William M. ``Mac'' Thornberry: “I thank the distinguished chairman for yielding time and commend him for his continuing leadership on national security.…”

“I thank the distinguished chairman for yielding time and commend him for his continuing leadership on national security. I also thank the chairwoman of this subcommittee, Ms. Granger, and the ranking member, Mr. Visclosky, for their continuing work on national security. Mr. Speaker, it is important that we pass this bill now. The Department of Defense is currently operating under a continuing resolution, which means you have got to spend the same money this year that you spent last year, and you have to spend it on the same things. Even if you don't need to spend money on something this year that you spent last year, you have to. So it is wasteful. But you also can't spend money on new things, even though new threats arise. It is not good for any part of government. It is particularly bad for the Department of Defense. It is important to pass this bill now to remove this continuing resolution and have a regular appropriation bill. Secondly, this bill is consistent with the Defense Authorization Conference Report which passed this House in December. All but four Republicans and all but 30 Democrats in the House voted for that measure in December. This is very consistent with that, and I hope it gets at least as much support as that bill did in December. There are a few differences.…”