Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Rules Committee met and reported a rule for consideration of H.R. 3219, the Make America Secure Appropriations Act, 2018. The rule provides for 2 hours of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the Appropriations Committee. Mr. Speaker, the appropriations package in front of us represents the end product of many months of work by the Appropriations Committee. In this package, we will be considering four appropriations bills: Defense, Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. Together, the four parts of the bill make up the Make America Secure Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2018. The legislation ensures that our most important government services will be funded responsibly and appropriately and that we will fulfill our most important responsibilities as legislators: funding the government and keeping it open to serve our constituents. The bill provides a total of $658.1 billion for defense, an increase of $68.1 billion in discretionary funding above the fiscal year 2017 levels, and an increase of $28.3 billion over the President's request. It also includes $73.9 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations and Global War on Terrorism funding. These funds will help us enhance our military readiness, and the substantial increase marks an end to the ongoing erosion of our national military strength that occurred during the Obama administration.…”