Nita Lowey: “I thank Chairman Young, Ranking Member Visclosky, and Chairman Rogers for working across the aisle on the bill before us…”

“I thank Chairman Young, Ranking Member Visclosky, and Chairman Rogers for working across the aisle on the bill before us today in keeping with the Defense Subcommittee's long bipartisan tradition. I also want to recognize and thank the Defense Subcommittee staff for working tirelessly on the nuts and bolts of this bill. Sadly, however, the appropriations process has become a quandary that could easily have been avoided with good old-fashioned compromise. Instead, we have disparate House and Senate allocations. House bills follow the Ryan budget, which endorses sequestration and is unrealistic, unworkable, and economically misguided, while the Senate and White House budgets are based on the higher level agreed upon in the Budget Control Act. With only 18 days of session left in the House before the end of the fiscal year, we are racing toward a government shutdown that is irresponsible. Assuming the sequester is turned off, this is a good bill. It includes additional funding and tougher penalties to address the epidemic of sexual assault plaguing our military, an increase for Active Duty pay by 1.8 percent, enhancements to embassy security by increasing the presence of Marine Corps security guards, substantial investments in health services and suicide prevention, maintenance of all the National Guard weapons of mass destruction/civil support teams, and continued support for the Israeli Cooperative Program. However, the bill also contains serious shortcomings.…”