Floyd Spence: “I want to thank Chairman Dellums for the way in which he has led the committee this year. The fact that the committee…”

“I want to thank Chairman Dellums for the way in which he has led the committee this year. The fact that the committee reported a bill that codifies the President's controversial defense budget figure on a nearly unanimous vote speaks volumes about the chairman's respect for the process and the rights of his colleagues. If you are able to take H.R. 4301 out of its broader context, namely an insufficient top-line spending figure, then the committee bill represents a reasonable balance of political realities and substantive requirements. There is much that is good about this bill. For instance, it explicitly rejects the President's proposal to pay the U.S. share of U.N. peacekeeping costs out of the Department of Defense budget instead of the State Department budget. It provides for a military pay raise of 2.6 percent, which is consistent with the requirements of current law. The President had proposed a pay raise of only 1.6 percent. It readjusts the schedule on which military retirees receive their COLA's in fiscal year 1995 to make it consistent with the schedule for all other Federal civilian COLA's. In the broader context of the President's national security strategy, there is much to be troubled about.”