{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://visclosky.house.gov/opening-statement-honorable-peter-visclosky-ranking-member-defense-subcommittee-house-committee-0", "OPENING STATEMENT  The Honorable Peter Visclosky  Ranking Member, Defense Subcommittee  House Committee on Appropriations  Fiscal Year 2015, Floor Deliberation  June 18, 2014", "2014-06-18", "2014", "2014-06", "Democrat", "House", "IN", "Peter Visclosky", "V000108", "visclosky.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "OPENING STATEMENT\nThe Honorable Peter Visclosky\nRanking Member, Defense Subcommittee\nHouse Committee on Appropriations\nFiscal Year 2015, Floor Deliberation\nJune 18, 2014\n\u00a0Mr. Chairman, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.\n\u00a0I would like to begin by expressing my appreciation to Chairman Frelinghuysen and congratulate him on the collegial and transparent manner in which he crafted H.R. 4870, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Defense Appropriations Act. \u00a0I also want to express my sincere appreciation for the efforts of Chairman Hal Rogers, Ranking Member Nita Lowey, and all the members of the Defense Subcommittee.\n\u00a0Also, this bill could not have been written without the dedication, long hours, discerning and thoughtful input of our committee staff and personal staffs.\u00a0 I want to thank Tom McLemore, Sherry Young, Tim Prince, Jennifer Miller, Walter Hearne, Paul Terry, BG Wright, Brooke Boyer, Adrienne Ramsay, Megan Rosenbusch, Maureen Holohan, Colin Lee, Paul Juola, Rebecca Leggieri, Steve Wilson, Joe DeVooght, and Jake Whiteside.\u00a0\n\u00a0I would like to begin by saying a few words about the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) title. \u00a0The Committee has been placed in a very difficult position of having to provide a $79 billion place holder.\u00a0 Recent decisions on the post-2014 troop levels in Afghanistan clear up the major policy issue that held back a detailed budget request.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the clarity gained was quickly muddled by the proposed $5 billion Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund and the $1 billion European Reassurance Initiative.\u00a0 At a time when many in Congress are rightfully looking to limit what is an eligible expense in OCO and shift activities to the base budget, these new proposals further complicate the issue.\u00a0 Clarity must be brought to the opaque nature of OCO and I look forward to the debate on this during the consideration of amendments.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\n\u00a0I support the bill we are marking up today and believe it provides for our national security and the protection of U.S. interests at home and abroad.\u00a0 Put simply, the bill provides stability for our military personnel, maintains readiness, and preserves the industrial base.\u00a0\u00a0\n\u00a0I am pleased by the Subcommittee\u2019s continued efforts on sexual assault prevention and response.\u00a0 Specifically, the bill fully funds the budget request for the Special Victims\u2019 Counsel, continuing last year\u2019s Committee initiative.\u00a0\n\u00a0The bill increases funding relative to the President\u2019s budget request for traumatic brain injury and psychological health research, suicide prevention outreach programs, and several other invaluable medical programs. \u00a0Further, the bill and report carry strong language aimed at increasing cooperation between the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs in their ongoing efforts to develop interoperable electronic health records.\u00a0\n\u00a0Specific to readiness, the bill includes an increase of $1 billion to fill gaps in key programs to prepare our troops, including $135 million for the Army Reserve and Army National Guard.\u00a0 The bill makes investments in programs that are vital to the rebuilding and resetting of the force after thirteen years of conflict.\u00a0 In particular, it increases funding by $720 million for facility sustainment and modernization, and provides each Military Service with additional funding for depot maintenance.\u00a0\n\u00a0I especially appreciate the Chairman\u2019s focus on encouraging DOD to meet the FY 2017 deadline for achieving fully auditable financial statements.\u00a0 The measure before us provides $8 million above the request for the Comptroller\u2019s office to improve business and financial systems throughout the Department.\n\u00a0Continuing problems in DoD\u2019s strategic forces are also addressed in H.R. 4870 and funding is provided to address issues directly impacting intercontinental ballistic missile crews.\u00a0 It is disappointing that the Air Force included improvements in this area in its unfunded priorities list and not in its base budget request.\u00a0\n\u00a0With regards to the industrial base, I was dismayed that in its FY 2015 Budget Request the Administration proposed the elimination of several long-standing general provisions ensuring that contracts follow Buy America requirements and support domestic manufacturing.\u00a0 I am pleased to note that the Committee chose to reject the Administration\u2019s inexplicable proposal to jettison these Buy America provisions, and that they can be found in H.R. 4870.\u00a0 The bill also contains several other provisions and initiatives aimed at securing our industrial base, including $220 million to establish a program for the domestic development of a next-generation liquid-fueled rocket engine.\u00a0 Hopefully, this program will swiftly fill a very troubling void in the U.S. space launch industry.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\nOne other area of the bill I would like to highlight is the funding increase for the Humanitarian Mine Action program.\u00a0 Albeit a small program, I believe its mission is of immense value.\u00a0 All too often, innocent civilians are the victims of explosive remnants of war.\u00a0 It is only right to share our military\u2019s expertise with host nations on the detection, clearance, disposal, and demilitarization of explosive ordnance.\u00a0 I thank the Chairman for his special efforts in this area\u2026. \u00a0\nHowever, there are certain aspects of the bill that give me pause.\u00a0 Fundamentally, these concerns have little to do with the detailed work of the Subcommittee, which I believe did its very best under the constraints in which it operated.\u00a0 Rather, the concerns stem from Congress\u2019 continued failure to confront our long-term fiscal challenges.\u00a0\n\u00a0In its FY 2015 Budget Request, the Department of Defense proposed some significant initiatives, including military pay adjustments, restructuring TRICARE, and retirement of several weapons systems such as the A-10 and Kiowa Warrior, in order to stay under the FY 2015 budget cap, provide for future flexibility, and meet the national security strategy.\u00a0 Having said this, one could easily point out that the Administration then undercut its own efforts by planning for higher spending in Fiscal Years 2016 through 2019, and by submitting the disingenuously named Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative, and subsequently submitting unfunded priority lists.\u00a0 Regardless, a number of proposals the Department put forth in FY 2015 do possess merit.\u00a0\n\u00a0With a few exceptions, these proposals have gained no traction within Congress.\u00a0 Most were excluded or had language prohibiting or postponing their start in the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act.\u00a0 I do not suggest that the Administration is uniformly correct, nor do I dismiss the resultant impacts of many of these initiatives, but the alternative of staying the course and hoping for some fiscal relief in FY 2016 is wishful thinking.\u00a0 The sooner Congress reaches the consensus required to make the difficult decisions that are essential to deal with the reality of finite resources, the better we can provide for our national defense.\nIn closing, I would like to reiterate my appreciation for Chairman Frelinghuysen\u2019s cooperation, assistance, and diligence. \u00a0He and his staff have ensured the Defense Subcommittee continues its tradition of operating collaboratively and effectively. \u00a0I am pleased that we are considering this bill in a timely manner and look forward to the debate.\u00a0\n\u00a0Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time. \u00a0\n###", 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://visclosky.house.gov/opening-statement-honorable-peter-visclosky-ranking-member-defense-subcommittee-house-committee-0"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7845521904528141, "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"}