(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Congressman Chip Cravaack (MN-8) spoke on the Floor of the House of Representatives in support of his amendment to H.R. 1540, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. If enacted into law, the amendment would eliminate the United States Institute of Peace and all federal funding for this duplicative organization. The government funded “think tank” received $39.5 million in Fiscal Year 2011.

A a text version of the speech can be found below and a video of the it can be found here:

Mr. Chairman,

I’d like to yield myself three minutes, and I rise today in support of my amendment. 

After years of excessive spending, the United States is facing difficult economic and fiscal straits, Mr. Chairman. Presently, our country is suffering under $14.39 trillion dollars in national debt and roughly 40 cents of every dollar we spend must be borrowed and placed on the backs of our children. Make no mistake, funding for government programs and non-profit organizations that are not critical to the functioning of core government services must be considered for cuts.

With an extensive lobbying effort to portray the Institute of Peace as incredibly important to our nation’s work on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, a few U.S. officials have signed letters in its support. While I have seen evidence to the contrary, I will for the sake of argument and respect for the handful of generals that support the Institute of Peace, cede their point. However, I will note that the United States Institute of Peace’s grant program is entirely duplicative of existing grant programs in the United States government, the private sector and non-profit organizations.

At a time when the government must do more with less, I remain convinced the research, training, workshop holding, and humanitarian work of United States Institute of Peace’s small staff in Afghanistan and Iraq can be replicated by divisions or offices within the Department of Defense, the State Department or through entities like the Peace Corps or USAID. It must. We are a nation teetering on the edge of insolvency. For Admiral Mike Mullen recently stated, "The most significant threat to our national security is our debt."

Now is the time to make the tough calls, Mister Speaker. The United States Institute of Peace is a program that our children and grandchildren should not be funding at the sake of their futures. 

Mr. Chairman, therefore, in close, I would like to urge my colleagues to support Amendment 152, and Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Congressman Cravaack serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee – where he is Vice Chair of the Aviation Subcommittee – the Homeland Security Committee, and the Science, Space and Technology Committee. The 8th Congressional District covers 18 counties in Northeast Minnesota.