Floyd Spence: “this is a good bill. As has been said on many occasions today, we have amply provided, I think, for the national…”

“this is a good bill. As has been said on many occasions today, we have amply provided, I think, for the national security needs of this country. We reported the bill out of the committee by a vote of 49 to 2, a very bipartisan, as you can see, vote. This authorization amounts to $600 million less than that budget figure allocation in our budget for 1997. This translates into 1.5 percent less, adjusted for inflation, than current spending. From the standpoint of what we did for the military, we had a 3-percent raise for our troops, a 50 percent increase over the President's budget for housing allowance; things that are needed very much: family housing, barracks, child care facilities for our people. We enhanced our military readiness by increasing the underfunded request. We added ammunition to the Marine Corps. They did not have enough to fight two major contingencies. We continued to add to the underfunded modernization programs. The Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs have asked for $60 billion in modernization beginning now. This administration only asked for about 39. We have added to it. In short, we have done those things that the administration did not do. From the standpoint of impact aid referred to in this motion to recommit, none was requested by the administration. This committee added $58 billion to impact aid. There were no amendments in the committee to do otherwise.”