Monday, May 24, 2010

House Armed Services Committee: Full Committee Mark-Up of H.R. 5136, The National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2011

House Armed Services Committee: Full Committee Mark-Up of H.R. 5136, The National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2011
Ike Skelton, Chairman
May 19, 2010

Opening Statement of Chairman Ike Skelton
Full Committee Mark-Up of H.R. 5136, The National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2011

Washington, D.C. – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) delivered the following opening statement during today’s full committee mark-up of H.R. 5136, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011:

“The committee meets today to consider the Chairman’s Mark for HR 5136, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011.

“Before describing this bill, allow me to once again express my pride in this committee. In my view, this is the most bipartisan committee in the House and certainly the hardest working. Although we call the bill before us the ‘Chairman’s Mark’, it really reflects the hard work of every member of this committee and the good ideas from both sides of the aisle.

“This year the committee builds on the hard work of past National Defense Authorization Acts, working to align the military strategy with the demands of the 21st Century to sustain the two wars of today and prepare for the threats of the future.

“I will leave the review of the subcommittee mark ups to the respective chairmen and ranking members, however, let me just highlight up front two of the most critical aspects of the bill.

“First, it includes a 1.9 percent pay raise, 0.5 percent more than the increase in cost of living. Second, this bill increases funding for readiness accounts by $12 billion over last year’s level. This additional funding is critical to addressing the deep readiness shortfalls inherited by the current Administration. Now, I want to take a moment to summarize the full committee mark.

“The full committee mark authorizes $33.1 billion in FY10 supplemental funding for the surge in Afghanistan and DOD operation in Haiti. It funds the FY11 Overseas Contingency Operations budget at $159.3 billion, providing sufficient funds to bring us closer to the end of the war in Iraq and to succeed in Afghanistan.

“This mark makes a major push on counterterrorism by:

• Providing $100 million to pay for the initial recommendations of the Ft. Hood Follow-on Task Force to help protect our service members at home;

• Providing $200 million to pay for urgently needed force protection requirements in Afghanistan, and permitting the Secretary to cut through red tape to ensure that they are fielded rapidly, and;

• Limiting transfers of detainees held at Guantanamo in the same way as last year and adding criteria for transfers overseas to ensure foreign countries can control them and prevent detainees from returning to the fight.

“The Mark also improves DOD’s ability to build the capacity of those nations who join with us to combat al Qaeda and their extremist allies. It increases funding for the 1206 program substantially, authorizes Coalition Support Funds, and extends the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Fund.

“Finally, allow me to take a moment to summarize a couple points of what members won’t find in this mark. You won’t find funding or authorization for the Department of Defense to modify the facility at Thompson, Illinois to hold detainees. And you won’t find any mention of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Mr. McKeon and I have spoken about this, we have agreed to support Admiral Mullen and Secretary Gates’ request for time to study the issue, and we do not support this issue being raised in this markup.

“Before turning to Mr. McKeon for his comments, allow me again to thank all the members of this committee for their hard work. In my opinion, this is the best committee on the Hill, and there is no committee I would rather chair.

“I now turn to my friend Mr. McKeon for any comments he might care to make.”

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