Elizabeth Furse: “My amendment, Mr. Chairman, which is endorsed by Citizens Against Government Waste, reduces the Army military…”

“My amendment, Mr. Chairman, which is endorsed by Citizens Against Government Waste, reduces the Army military construction account by $17.4 million. That $17.4 million is the cost of renovating two barracks in Mannheim, Germany. There are three reasons why I offer this amendment. The first is that these renovations were not requested by the Department of Defense; second, they are not in the Army's 6-year future defense plan; and, third, Mr. Chairman, we are about to undertake a fundamental reevaluation of our present worldwide troop deployment patterns and it seems to me this is not the time to be committing ourselves to an over $17 million remodeling project. My colleagues will recall the Shays-Frank burdensharing amendment. It passed the House overwhelmingly by a vote of 353 to 62 during consideration of the fiscal year 1997 defense authorization. This amendment required a report on alternative configuration, due March 1, 1997. Now, I certainly support the effort to improve quality of life for our troops; however, the U.S. taxpayers should not be asked to pick up the tab for this installation in Europe.”