Bill Lee: “I want to thank Ranking Member Slaughter for her tremendous leadership on so many of these very critical issues. Mr.…”

“I want to thank Ranking Member Slaughter for her tremendous leadership on so many of these very critical issues. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this rule and to H.R. 2810, the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. This bill authorizes $700 billion in defense spending for our already out- of-control Pentagon budget. It would also increase funding by $66 billion for wars that Congress has never debated or voted on. And once again, my Republican colleagues have used off-the-books spending gimmicks to further expand the already-bloated Pentagon budget. Mr. Speaker, enough is enough. Instead of writing blank checks to the Pentagon, Congress needs to live up to its constitutional obligation to debate matters of war and peace. We need to rip up the 2001 blank check for endless war. We need to stop funding wars without end. Simply put, Mr. Speaker, we need to do our job. And this Defense Authorization Act does just the opposite. It allows Congress to kick the can down the road AGAIN, while funding wars with no debate on the costs and consequences to our troops or to the American people. Mr. Speaker, I do have to say that I am pleased by the passage of my amendment, which I co-authored with my good friend Congressman Burgess, to report on the audit-readiness of the Pentagon. This is a good first step, but much work remains to bring some accountability to Pentagon spending.…”