Obama signs 2010 defense budget bill containing expanded hate crimes legislation

October 28, 5:18 PMLiberal ExaminerRaymond Gellner

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  On Wednesday, October 28, 2009 President Barack Obama signs 
  the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010.
  (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Wednesday afternoon in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. Also included in the bill was the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act which expands the definition of a hate crime to include gender, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.

The House of Representatives passed the bill on October 8. The Senate passed it on October 22.

There were approximately 150 people attending the signing ceremony, including Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, Attorney General Eric Holder, the Shepherd and Byrd families, members of the Kennedy family, and numerous Senators and Representatives, including the respective chairmen to the Senate and House armed services committees, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) and Representative Ike Skelton (D-MO).

The bill contains $680 billion for the 2010 operations funding for the Pentagon, and also includes funding for United States operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for 2010. In addition, it targets the cutting of unnecessary programs and wasteful spending, while at the same time leaving our military with all of the tools needed to perform their duties of protecting our country.

“When Secretary Gates and I first proposed going after some of these wasteful projects, there were a lot of people in this town who didn't think it was possible, who were certain we were going to lose, who were certain that we would get steamrolled, who argued that the special interests were too entrenched, and that Washington was simply too set in its ways.”

The President continued, “And so I think it's important to note today we have proven them wrong. Today, we are putting an end to some wasteful projects that lawmakers have tried to kill for years. And we're doing this because Secretary Gates and I both know that we can't build the 21st century military we need unless we fundamentally reform the way our defense establishment does business. The Government Accountability Office, the GAO, has looked into 96 major defense projects from the last year, and found cost overruns that totaled $296 billion, an amount of money that would have paid our troops' salaries and provided benefits for their families for more than a year.”

Though this bill cut some waste and some programs which the Pentagon no longer wants to continue President Obama stated, “This bill isn't perfect. There is still more waste we need to cut. There are still more fights we need to win.”

In addition, the bill also includes funds set a side to pay to Taliban members in Afghanistan who lay down their arms and renounce the organization. This is similar to the payment plan which the Bush administration used in Iraq during the 2007 “surge” in order to convince Sunni insurgents to stop attacking Iraq’s government and our troops. In Iraq, this is what is given credit for drastically reducing violence and allowing our troops to build consistent security so the Iraq government could start its work towards solidifying their structure.

Considered a controversial inclusion to the Defense bill by many Republicans, The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act will protect all Americans against being attacked due to who they are. Concerning this bill the President stated, “After more than a decade of opposition and delay, we passed inclusive hate crimes legislation to help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray or who they are.”

Copyright © 2009 by Raymond Gellner