U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.)
Senate Committee on Appropriations Markup
FY2013 Defense Appropriations Bill
FY2013 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill
02 August 2012
Opening Statement
Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. I am pleased to join you in recommending the reporting of the bills. We have seen the subcommittees that have jurisdiction of this bills working very hard and carefully to consider the needs for funding for next fiscal year for the agencies and Congress. I am pleased to join you in recommending that we report the bills to the Senate. Mr. Chairman, I therefore move that the Committee report the Legislative Branch and Defense appropriations bills to the Senate, subject to amendment.
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FY2012 Defense Appropriations Bill
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to join you in recommending the approval and reporting out of the Defense Appropriations Bill. It is an honor and a pleasure to serve with you as chairman of this subcommittee. With your experience in military combat and your experience as a member of Congress in the U.S. Senate, we appreciate your leadership, your insight in particular with respect to the defense appropriations needs of the Department of Defense and related agencies.
This bill supports our troops who are engaged in military operations in various areas around the world. The bill provides the resources that are needed so our forces can successfully perform their missions and protect the security interests of our country.
The proposal before us today makes a significant step in turning around the decline in shipbuilding for our naval forces. It helps ensure that the United States has a force with the ability to maintain the freedom of navigation and to keep open the important sea lanes of communication and operation that are vital to our economic, as well as national security, interests.
I believe this bill provides the resources that are necessary to meet our commitments to our allies and preserve our status and role as a global power, as well as protecting our homeland. I am pleased to support the bill.
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Amendment Regarding Former Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)
Mr. Chairman, I'm pleased to join you in offering this amendment and urging its approval by the committee.
Senator Stevens was a dear, personal friend of mine, and also a great leader in the U.S. Senate. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He flew with the Flying Tigers in the China-Burma Theater. He graduated from Harvard Law School. He practiced law in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska.
He was particularly interested in the wellbeing of, and the support for, our troops who were in harm's way and deployed around the world, and here at home, in defense of our nation.
He was appointed to the Senate first in 1968 and then elected two years later, and he went on to be reelected six more times to serve in the United States Senate. He was President pro tempore from 2004 to 2007.
Here on the Appropriations Committee, he was a force to be reckoned with. He had strong views and commitment to the security interests of our country that were matched only by distinguished chairman who serves as chairman of the committee today. So I am pleased to join in supporting and urging the adoption of the resolution honoring the memory of Senator Stevens.