mr. griffith. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. griffith: i rise to support my amendment in the enblank -- in the en banc amendment. the force structure and force modernization plans, infrastructure, budget plan and other elements of the defense program to determine our strategy for the next 20 years. additionally, my amendment reinforces the importance of the nuclear posture review which endorses the role cob ventional strike forces play in the size of strike forces. these are important to our national security as are the ground-based mid course defense missile program, the multiple kill vehicle and the airborn laser program. the department of defense is aware that the ground-based mid course defense, the g.m.d. is the only fielded operational capability to defend the u.s. against long-range ballistic missiles. however the current budget cuts of $524 million from the program, deploying only 30 of the 44 g.m.d. interceptors sesculed -- scheduled, we believe this logic should be questioned given the events occurring in north korea an

mr. griffith: mr. speaker, i rise today to honor the memory of sergeant jeffrey allen hall. on june 1, 2009, jeffrey was killed in action in afghanistan. as north alabama mourns the sudden devastating loss, i would like to recognize staff sergeant hall and his entire family's sacrifice. jeffrey was an eight-year veteran of the united states army, earning many well-deserved awards and declarations. including two army commendation medals, the national defense service medal, a nato medal and a global war on terrorism expeditionary medal. staff sergeant hall is an inspiring example of someone we can all look up to and inspire to be like. he put the safety of all americans before his own. we can -- and the people of this nation will be forever grateful. he motivated and inspired those who were around him, and he will be greatly missed by all who knew him as well as those who never had the honor and privilege of meeting him. our country has lost a great soldier and an even better son. all of us in north alabama are deeply saddened by jeffrey's loss. on behalf of the entire communi

mr. griffith, one minute. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. griffith: madam chair, congressman franks, i appreciate this difficult situation. i believe that as the budget was formed and the decisions were made, north korea was not as aggressive, nor was iran. i stand in support of the franks amendment. i share the speaker's concern, madam chair's concern, that accountability needs to be increased but in this time of increasing threat, i would prefer that we err on the side of the franks amendment even if we must attach certain conditions to it in conference, but i would urge our members to support it. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from alabama yields back. the gentlewoman from california. mrs. tauscher: i'd like to yield two minutes to mr. langevin. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. langevin: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. chairman skeleton and chairwoman tauscher have rafted a bill that protects the united states and our