Hoyer Attends Meeting with the South Potomac Civilian-Military Community Relations Council
INDIAN HEAD, MD – Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) released the following statement today after joining members of the South Potomac Civilian-Military Community Relations (COMREL) Council, which brings together leaders from Indian Head and Dahlgren:
"I thank South Potomac COMREL Council for the opportunity to participate in today's quarterly meeting and to provide an update on what Congress is doing that affects our installations and base communities. I was proud to support funding in the House-passed Military Construction and VA appropriations bill for phase two of the Advanced Energetics Research Lab Complex at Indian Head in April along with other federal investments in Fifth District installations. However, Congress needs to do more to support our military installations and ensure that the Navy can carry out its mission successfully. The irrational spending cuts known as sequestration, which is set to hit in 2016, is the wrong approach to budgeting, arbitrarily imposing severe cuts both to defense and non-defense investments. That's why I have continued to call for a bipartisan compromise to replace the sequester with a balanced, fiscally sustainable approach that reflects our budget priorities.
"Congress also ought to be doing more to invest in a competitive economy based on a growing manufacturing sector, which is why I have been leading an effort called Make It In America – a plan to create the best conditions for private sector manufacturing growth by helping to foster innovation and the commercialization of new products and technologies. It is an effort that will directly and positively impact our part of the country and can help attract new businesses to our region. The combination of passing Make It In America bills and having Navy research located here will make the Potomac region even more attractive for entrepreneurs and manufacturers to invest and bring new jobs that pay well and support a strong and expanding middle class.
"I will continue to promote policies on the federal level that facilitate greater cooperation and partnership between our Navy installations and regional manufacturers, and I urge the South Potomac COMREL Council to make clear to Congress that our base communities won't stand for the arbitrary and irrational cuts of sequestration or partisan gridlock that prevents investment in jobs and innovation. I thank the men and women at Indian Head and Dahlgren for all that they do to strengthen national security and our local economy, and I look forward to working with them to spread the message that we need a bipartisan focus on economic growth and fiscal sustainability."