Congressman Kurt Schrader (D-OR) today released the following statement after voting against final passage of the Department of Defense appropriations bill:
“The Department of Defense’s budget is out of control. With a total cost of nearly half a trillion dollars, this legislation makes no serious effort to restructure the Pentagon’s budget to ensure the long-term fiscal health of our military. Instead, it provides an astonishing $80 billion for continuing the war in Afghanistan, despite the fact that troop levels will be drawn down to fewer than 10,000. Absolutely no effort was made in this bill to scale back the purchasing of large weapon systems, and we will continue to fund military bases throughout the world that were designed to fight the wars of the past. Instead, we should be focusing on properly funding our VA health system to better care for our wounded warriors who have fought so bravely overseas.”
