John Spratt: “I thank the gentleman for yielding and rise in emphatic support of the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding and rise in emphatic support of the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011. This bill, as befits its title, makes record investments in our Nation's military, authorizing $725 billion to strengthen national security. Our friends on the other side of the aisle have said that they would do things differently next year. It'll be interesting to see whether or not this becomes a high water mark for defense spending, given the deficits, debt, and other fiscal policy obstacles that remain in our future, that loom over our future. This bill fully funds operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, while modernizing the force to prepare and be ready for the threats of today and the wars of tomorrow. Mr. Chairman, I have served on the Armed Services Committee for 28 years. I have always believed that our first order of business is to fund the defense of this Nation. This will be the last defense authorization bill on which I have had the honor of working side by side with my great friend, Ike Skelton. I will be honored to cast my final vote for a good bill that funds our deployed troops, keeps our many commitments, and secures the Nation of threats foreign and abroad and bears the name of a real patriot, a great patriot, Isaac Newton Skelton, known to all of us and loved by all of us by the name of Ike. I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting this bill with this worthy name. The SPEAKER pro tempore.…”