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Brown Backs Continued Funding of Our Troops at Home and Abroad
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WASHINGTON, D.C.- Today, Congressman Henry E. Brown, Jr. (R-SC) joined his colleagues in bipartisan support of H.R. 2346, the War Supplemental Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2009 (bill summary), to fund our ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. After its passage, Congressman Brown made the following statement:
“The legislation passed today provides the funds necessary to support our warfighters’ efforts as they continue to courageously defend us against our enemiesat home and abroad. In addition to base funding for military operations, H.R. 2346 specifically provides funding for additional C-17 aircraft and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAP), both of which are essential for victory in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Charleston Air Force Base is home to the largest number of C-17s in the world, and as the aircraft have flown 50 percent of all missions over the last two years, the demands of our efforts abroad continue to require more. The funds in this bill will allow for the production of an additional 8 C-17s, ensuring that the air transport needs of our armed forces are met.
The measure also provides funding for an additional 1,800 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAP) to complement the over 10,000 MRAPs protecting our troops from anti-tank and anti-personnel mines and from armor-piercing munitions. Electronics and other equipment are added to all MRAPs in Charleston before they are deployed.
Lastly, I am pleased with the Majority’s decision not to fund the closing of the detention facility at Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. My Republican colleagues and I agree that it would be a hasty decision and a direct threat to our nation’s national security to relocate these terrorists without the proper review of how they will be securely contained and the potential impacts their transfer may have on the citizens of the United States. However, I do wish that more stringent stipulations had been included in this bill to block the detainees from ever being transferred to U.S. soil, as it would be to the utmost detriment of all Americans.”
The bill will now go to the Senate where they will propose their version and the final supplemental appropriations bill will be decided upon in a joint House and Senate conference.
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