Fwd: Response from Congressman Chris Gibson

[Thomas Pritchard]

My response to the correspondence below:

Dear Chris,

I am aware of your distinguished service record and your educational achievements.

As I hope you are well aware, our country spends more on defense than the next nine largest national budgets while all are trading partners and many are allies.  We have mistakenly taken on a posture of pretending that we need to be the world's police force.  The human trauma to innocent civilians and the mental trauma and consequences to our own troops and their families is unacceptable.  When you factor in the additional costs of our numerous and redundant intelligence entities, the expense is preposterous. 

Our domestic infrastructure is in shambles, which worsens every day due to collective irresponsibility and criminal neglect.  We need a restoration of the Civilian Conservation Corps and couple such a program with Welfare Reform and Unemployment programs.  We could have eradicated poverty, homelessness and malnutrition with all of the money squandered on our mistaken military excursions.

It's time we strengthened our country from within instead of wasting money abroad.  I encourage you to be bold and advocate for substantial fiscal reform and introspection.

Thank you.

Tom Pritchard

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Congressman Chris Gibson <Rep.Chri...@mail.house.gov>
Date: Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 5:46 PM
Subject: Response from Congressman Chris Gibson
To: "Mr. Thomas A. Pritchard" <toma...@gmail.com>

CHRIS GIBSON 19th District, New York __________ 1708 Longworth HOB Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-5614 __________ http://gibson.house.gov HOUSE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee on Livestock Rural Development and Credit __________ HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats, and Capabilities Subcommittee on Military Personnel June 3, 2015 Mr. Thomas A. Pritchard 305 Arnold Lake Rd Milford, NY 13807-1194 Dear Mr. Pritchard, Thank you for contacting me regarding the defense budget.  It is good to hear from you. It is critically important to our national security that we maintain a high level of military readiness. Since the passage of the Budget Control Act, the DoD has cut $750 Billion from its budget.  While operating under sequestration, it is imperative to maintain our technological advantage and strengthen our deterrence through military training and appropriate funding.  We continue to face increasing threats across the globe, include active situations such as ISIS, the Taliban, and other terror networks, as well as increasingly bellicose conventional threats, such as Iran, North Korea, Russia, and China.  Sacrificing our military's strength and advantages now will jeopardize our security and the safety of our homeland and men and women in uniform in the future. Having served in the U.S. Army for over 24 years, I have dedicated my life to the defense of this country. As we consider the defense budget for Fiscal Year 2016, I think that we must reform our national security establishment.   Despite the troubling state of our economy, I support maintaining the best equipped, most capable military in the world and I believe that ensuring the full support of America's military service men and women engaged in the defense of this nation continues to be our most critical priority.  That being said, I also am convinced there are significant reforms possible within the Department of Defense (DOD) that will enable us to realize more savings in the Pentagon budget while maintaining our readiness and national security.  Sequestration, however, is not that reform. I currently serve as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, which allows me to be directly involved in issues related to defense spending and strategy. Rest assured that as my colleagues and I debate the defense budget I will keep your thoughts in mind. Thank you once again for contacting me with your thoughts. Please don't hesitate to inform me of any future concerns through my website http://gibson.house.gov or over the phone at (202) 225-5614. Sincerely, Chris Gibson Member of Congress