Shelley Berkley: “Congress is waiting for the Republican leadership to bring the Department of Defense authorization bill to the floor for…”

“Congress is waiting for the Republican leadership to bring the Department of Defense authorization bill to the floor for a vote. So what's holding it up? Believe it or not, the Republican leadership wants to add a provision to the defense bill. To help the troops? No. To add to their salaries? No. To help us buy equipment for them so they will have state of the art equipment? No. It's a provision to ban Internet gaming. And if you guessed that, you are absolutely right. A ban on Internet gaming in the defense bill. How ridiculous is that? At a time when we have brave American men and women fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Republican leadership is more worried about Americans playing poker on-line than in protecting our troops in the field. The Republicans talk about patriotism and supporting our fighting men and women, but when it comes to voting for our Nation's Defense Department, they are more interested in banning Internet gaming than they are in providing what our troops need in the field of battle. This is a disgrace. Americans should be outraged and we should demand that we pass this Department of Defense authorization without any other additions that have nothing to do with defending our brave men and women.”