Langevin Supports Passage of 2019 Defense Spending Bill

Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement after voting in favor of the Fiscal Year 2019 Defense Appropriations Act, which passed the House by a vote of 359-49:

“I consider providing for our national security one of my most important responsibilities, and I am pleased that his funding bill largely tracks the defense authorization we passed earlier this year. It continues strong support for our service members by providing a 2.6 percent pay increase. It also adheres to bipartisan budget caps passed last year and avoids incorporating poison pill provisions that had undermined the process last year.

During floor consideration, I offered a bipartisan amendment to provide additional funding for the DOD Cyber Scholarship Program that I worked to reinvigorate last year. This program boosts our ranks of cyber defenders, and I am pleased that my colleagues voted to support it. I was, however, disappointed that the House did not adopt an amendment I had cosponsored that would have prepared our defense industrial base to construct additional Virginia-class submarines in the coming years. Our sub fleet is dipping in numbers even as China’s rapidly increases, and I will continue to look for ways to support this national security priority that is also a source of pride for so many Rhode Islanders.”