Russ Feingold: “I intend to oppose H.R. 1119, the Department of Defense authorization bill for fiscal year 1998, and would like to take…”

“I intend to oppose H.R. 1119, the Department of Defense authorization bill for fiscal year 1998, and would like to take a few moments to explain my disagreement with this authorization bill. Mr. President, there are a multitude of reasons for opposing this legislation. First and foremost is the $268.2 billion in overall funding this bill provides for our Armed Forces, an amount that is not only substantially higher than the amount we authorized last year, but $2.6 billion more than the Pentagon itself has requested. Additionally, this legislation continues the funding of a host of highly questionable and outright unaffordable programs. For example, the bill includes $331 million--$157 million more than the Pentagon requested--for the B-2 bomber, a program that scores of budgetary and military experts, not to mention numerous Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, have concluded does not serve our national security interests and does not merit any additional funds. The legislation includes $2.4 billion for 20 new F/A-18 E/F SuperHornet tactical fighters for the Navy.”