Joe Wilson

Thank you, Dr. Heck, for your being so proactive and involved.

The subcommittee remains strongly committed to supporting these programs.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am Congressman Joe Wilson, and I am delighted to welcome you to the first meeting of the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee for the 112th Congress.

One thing, I think, to note is that we have to be much more sharply focused on what families and service members want.

I believe that vibrant MWR programs are critical to the health of the military community they support.

However, it is clear that DOD has correctly crossed over into a new era of austerity marked by an increased fiscal scrutiny of all programs in an unrelenting pursuit of increased budget efficiency.

Have any no-bid contracts been awarded for childcare services in the past two years?

How often are these background checks required to be updated?

Does the Department require that contractors providing childcare services to military personnel subject caregivers to a background check?

What is the Department doing to ensure that individuals participating in childcare programs under the Defense Health Program are qualified service providers who have undergone a thorough and current background investigation?

I am very concerned. Representing Fort Jackson, the extraordinary Army personnel and families there...

I am from a joint service family with immediate family members who are Army, Navy, Air Force.

Thank you for your leadership as the new chairman of our committee.

This threat is an insult to the voters of the Palmetto State, and it is an insult to the sacred right of secret ballot. Sadly, this is an underhanded admission by the administration that union bosses want to evade voters and deny Congress…

Well, it -- it works because people who are gay and lesbian can serve, but they are not to tell. That's -- that's what 'don't ask, don't tell' means. And you don't ask, you don't tell. And, so, I believe the system is working.

House Concurrent Resolution 137 expresses the sense of Congress regarding adequate housing options for persons with HIV-AIDS. Studies show that the rates of HIV infection are 3 to 16 times higher among persons who are homeless or unstably…

Let us not be deceived. We today are in the midst of a cold war. Our enemies are to be found abroad and at home. Let us never forget this: our unrest is the heart of their success. The peace of the world is the hope and goal of our…

It is a good question, Mr. Lamborn, and we are talking about that among ourselves as veterans service organizations.

It would be useful, if Congress could articulate its wishes that, in fact, the VA must be specific, not generic, in its notices to veterans.

I would suggest that an investor warning system, the likes of which myself and Congressman Brad Sherman, my colleague from California, have laid out the case for, would be championed by those who wish to see some change of conduct.

The results are horrendous for the American people and are getting more horrendous every year.

It is a level playing field if you ignore every unpublished document and every unpublished oral statement.

We can never know what happens.

It stems again and again and again, when you peel away the veneer, from unfair practices.

I do not believe that that trade deficit stems from a fair application of free-trade principles.