Representative Rob Wittman (VA-1) today supported legislation funding government through the remainder of fiscal year 2014, H.R. 3547, the Consolidated Appropriations Act. Wittman, as Chairman of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, stressed the importance of the partial restoration of funding for the Department of Defense.
“This legislation keeps government open, restores much-needed funding for our Department of Defense, and provides certainty for DoD for the remainder of fiscal year 2014,” Wittman said. “The impacts of compounding budget cuts on our servicemembers, national security and military readiness is alarming, and I fully support restoring these dollars in order to provide critical funding for the men and women serving in our armed services today, here at home and across the globe. I have led efforts in the House to educate members on the state of our military readiness and for the need to restore the cuts the DoD has endured.
“However, I am disappointed this legislation did not fully restore the COLA reduction. While I’m pleased that medically-retired personnel and survivor benefit plan recipients will see a restoration under this bill, many of our working-age military retirees still await action on this important issue. That is why I have sponsored legislation to restore the COLA and am working with House leaders and House Armed Services Committee leaders to fix this issue. I will continue to work toward the goal of full restoration. Our budget should not be balanced on the back of our nation’s military retirees.
“This legislation also includes a pay increase for civilian federal workers and U.S. military personnel, and the civilian pay increase reflects legislation I cosponsored to extend the pay increase to the “wage grade” blue collar employees.
“Much work remains to be done to bring the budget back into balance and for Congress to help create an environment for job growth across the country. I support today’s measured progress on deficit reduction. I will continue to work with my colleagues to implement pro-growth, common-sense policies supporting our job creators to get folks back to work.”
Congressman Rob Wittman represents the First District of Virginia. He serves on the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Armed Services Committee where he is the Chairman of the Readiness Subcommittee.
