's where the story ended, we would be fine, but as Ronald Reagan famously said, 'There they go again.' This legislation contains over $72 billion in discretionary and mandatory spending. Less than half of that total, $35 billion, is related to the ongoing fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan or our withdrawal from Iraq and the State Department funding related to the war on terror. The rest is earmarked for nondefense programs, new bailouts, and pet projects to benefit the majority's political allies.”