Quigley Statement on Today's Defense Appropriations Vote

Congressman Quigley released the following statement following today's Defense Appropriations Vote:

"I am committed to ensuring that our troops and our military families have the resources and support they need to protect our nation. However, support for the troops cannot be used as a reason to designate the 2009 Defense Conference report bill as a "must pass"sacred cow that is exempt from proper review and oversight.

With less than 24 hours to review the bill, my staff was still able to identify nearly 1,000 earmarks for private companies and hundreds of unnecessary military equipment, which the Department of Defense and Administration didn't even request, including an unnecessary second engine for the F-35, more C-17 cargo planes than we can use, and a new Presidential helicopter that the President didn't ask for. Meanwhile, projects that have kept our troops safer such as field-tested Predator drones remain under-funded. I cannot support diverting mission-critical funds to maintain wasteful and unnecessary programs. I am also concerned that several worthwhile but unrelated, non-defense provisions were also tucked in, without time for input, debate, or fair consideration.

We must follow through on President Obama's promise to reinvent and restructure government to meet the challenges of the 21^st century. I have introduced legislation to prohibit earmarks to for-profit entities, and have co-sponsored legislation to require 72 hours to evaluate all spending bills before we vote on them. When it comes to our nation's security, we must follow through on the process because the mission matters more than ever."