Lawrence J. Hackett Jr. Vietnam Veterans Agent Orange Fairness Act

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Wyoming for her important leadership in the strengthening of our military and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that I work with well on the Armed Services Committee.

Mr. Speaker, nothing is too good for the troops, and nothing is what they get--at least on time, year after year, by this Congress. Our lack of diligence and commitment to provide timely funds in Congress erodes military readiness and weakens our Nation. H. Res. 1007 helps fix that for the United States Army.

For me, these are not academic or political issues but, rather, experiential. Having served as a combat infantryman in more than two decades of uniformed service prior to coming to Congress, these are not issues that I take lightly. I have lived the hardships created when Congress is derelict in its duty.

When supply transactions are delayed, the Army is forced to order parts outside the Department of Defense supply system, pay for more parts, and risk getting any spare parts at all. Soldiers are severely hampered in their training, being forced to stay at home stations with limitations on equipment, fuel, and ammunition. Consequently, the readiness of units diminishes, and their morale flags.

Even if the Army were to somehow make the best of those circumstances and attempt to send their warriors to school in the time that is created because they can't train to maybe increase their vital skills, they can't. Their funds are delayed, so their schools get canceled, and the time is gone forever.

Adding insult to injury, many people who were promised schools to make important promotions have those schools taken from their grasp, and, disillusioned, they exit the force, affecting recruitment and the trained warriors who had invested years up to that point.

Another insult to injury is the relocation of families. It gets postponed, and it causes undue family hardship on those in uniform, missed school for their children, and stresses on the warrior at home which not only affect his performance, but what is sad is that it was all preventable, while we in this Congress who are responsible for this and the timely delivery of funds fly home to our families weekend after weekend without interruption.

Our founding documents state that we should promote the general welfare and provide for the common defense. Both sides of the aisle need to be mindful that these founding documents do not say provide the general welfare and promote, somehow, the common defense. If we cannot defend the Republic, all of these other things are simply not going to matter.

Our lack of diligence in Congress creates reduced readiness, a less capable military, cancellation of training, untold family hardships, and a less secure nation. It is so easily solved. We simply do the work, sign the bills, and get them to the President by October 1.

It is pretty simple, and it is extraordinarily important. Today is the 25th of July. There is plenty of time.

The question that I and warriors who still serve in uniform ask is: Will this Congress have the heart and the guts to do what is right?

The clock ticks. Let's stop the madness. Let's stop the debate of ancillary things that don't have anything to do with providing for the common defense, and let's end the continuing resolutions that affect our military funding. Run a clean defense measure.

If we are in so much agreement about funding our military, then my challenge to both sides of the aisle is let's run a clean measure. Let's not attach anything else to it, no Labor-H, no other appropriations measures, a simple, clean measure that we all agree to anyway and we pass year after year. Then we can get it to the President's desk, and our warriors who give us our freedom and allow us to continue with this great Republic for generation to generation will have what they need.

We have not done it in years. This could be a first and could be a hallmark of the 115th Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1007) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that not fully resourcing the United States Army in a timely manner erodes the Army's ability to maintain readiness and poses risk to the Army's ability to conduct military operations.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Russell), who is my colleague from the Armed Services Committee, to discuss his resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Mr. Garamendi from California, for his support of these resolutions and for his time focusing on them today on the floor.

I also want to thank my colleague from Oklahoma. There is no stronger supporter of our men and women in uniform that I know of in this body than Mr. Russell from Oklahoma. He understands, I would say, more than most because of his own service that what we do in this body and what we do on this floor has a direct impact on the levels of risk, on the safety, and on the effectiveness of our men and women in uniform.

Mr. Speaker, this resolution highlights the damage that we have seen to the readiness of the United States Army over 9 years of continuing resolutions, sequestration, and overall budget dysfunction.

I want to echo the remarks of my colleague from Oklahoma. Let's change that. Let's make this a new start. Let's make this the year that we don't hold military funding hostage and we pass a clean Defense Appropriations bill. We have done it here in the House. We know they can do it in the Senate. We need to get the bill, take it up, and pass it.

All these other arguments and discussions are important. They are important for the future of the Nation. They are important for our economy. But we should not force our men and women in uniform to have to wait, to have stand by and watch, not knowing whether we are going to be able to pass the bills that they need for the funding they need to continue to keep us all safe.

We did our job for fiscal year 2018, although we were too slow, but we have now appropriated the $700 billion for that fiscal year. Let's do it this year on time, with sufficient funding, and with a level of accountability, and also making sure that our men and women in uniform know that those funds are coming to them.

It is going to take us more than a single year to get ourselves out of the crisis we face, Mr. Speaker. We have made a good start. But I think we should all come together, both sides of the aisle and, frankly, on both sides of Capitol Hill, to say: Look, this is an issue on which we are going to agree.

The security of the Nation is an issue that ought to cross party lines. The support that we are seeing for this resolution and for all the resolutions we have done for our services demonstrates that. Let's make this the year that we do it differently and we do it right, Mr. Speaker.

With that, I thank everyone who has participated in this effort. I thank Chairman Thornberry and Chairman Granger for their important efforts.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to thank the gentleman from Oklahoma for making me aware of the current financial situation, and I will remind him that California is running a very significant budget surplus at the present time. Both of our economies are presently growing, and we are thankful for that.

I also want to thank the gentleman for being a voice of knowledge on the Armed Services Committee, for his many years of service in the United States Army, and for bringing us this resolution today calling for the full and timely funding of the United States Army.

My father, who served in the Army and ended that service as a major, would have been very pleased to hear that there was adequate and timely funding.

I know I have said quite enough on the issue of how we are going to fund the government, and I am sure my colleagues across the aisle probably think I have said too much. If they feel that way, so be it. But I do think that we need to understand the need to be balanced as we move forward.

I announce my support for this resolution, along with the two previous resolutions, and look forward to its immediate passage.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.