Bishop votes in support of FY ‘19 Defense budget

WASHINGTON — Congressman Sanford D. Bishop Jr., an Albany Democrat and a senior member of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, released a statement Monday regarding the full House Appropriations Committee’s passage of the Fiscal Year 2019 Defense Appropriations Act and FY ‘19 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act.

Bishop voted in support of the Defense Appropriations Act, a bipartisan bill that would provide $674.6 billion to support the nation’s armed forces, an increase of $17.1 billion from FY ‘18.

“I was proud to vote in support of the FY ‘19 Defense Appropriations Act during its consideration in committee, and I look forward to the bill’s consideration on the House floor,” Bishop said in a news release. “This legislation ensures the readiness of our service members by fully funding our military’s equipment and training requirements. This measure, additionally, supplies our forces with a 2.6 percent raise, the largest in the last nine years.

“The bill also maintains investment in the E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack System (JSTARS), located at Robins Air Force Base, in order to continue to enable our military with this much-needed battlefield management capability. Lastly, this bill takes great steps in caring for our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines by investing heavily in medical research for diseases such as prostate cancer, rare cancers, breast cancer, ALS and numerous other major diseases.”

However, due to significant concerns over the elimination of election security grants, rollbacks on consumer and financial protection agencies, and poison pills that attack women’s health, Bishop said he could not support the FY ‘19 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations budget.

“Unfortunately, I could not support the FY ‘19 Financial Services and General Government funding bill, which continues the majority’s practice of placing priorities in all the wrong places,” Bishop said. “The bill eliminates funding needed to replace flawed and outdated voting machines that are susceptible to outside attacks, prohibits funding needed to establish flood risk management standards, handicaps our consumer protection agencies, places restrictions on the ability of women to purchase comprehensive health coverage, underfunds the IRS’s ability to assist taxpayers, and includes a number of unrelated pieces of legislation.”

(Photo: MCLB-Albany)