{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://nolan.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/nolan-to-budget-conferees-24-billion-in-afghanistan-better-spent-in", "Nolan to Budget Conferees:   $24 Billion in Afghanistan Better Spent in Deficit Reduction and Reinvesting in American Infrastructure and Jobs", "2013-12-10", "2013", "2013-12", "Democrat", "House", "MN", "Rick Nolan", "N000127", "nolan.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The United States should reallocate $24 billion from overseas military construction accounts to deficit reduction and domestic construction accounts, U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan said today.\nAs the House and Senate grew closer today to reaching a budget agreement for Fiscal Year 2014, Congressman Nolan strongly urged Representative Paul Ryan and Senator Patty Murphy, respectively the Chairs of the House and Senate Budget Committees, to reallocate approximately $24 billion taxpayer dollars in the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) accounts that fund the nation building and infrastructure projects in Afghanistan.\nThe Congressman explained that his one-on-one meetings with the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), John F. Sopko, and a bipartisan group of members of Congress, have confirmed for him that these funds could be better spent in deficit reduction and improving American infrastructure, in order to spur domestic commerce and create many badly needed jobs at home.\n\u201cAmerica\u2019s infrastructure is literally falling apart in many cases,\u201d said Nolan. \u201cTens of thousands of dams, bridges, highways, and wastewater treatment facilities in critical and dangerous disrepair \u2013 not to mention our need to expand, upgrade, and modernize these facilities for future populations and the freight and passenger traffic of tomorrow.\u201d\nNolan added, \u201cSome $60 billion taxpayer dollars have already been wasted on reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. Our experience with waste and corruption in that nation parallels what occurred in Iraq. Surely there are projects here in America more worthy of $24 billion U.S. taxpayer dollars.\u201d\nAt least $12.3 billion of appropriated, but not yet obligated, reconstruction funds are designated for Afghanistan. An additional $12 billion is requested is in the FY14 budget.\nThe full text of the letter is here: \u00a0Nolan Letter to Budget Conferees.pdf\n-30-  \n\t\u00a0\n2447 Rayburn House Office Building \u2013 Washington, D.C. \u2013 20515", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://nolan.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/nolan-to-budget-conferees-24-billion-in-afghanistan-better-spent-in"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9188961014151573, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}