Carolyn B. Maloney: “I rise in opposition to the rule for the Defense Department authorization bill--and I do so reluctantly but with deep…”

“I rise in opposition to the rule for the Defense Department authorization bill--and I do so reluctantly but with deep conviction. I had hoped to support the rule enthusiastically, because I hoped it would include the opportunity for me to offer an amendment to save the taxpayers $2.5 million a year for a program that is no longer needed or wanted--the Civilian Marksmanship Program conducted by the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice. This useless boondoggle originated at the time of the Spanish-American War and in the present era no longer has any military value. Last year, I was denied the chance to kill this outdated and wasteful program in the authorization bill because I was denied a rule, and so I offered an amendment to the appropriations bill. At that time, 190 of my colleagues voted their agreement that this program should be ended. At that point, I introduced a free-standing bill, to which the Office of Management and Budget and the Defense Department offer no objection. In comment on my bill, the Defense Department general counsel specifically noted that this program has "no formally recognized link to the combat readiness of military units.…”