mr. visclosky: mr. chairman, i would like to yield four minutes to the gentlewoman from new york, the ranking member of the appropriations committee. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for four minutes. mrs. lowey: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to thank the chairman, ranking member, the defense subcommittee has a long tradition of working closely together and i sincerely appreciate these bipartisan efforts. this is an extremely important and timely bill. as the department is tasked withdrawing down forces in afghanistan, appropriately responding to the upheevenal in iraq, and face -- upheaval in iraq and facing other challenges across the globe. totaling $490.7 billion, the base portion of the bill is approximately $200 million above the president's request. however, after accounting for appropriate increases in active duty pay and housing costs, the remainder of the bill is actually below the president's proposed level. budget caps and sequestration force difficult decisions. many of which will

mr. visclosky. advice i have i appreciate the chair -- mr. visclosky: i appreciate the chairman yielding and would add my comments that the a-10 is a wonderful aircraft. the b-17 flying for the rest was a wonderful aircraft -- fortress was a wonderful aircraft. it was replaced. the warrior was indispensable during vietnam, it's being replaced. the a-10 is being replaced over a protracted period of time, in the interim other aircraft are going to take its place until the f-35 is prepared to do its mission. the chief of staff of the air force flew the

mr. visclosky, and if you'll yield to him. mr. lowenthal: i yield to him. mr. visclosky: i want to thank you for offering the amendment. you raise a number of good points and it is a very good program. i appreciate your attention to it. thank you so much. mr. lowenthal: i yield back and urge support of this amendment. the chair: all time having expired on the amendment, the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. does any member seek recognition? for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> i have an an amendment at the desk, grayson number eight. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. grayson of florida, page 9, line 6 -- mr. grayson: i ask unanimous consent that the reading be waived. the chair: is there objection? mr. frelinghuysen: could we have it read so we know which amendment we are working on, otherwise i will reserve a point of order. the clerk: page 9 line 6, insert the following red

mr. visclosky: mr. chairman, i rise to seek time in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. visclosky: i appreciate the recognition. the gentleman would have a restriction -- and i would point out -- after today's vote this would now be the fifth restriction relative to the detainees at guantanamo bay. while the gentleman suggests that it's not a permanent ban, it's a mantra of, let's do nothing. these are human beings, whether we want to admit that or not, and to simply continue after 13 years to do nothing is wrong. we are a nation of laws. i believe the continued operation of guantanamo bay reduces our nation's credibility and weakens our national security by providing terrorist organizations with recruitment material. also, we are debating an appropriation bill. and people ought to understand hat we are spending $2.7 million annually per inmate at guantanamo bay, which is about 35 times more than the cast of an inmate at a supermaximum fe

mr. visclosky: i also support the gentleman's amendment. mr. conyers: i thank both of the floor leaders and i want to make clear that this amendment will simply and -- ensure that no funds may be made available under this bill for the transfer of the devastatingly -- devastating and hoigly mobile weapons to any party -- highly mobile weapons to any party in the syrian civil war. regardless of one's opinion of u.s. intervention in foreign conflicts this prudent and responsible amendment deserve ours support and thank the leaders for their support and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the jlt from michigan. those in favor say aye -- by the gentleman from michigan. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from west virginia seek recognition? >> i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered b

mr. visclosky. mr. sclosky: i appreciate the gentleman taking the time and would also join him in thanking all of the staff of the subcommittee as well as the full committee. people ought to appreciate the discerning judgment that they bring to their work, their knowledge, their tireless work ethic, and the fact that they are fun to be around. they also are very selfless as far as providing for the protection of our nation to ensure also that it is done in as cost-effective a manner as possible. and i appreciate that the chairman enunciated the names of all of our staff because on this subcommittee it is a very seamless and indistinguishable process. the staff understand they are here to help every member of the subcommittee, the full committee, and of this house whether we agree or not, to ensure that our legislator process and product is as good as it can be. the final thing i would note is to thank personally the chairman for his leadership on this issue, for his dedication to public service. my fathe

mr. visclosky if you care to make any comments. mr. visclosky: i appreciate the gentleman yielding. i appreciate the fact that the gentleman's looking to be very cost effective and avoiding the expenditure of unnecessary funds and strongly support his position. appreciate his offering the amendment. appreciate the gentleman yielding. mr. frelinghuysen: thank you for yielding. mr. murphy: thank you. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from florida. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? >> i have an amendment, 148, at the desk. the chair: the clerk will eport the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. gosar of arizona. at the end of the bill, before the short title, insert the following, section, none of the funds made available by this act may be used to procure any army air crew combat uniforms. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 6 , the gentl

mr. visclosky: to claim the time in opposition. this is the third iteration of a very similar amendment some my comments will mirror those i offered earlier in the debate. i'm not going to suggest in any way shape or form that his amendment is offered to protect the oil and gas industry of his state. as i mentioned earlier this evening, the largest inland oil refinery is in the first congressional district of indiana and i'm very proud of that. i told my constituents we need a matrix of fuels and while we work from carbon, we are a coal state in indiana, we are not to close our options, particularly those in the department of defense, giving the department is the largest consumer of energy. i do think we ought to also allow them to examine what is the best matrix and mix of fuels in particular locations that they find themselves in. and for these reasons i'm opposed to the gentleman's amendment. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. conaway: i would not take offense, i should, b

mr. visclosky. advice i have i appreciate the chair -- mr. visclosky: i appreciate the chairman yielding and would add my comments that the a-10 is a wonderful aircraft. the b-17 flying for the rest was a wonderful aircraft -- fortress was a wonderful aircraft. it was replaced. the warrior was indispensable during vietnam, it's being replaced. the a-10 is being replaced over a protracted period of time, in the interim other aircraft are going to take its place until the f-35 is prepared to do its mission. the chief of staff of the air force flew the a-10 and it is their recommendation to phase this plane out and the air force stated to the committee that given another $4.3 billion, they have a range of other options they would pursue before continuing the a-10 program. but the final observation i would make is that the amendment is somewhat disingenuous. but while it will sound to our colleagues there is no money involved in this amendment, i would propose that i would like notind $239 million that is in the bill because you need crews and you

mr. visclosky: i appreciate the gentleman's remarks and would yield back my time. the chair: the gentleman from indiana yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from arizona is recognized. mr. franks: well, thank you, madam chair. i appreciate the comments of both the ranking member and the chairman. i suppose it's important for me just to point out that the underlying predicate of this amendment is the need, in my mind, to protect this country against the potential use of electro magnetic pulses against this country and this facility in fort huachuca is one of our best ways to ascertain the dangers na are involved and to try to find ways to protect this country against that danger. it is very possible, madam chair, that electromagnetic pulse has become one of the more significant short-term national security threats to this nation. enemies across the world now are starting to develop this capability, and i think it is very important for us to make sure that we understand it and that we have the kind of facilities that can test our vulnerability to electro

mr. visclosky: i appreciate the recognition, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. visclosky: i would like to begin by expressing my appreciation as well to the -- to chairman frelinghuysen on the collegial and transparent manner in which he crafted h.r. 4870, the fiscal year 2015 defense appropriations act. i also want to express my sincere appreciation for the efforts of chairman hal rogers and ranking member nita lowey and all of the members of the defense subcommittee. also, as i think all of my colleagues know, this bill could not have been written without the dedication, long hours, discerning and thoughtful input for our committee staff and our associate and personal staffs. i want to thank each one of them. i would like to begin by saying a few words about the overseas contingency operations title that the chairman referred to. the committee has been placed in a very difficult position of having to provide $79.4 billion as a placeholder. recent decisions on the post-2014 troop levels in afghanistan clear up a major

product, i do want to thank chairman frelinghuysen and ranking member visclosky for working together in a bipartisan way on this bill. mr. speaker, we take up this bill at a very serious moment in time. every day we turn on our tv's and see conflict, war and turmoil around the world. it's often hard to remember that most of the world is not at war. i am very concerned that this bill continues funding the longest war in united states history, the war in afghanistan. and even though the president has announced that he will draw down most of our combat forces by the end of this year, he's also said that he will keep 10,000 of our service men and women in afghanistan through 2016. i believe strongly that congress should debate and vote on approving the president's proposal to keep our uniform men and women in -- uniformed men and women in harm's way for another 10 years. what are these troops supposed to accomplish that other troops have not yet done? our own generals were quoted in monday's "washington post" saying that security's not the problem in afghanistan, corruption is the problem. 10,000 u.s. troops are not going t