On the recordJuly 23, 2013
Thank you, sir. I appreciate the time. Mr. Chairman, this is truly bipartisan in that we are bipartisan in favor and they are bipartisan against. We all, Mr. Chairman, have the best intentions. But I would submit to the people that speak in favor of the spending of this fund, in theory it is wonderful and it is great; but the same people that endorsed this built a $43 million base that will never be used and will be torn down. The fact is much of this money cannot be maintained. We are giving moneys to the Afghanis for programs that they cannot maintain--they can't maintain the roads, they can't maintain the equipment that we give them; and so it is wasted. It has gone on and on and on. Much of it has been stolen over the years. There is a lot of theft and a lot of corruption. The gentleman's amendment, which I joined with him on in a bipartisan fashion, cut $79 million. Mr. Cicilline has an amendment that cuts everything. I've got to compromise the cuts--about half of it. Some of it needs to be cut, if not all of it, but at least half. We are throwing away moneys that we know from the past are wasted and not doing the job that they are intended to do. Hell is paved with good intentions.
