Washington, DC – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) released the following statement after the House approved the conference report to H.R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, by a vote of 281 to 146. 

            “Passage of this conference report fulfills one of the most basic duties of the Congress and is vital to the mission of the Department of Defense. On the critical national security issues confronting our nation today, this bill gets it right. 

            “The conference report provides several major victories for our troops and their families, who are the cornerstone of our national defense.  And the bill strikes the right balance between our focus on the immediate fights in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq and the long-terms needs of our military. 

             “I thank my House colleagues for their support of the defense authorization bill.  Our service members will benefit from our efforts to make this the best bill possible for America’s national defense.  I hope our Senate colleagues will take prompt action to approve this measure so we can send this defense bill to the President as soon as possible.”

            A detailed summary of the conference report to H.R. 2647 is available at http://armedservices.house.gov/.

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