Congress must do right by our servicemembers and defense workforce

As is often the case with Washington, D.C., there’s some good news ... and some bad news.

The good news is that my colleagues and I in the U.S. House of Representatives voted this past year to raise the pay of servicemembers and civilian Department of Defense employees. We also increased the minimum wage paid by defense contractors. These actions would put dollars in the pockets of families here in Kitsap.

This legislation funds defense activities for an entire year and includes new funding for cleanup of drinking water on military bases, for improvements to military housing, and for sexual assault prevention and response programs. These are all investments that are important to our servicemembers and their families.

As a member of the powerful Appropriations Committee, I worked to include in this legislation a down payment on the program to upgrade and modernize our public shipyards. This upgrade will be critical for meeting the Navy’s national security mission – and for jobs here in Kitsap County.

Now, here’s the bad news. None of these things may become law because Republicans in the U.S. Senate are using their power to block the Senate from passing this legislation. Democrats have struggled to even bring Republicans to the table to negotiate.

I don’t like to be partisan – particularly when it comes to issues involving national security. But the refusal to even negotiate hurts a lot of people in Kitsap County.

Too often in recent years, when Congress has failed to pass legislation to fund our national defense, it has kicked the can by passing what’s called a continuing resolution (CR). A CR temporarily extends funding levels from the prior year’s budget. Congress did this at the end of September and then again in December to avert a government shutdown and provide Congress with time to reach an agreement (until mid-February).

Kicking the can with short-term CRs are a bad way to do business. It fails to address new threats and new needs, and it’s terribly inefficient for taxpayers and for federal agencies. Imagine paying for a service or extending a contract two months at a time rather than for a full year.

But there’s something worse than short-term CRs. Long-term CRs!

Recently, Senate Republicans have blocked negotiations on a real, long-term appropriations bill and have threatened to push for a full-year CR. Indeed, the Senate Appropriations Committee Senior Republican Member said that, “we could be headed for a yearly CR … a lot of people would like that.”

Well, I’m not one of the people who would like that. Extending last year’s spending for an entire year is a terrible idea. Our servicemembers and their families, our veterans, and our federal workers deserve better.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III issued a stark warning about the danger of a full-year CR, saying: “It would misalign billions of dollars in resources in a manner inconsistent with evolving threats and the national security landscape, which would erode the U.S. military advantage relative to China, impede our ability to innovate and modernize, degrade readiness, and hurt our people and their families.”

And in a hearing just this week, Admiral Michael M. Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations echoed those sentiments. He stated: “If the CR continues past February, or worse, remains in effect through the end of the fiscal year, we inject unnecessary risk to our national security and concede advantages to our adversaries; we make our sailors’ mission even more difficult; we signal doubt to allies and partners; and we waste American taxpayer dollars. All of which can be prevented.”

To be clear, a full year CR would threaten investments in other priorities for our region – including new funds for affordable housing, funds to clean up Puget Sound and restore our salmon, and investments in Bremerton’s downtown revitalization to name just a few.

As Chair of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress (AKA the “Fix Congress” Committee), I’m working to implement systemic changes to improve the appropriations and budgeting processes. Our committee passed a number of recommendations to fix the dysfunction, and I’m fighting like heck to get them implemented. No business or household would run this way, and our government certainly shouldn’t either.

In the meantime, though, Congress needs to stop kicking the can and find a solution to support our servicemembers and our national security. There is no time to waste.

U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer represents Washington's Sixth District, which includes Kitsap County.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Opinion: Congress must do right by our military and defense workforce