May 16, 2007—Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ) offered an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was co-sponsored by Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Congressman Adam Putnam (R-FL). This amendment would restore the $764 million to the President's budget request that was cut out of the funds for missile defense by the Democrat majority. The following is the speech he delivered tonight on the House Floor:

We currently have only a limited missile defense capability against limited threats. China is utilizing space for weapons testing, Iran is expected to have missiles capable of reaching the U.S. homeland in less than eight years, a now nuclear North Korea continues to defiantly test long-range missiles. Proliferation throughout the Middle East is rampant and Osama bin Laden has stated, “It is our religious duty to gain nuclear weapons.”

The first job of Congress is to protect this nation. Because of the day in which we live, that includes an obligation on our part to ensure that the Department of Defense develops and deploys defensive capabilities that protect the American people and our war fighters against nuclear missiles, which remain the most dangerous weapons humanity has ever faced. 

This bill cuts almost $800 million in funding that would help close the critical gaps in our missile defense system.

One of the programs the majority believes is not worth the investment, is the Airborne Laser.

The Airborne Laser is our primary and most mature boost phase missile defense system.  ABL is a speed of light technology that defends against enemy missiles in their earliest phase of flight, before they can initiate sophisticated countermeasures, before they release multiple warheads, and while they are still on enemy territory. 

$160 million has also been taken from MDA’s $310 million request for the European Site, which would defend the United States homeland, our European allies and deployed warfighters against a ballistic missile attack from Iran.

They completely eliminate even the small $10 million budget for conceptual studies of a space-test bed, which would give the U.S. the technology to defend space assets and defend against enemy missiles in their critical boost phase of flight. We must have access to space and we must be able to defend our space assets.  It is astonishing to me that this has become a partisan issue.

If we build a truly robust layered missile defense system, the day may come when we will have to apologize to the American people for building a defensive system that proved to be unnecessary.  But God save us from the day when we have to apologize to the American people for failing to build a system that could have protected them from the unspeakable nightmare of missiles turning American cities into nuclear flames.