On the recordJuly 23, 2013
My amendment aims to provide the Department of Defense with additional budgetary flexibility, should they need it, to guarantee that the resources are available to properly maintain family housing at our military installations. Section 8058 of this legislation prohibits funds from being used to repair or maintain military family housing. My amendment would strike that provision and, I believe, provide needed flexibility at a time of austere budgets and sequester. I represent Fort Bliss, one of the largest installations in the Army. There are over 3,700 homes on Fort Bliss, and my community, El Paso, Texas, takes immense pride in creating a high quality of life for all those who serve at Fort Bliss. We have an obligation to our servicemembers and their families to ensure they have first-rate housing. It is good for morale, and it is the right thing to do. I understand that funds for repair and maintenance are included in the Military Construction-VA appropriations bill. My goal is simply to do everything we can to protect our servicemembers and fulfill our responsibility to them. I know that the chair and the ranking member share my goal. I am prepared to withdraw my amendment, and I would hope the chair and ranking member would be willing to work with me going forward to continue providing our servicemembers and their families first-rate housing. I reserve the balance of my time.
