Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) offered her first Amendment as a Member of the House of Representatives. Her amendment was offered to H.R. 2029 -- the FY 2016 Military Construction & Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act – and provides $30 million for the planning, design and construction of an additional missile defense site. The bipartisan amendment was adopted unanimously by voice vote and the House is scheduled to consider the complete package this evening. Click here for video of Congresswoman Stefanik’s statement introducing the amendment, or read the transcript below:
Thank you, Mme. Chair. I would also like to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Dent and his staff, for allowing this important discussion of an East Coast Missile Defense Site, as well as the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Turner, for his continued efforts and support.
Mme. Chair, my amendment would provide for the planning, design, and construction of an additional missile defense site.
Simply put, missile defense shields our nation from hostile incoming warheads, and with the escalation of threats by rogue nations, like North Korea and Iran, the United States must be ready -- not just to retaliate, but to actually stop an attack. We must be able to defend our nation and shoot it down.
North Korea does indeed have a nuclear weapons capability and is a real concern given their unstable and erratic behavior.
Iran has clearly demonstrated key technologies required for ICBM development.
This is about maintaining our nation’s readiness, and an East Coast Missile Defense Site provides increased battle space, more decision time, increased reliability, more inventory and a different angle of intercept.
General Jacoby stated that a third site would give him an increased battle space and increased opportunity for him to engage threats from either Iran or North Korea.
An East Coast Missile Defense Site would increase our nation's defense capability against those very real threats.
M. Chairman, this amendment provides for the security and protection that our nation needs and now I would like to yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Turner.
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