Defense
Thank you, Madam Chair, for yielding.
First, I want to thank Chair McCollum and Ranking Member Calvert for their work on the fiscal year 2022 Defense appropriations bill.
As the former chair of this subcommittee, I know how much hard work goes into drafting this bill and how important it is.
I also want to acknowledge the efforts of the committee staff, specifically our minority clerk, Johnnie Kaberle, and the majority clerk, Chris Bigelow.
Providing funding for our nation's defense is one of the most important responsibilities we have as Members of Congress, and those staffers are so very, very important.
I am pleased to see that this bill funds many priorities for Members on both sides of the aisle.
Madam Chair, thank you for yielding.
These spending allocations will increase discretionary spending by hundreds of billions of dollars to an all-time high of $1.5 trillion.
This nearly 9% increase above fiscal year 2021 comes at a time of record-high deficits and debt:
- This month, the national debt reached an astonishing $28.3 trillion.
- In the first 8 months of this fiscal year, we have already borrowed $2.1 trillion.
We must exercise fiscal responsibility and return to reasonable levels of federal spending, now that the pandemic hopefully is nearing an end.
Although these allocations do not show the exact split between defense and non-defense programs, we know the topline is based on the president's budget. Those numbers included an enormous, 17% increase to non-defense programs. At the same time, the president's budget cut defense spending to below inflation.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 3237 – a bill to provide funding for Capitol security and other purposes.
Unfortunately, after several weeks of discussions, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have chosen the path of partisanship instead of working together, and I want to explain how we ended up in this situation.
In January, the Speaker of the House directed a retired lieutenant general and his team to review security needs on the House side of the Capitol following the events of January 6th. This review was directed without even consulting House Republicans or the Senate.
Even though the review by General Honore began as a partisan effort, Members of the Appropriations Committee hoped things could get back on track and we could negotiate a funding agreement that could be supported by both parties in both chambers.
