| Washington, DC – Late last night, Congressman Bill Shuster, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, joined his colleagues to pass H.R. 1585, the “Defense Authorization Act for FY2008,” legislation that will authorize funding for the Department of Defense and defense related activities for the coming year.
“This legislation makes sure that our troops will have the money they need to accomplish their mission abroad, and remain ready to protect us at home,” Shuster said.
“The House came together in a bipartisan fashion to authorize funding for safer vehicles for our ground forces and give our brave men and women in uniform a much needed pay raise. This bill honors our troops and I’m proud to support it.”
H.R. 1585 is a bipartisan piece of legislation that will authorize $504 billion for the Department of Defense and other necessary national security programs. Most notably, H.R. 1585 authorizes:
· $142 billion in supplemental funding to support our troops in the fight against Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and Asia.
· Provides $4.1 billion for new, state of the art mine resistant vehicles known as Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
· Provides the tools necessary to increase the number of active duty troops by 13,000 for the Army and 9,000 Marines to maintain our edge on the battlefield.
· Gives our soldiers a 3.5% pay raise in 2008 and guarantees additional pay raises in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
“With all of the good we have done in this legislation, it is important to point out that this is not a perfect bill,” Shuster cautioned. “Unfortunately, there were some questionable cuts in programs that are extremely important to our national security and the future of our military.”
Specifically, H.R. 1585 cuts funding for the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program by $867 million. The FCS represents the next generation of military equipment that will transform our Army. Also, this legislation cuts $800 million in funding for missile defense.
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