Peter Welch: “I thank the gentleman. I thank the Committee on Armed Services for the hard work they did to produce this bill. I am not…”

“I thank the gentleman. I thank the Committee on Armed Services for the hard work they did to produce this bill. I am not going to support it. The most important function that we have is to make certain that America is secure. Our defense authorization bill is a major component of that, but I believe this bill fails in some fundamental respects. Number one, the budget is very large. We are approaching $700 billion. But throwing money at a problem does not solve a problem. What we are doing as we throw more money at a problem without making hard decisions is we generate and accept as inevitable an immense amount of inefficiency. Number two, there is an overreliance on the OCO funding. First of all, OCO, off budget, should be debated, and it should be appropriated. It should be subject to all budget caps. But to then begin using it not just for overseas contingency operations but to actually invest in major weapons systems is a gross mistake that is just going to lead to a weaker budgeting system that is essential, in my view, to our national security. {time} 1115 Of that OCO funding, money would be used for weapon systems like the F/A-18E Super Hornet and the F-35. The $35 billion in the OCO authorization is for war requirements, including dollar amounts in the millions.…”