Jim Bridenstine

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my friend, Dr. George Nield, on the occasion of his retirement as the FAA Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation. Dr. Nield has been a tireless advocate for a commercial space industry that is more robust than ever and has been a great partner for those of us on the Hill who have worked to create an environment where the commercial space industry can thrive. Dr. Nield is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, and his time in the Air Force included assignments as an engineer at the Space and Missile Systems Center and Air Force Test Center, and as an assistant professor at the Air Force Academy. He later held many roles at NASA, managing the Flight Integration Office for the Space Shuttle program, and later working on the International Space Station program. Prior to coming to the FAA, Dr. Nield was a senior scientist in the advance programs group of Orbital Sciences Corporation, now Orbital ATK. George Nield has long understood the important role space plays in our country and dedicated his career to ensuring that the United States is the world's preeminent spacefaring nation. For the past 10 years, he has devoted himself to an industry that helps the United States Government complete its missions, grow our economy, and improve the quality of life for all Americans and those around the world. Our country is losing an important advocate for space. I wish him well in his retirement.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Chairman, I rise to thank the gentlewoman from Utah for offering this very important amendment at this time in American history. A lot of us have received threats, and I think this is a good amendment. I would like to thank the gentleman from Louisiana for stepping up to support it as well. I would like to reiterate the point that this amendment could save lives, and it doesn't add a single penny to the budget, to the debt, to the deficit. This doesn't add a single penny, and yet it could be responsible for saving the lives of our colleagues. So I would like to thank the gentlewoman from Utah for offering it and the gentleman from Louisiana for supporting it. I would urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this amendment.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Eagle Scout Chairman Pete Sessions for his great introduction. It is an absolute honor to be here. About a week ago, I said I would like to get the Eagle Scouts together on the floor of the House of Representatives and talk about what it means to us to be Eagle Scouts, reflect on our history and our tradition and how great this institution has been for the United States of America for all of these years and how we must make sure that this institution stays strong for the years to come. When I brought that to the gentleman's attention, he said, absolutely, we will do it. I didn't talk to him again, and today we are doing it. I didn't have to ask twice. As chairman of the Scouting Caucus here in the House of Representatives, the gentleman has led in a tremendous way. We have seen so many Eagle Scouts come to the Capitol, and he always gets all of us together and always has us talk face-to-face with the Scouts--not just Eagle Scouts--and encourage them from the earliest days of their Scouting careers. I want to thank him for his leadership, because a lot of people could chair this committee, but he hasn't just chaired it; he has led it, and that reflects greatly on him. When I think about my days as a Scout, I go all the way back to my Cub Scout days. In fact, it was even before I was a Scout. My brother was a year older than me, so he got to be a Cub Scout before I was a Cub Scout. He got to participate in this new thing that was going on in the lives of the Bridenstines called the pinewood derby. He had this little car--a block of wood with some nails and some wheels--and we watched that car streak from the very top of the track and come to a screeching halt where the track leveled out. In fact, this little blue car didn't even make it to the end of the track. Of course, all of these other Scouts had all their fancy cars that had their rounded wheels and graphite on the nails and all of the weights put in the car. We didn't know to do any of that. So my brother, John Bridenstine, who was a Cub Scout before I was a Cub Scout, had to endure the pain of being a Scout and wanting to have the fastest car, and his didn't even make it to the end of the track. Well, I will tell you this. There was a Life Scout named Wayne Bridenstine, who was our dad. He was not going to allow any of our cars to ever again not make it to the end of the track. So we went to work trying to learn everything we could about this pinewood derby. We engineered a couple of what I think are the greatest cars in American Scouting history. The next year, the Bridenstine boys won first place and second place going forward. We won first place and second place in--I don't remember which--but we reversed it going backwards. So we went from having a car that didn't even reach the end of the track to winning the pinewood derby. Many years later, now I have my own son. He is in Cub Scouts and he does the pinewood derby. I committed to him the same thing my dad committed to us back in those days: We are going to win the pinewood derby. The first year we did it, we had great success. The second year, Dad got a little, maybe, overaggressive in his engineering. Maybe we put the weights a little too far back. As that car came down, it got really unstable and it wobbled. There were a couple of times it barely made it to the end of the track. But I will tell you this. The relationship that I had with my dad and that my brother had with our dad and that was necessary to pull us from not even finishing the race to winning the race and now the relationship with my son, Walker Bridenstine, are things that are important in our family and will be for many years to come. So those are some of my first ideas. Of course, Cub Scouts led to the Arrow of Light. The very next progression is to become a Boy Scout. So we searched a number of different troops across Arlington, Texas, and Fort Worth, Texas. We were in the Longhorn Council at the time. We eventually settled on Troop 83. I remember some of the leaders of the troop. Coach Wasden was a football coach at Hutcheson Junior High. That was somebody who was intense. He was serious about Scouts. Boy, if you were going to move up in rank, you were going to prove to him that you have done what was required. Of course, earning merit badges was important to all of us who were trying to move up the ranks. I will never forget the first summer camp that we went on. My brother and I were not able to go to the summer camp that our troop went on. So we went to this thing called the Maverick Camp, where we went with a bunch of Scouts we didn't even know, but we had a great time. I am not going to lie to you; it was a challenge. I was in fifth grade. My brother was in sixth grade. It was the middle of August in Texas. We will just say the middle of August in Texas. It was just as hot at midnight as it was at the noon hour. We sweat a lot. We worked hard. We got seven merit badges that summer. That was intense. We didn't know you weren't supposed to get that many. We showed up back at our troop for the court of honor and people were shocked that we got seven. No wonder it was so hard. Nobody told us not to get seven merit badges in one summer camp. These are some of the memories I had. My brother and I were really challenged and we got that done. The next summer, we did three or four merit badges and had a lot more fun. These are some of the memories. I was the chaplain's aid. As the chaplain's aid, one of the things that I prayed for most was that the chaplain would show up on the campout so I wouldn't have to do the public speaking in front of everybody. And here I am now as a Member of Congress who publicly speaks as a living. That is one of the things the Boy Scouts of America gave me: the ability to stand before an audience and tell people what was on my mind. My leadership experience was as the chaplain's aid. My brother was the senior patrol leader for Troop 83. I was in the Arrow of Light patrol. He was in the Bison Patrol. He was the senior patrol leader. Summer camp after summer camp and all the things we heard, here is, I think, one of the important things that people need to remember: The Boy Scouts of America is an institution that trains leaders. You might not recognize it when you are in it because you believe you are just having fun, but then there come those moments in life when you really need to lean on the things that you learned as a Boy Scout, and it doesn't even dawn on you until later that you actually learned these things as a Boy Scout. After I graduated from college, I joined the United States Navy. I became a pilot. Of course, one of the things we have to do is survival, evasion, resistance, and escape. In this process, we have to live in the woods for a period of time. We have to figure out how we are going to survive and evade for a week. During this time, you have to live based on the things that you see around you. You have to be able to start a fire. Some of these basic things I was able to do that all the peers around me had no ability to do because they did not have the life experiences in the Boy Scouts of America. We had to be able to cook a rabbit, something that I had done before and something that my peers, also Navy pilots, had not done. We had to able to land navigate with a map and a compass, which, to me, was second nature because I had done it for years trying to get to my rank of Eagle. But for so many people, it was a foreign concept to use a map and a compass to land navigate from point A to point B. I remember one group navigated point to point. Our group said: We don't want to go point to point because if we miss the point, we won't know we missed the point. So we are going to intentionally offset, hit the river, and then we are going to know exactly where we are. Of course, we didn't miss the point. We knew where we were going. But some of my peers who did not have the experiences I had went well beyond the point and didn't know they had gone down the point, then they had to come back. I could have told you that was going to happen because it had happened to me previously as somebody who was in the Boy Scouts of America. These are very real-life experiences that you look back on and say: Why was I able to do this? I was able to do it because I was in the Boy Scouts of America. You also look back and say there are things that are intangible, things that are not specific. I heard Eagle Scout Jeb Hensarling today--chairman, Congressman, Eagle Scout--talk about tying a bowline in one hand and how he doesn't anticipate finding himself at the bottom of a cliff with a broken arm, but if he did, he would be able to tie a one-handed bowline and somebody would be able to pull him out. Certainly, that is exactly the same kind of thing that I learned when I was going through the same program. Just a couple of weeks ago, Walker Bridenstine, my son, had to learn how to tie a bowline. I was trying to teach him how to tie a bowline the old-fashioned way. I simply couldn't do it. When I tried to tie it as a one-handed bowline, I was able to do it. It just stuck with me all of these years. So, again, these are specific skills. But the leadership, the ability to lead people are things that the Boy Scouts teach you. You apply these things every day in your life, and you don't even know you are doing it. I will also say that, as employers, we look for leaders when we are trying to find whom we are going to hire. We see over and over again employers looking to hire Eagle Scouts from the Boy Scouts of America. So there might be somebody today who is watching this maybe on C- SPAN, maybe on the internet; and maybe you are a Boy Scout, maybe you are a Cub Scout, maybe you are not sure if you are going to stick it out. I will tell you this. Every interview I have ever gone on, I had a resume. On that resume was included the fact that I was an Eagle Scout. Even when I was applying for college, I put on my resume and in all of my extracurricular classes that I was an Eagle Scout. I would highly encourage anybody that is maybe at a lower rank but working hard to attain that Eagle, finish your Eagle Scout. My dad was a Life Scout. He moved when he was a Life Scout. He never finished his Eagle. His brother, Jim Bridenstine, my uncle, did finish his Eagle Scout. Of course, my brother and I both finished our Eagle Scout, and now our kids are in Scouts, and we are going to do everything we can to help them finish their Eagle Scout. Not only did I put it on every resume, not only on all of my college applications, I will tell you, I also ran for Federal office. The first thing I did in my campaign commercials is tell people: My name is Jim Bridenstine, and I am an Eagle Scout. Before I told them that I went to college or before I told them that I was a Navy pilot, I told them that I was an Eagle Scout. I think it is important for people to understand that some folks have a desire from an early age to achieve. When employers look at a resume, when voters look at somebody running for office, they want to see that. I will tell you, there was somebody who came into my office not too long ago wanting a job. I had a number of great candidates. It was nearly impossible for me to pick which one. We all know this: When you get to be a Member of Congress, you get hundreds of resumes the next day. I was getting down to the end, and I was trying to figure out which one. I got down to three. When they left my office, one of the three said this: One other thing I need to let you know; I am an Eagle Scout. That did it for me. I knew at that point that this young man had committed himself to something much bigger than himself from an early age. That person now works in my office. I look for that. I know employers across this country look for that. It speaks volumes to the character and the training of the individual. That will continue. I will tell you, when you think about all of the astronauts in the United States of America, the 316 or so of them in the history of the United States of America, 40 of them were Eagle Scouts. That is not by accident. I will tell you that is a much higher percentage than the number of Eagle Scouts who are produced in the Boy Scouts of America, and it is certainly a much higher percentage than the number of Eagle Scouts that exist in the population of the United States of America. So this is something that employers look for. I took my 11-year-old son to the Air Force Academy just about a month ago. I took some brochures about what it takes to get into the Air Force Academy. There is all kinds of stuff in there about being an athlete and being a great student, but one of the six criteria that they look for is: Are you an Eagle Scout at the Air Force Academy of the United States of America? I would also argue they probably look for the same thing at West Point and the Naval Academy. These are things that employers look for, that schools look for, that the military looks for. These are the character issues that are important. So if you are in Scouting today, my encouragement to you is to finish, get your Eagle Scout. If you are below the age of 18 and you have still got time, I would encourage you to join and get your Eagle Scout. It has been important for me. It has been important for my brother. It has been important for my family. My uncle Jim's son, Shane, my cousin, is also an Eagle Scout. This is a tradition of the Bridenstine family, and I would encourage you to make it a tradition in yours. Mr. Chairman, I just want to say thank you for your leadership and thank you for leading this effort.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Speaker, every year that I have had the honor to serve Oklahoma's First Congressional District, I have also faced the unfortunate reality that I will lose constituents to tornadoes, as will many of us who represent constituents in Oklahoma. This terrible fact has motivated me and others from our delegation to work hard for policies that will save lives and property and move us to a day where we have zero deaths from tornadoes or other extreme weather events. I would like to thank Chairman Smith, Vice Chairman Lucas, and Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member Bonamici for their tireless efforts to see this bipartisan legislation move forward. The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 is the product of extensive negotiations between the Environment Subcommittee, which I chair, and the Senate Commerce Committee, and I am proud of the bipartisan and bicameral agreement that this bill represents. H.R. 353 directs the NOAA Administrator to prioritize activities that will save lives and protect property. Again, this is critically important to my State, which is in the heart of tornado alley. This legislation will help NOAA develop more accurate and timely warnings for hurricanes, tornadoes, and other high-impact weather events. It calls on NOAA to develop a plan to maintain forecasting capabilities that are second to none in the world, primarily because, by some metrics, we lag behind our counterparts in Europe, the U.K. and Canada. The bill encourages better cooperation across NOAA offices and enhances collaboration with universities, such as the University of Oklahoma, which is a national leader in weather research. It will also ensure that innovative methods and technologies, such as warn on forecast, currently being developed at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma, are rapidly deployed in operational status so that the American people can benefit. Further, beyond improvements to short-term forecasts of extreme events, the bill directs NOAA to improve our understanding of seasonal forecasts, which can be immensely useful to industries such as agriculture. Mr. Speaker, I am particularly pleased this bill finally authorizes a commercial weather data pilot program. H.R. 353 authorizes $24 million over the next 4 years for a pilot program for NOAA to purchase commercial space-based weather data and test it against NOAA's proprietary data. This can improve forecasts and save the Federal Government money. This will allow NOAA to continue to expand upon the two pilot contracts it awarded in September of last year. Mr. Speaker, this has the potential to be a paradigm-shifting provision. Commercial weather data can augment the data we receive from systems such as JPSS and GOES, while also serving as a mitigation strategy in the event we experience a gap in weather data from these systems. More data from innovative sources has a real potential to improve our forecasting capabilities.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Speaker, I believe there will come a time when there will be zero deaths from tornadoes. I think this bill will help us implement the necessary steps to get there. I once again thank my colleagues on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee for all their very hard work to get this done, and I encourage our counterparts in the Senate to move this legislation to the President's desk quickly. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. While the current version of the bill includes language for a feasibility study on the Tulsa-West Tulsa levees, this amendment simply strengthens the language by aligning the House version of the bill with the already Senate-passed bill. It requires the Army Corps of Engineers to prioritize funding for construction if the study finds the levees are at a high risk for failure. In order to get priority, the Corps feasibility study must conclude that the Tulsa levees are category 1 or 2, the highest safety risk. The current infrastructure that encompasses the 20 miles of levees in the Tulsa system was constructed over 70 years ago, rendering the levees woefully outdated. In fact, the Corps has assessed that the levees are among the most high-risk levees in the country. These levees protect billions of dollars' worth of infrastructure, including homes and businesses and even energy production facilities. The potential loss of life and destruction of property in the event of a breach would be absolutely devastating to my district. Mr. Chairman, this amendment simply aligns the House bill with the Senate bill and helps protect life and property. I urge a ``yes'' vote on this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the majority leader for introducing this bill H.R. 6007, and for his efforts on behalf of the entire commercial space industry. Due to his efforts, we got a great bill in the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act last year. Nine months into the bill, it has had a great impact on this industry. Space represents what is exceptional about the United States of America. We are characterized by a spirit of adventure, risk taking, entrepreneurialism, and a spirit that has revolutionized access and operations in space, to the point where our very way of life now depends on space. We have transformed how we communicate, how we navigate, how we produce food and energy, how we conduct banking, predict weather, perform disaster relief, provide security, and so much more. But to be able to access space, we need robust infrastructure. Spaceports--and I would mention that we have a licensed spaceport in the great State of Oklahoma--are a key cog in that infrastructure, facilitating launches and reentries, not only by government agencies but also now by private companies. In order to ensure these entities can operate efficiently and facilitate space launch and reentry, government policy needs to treat them as it treats other key pieces of transportation infrastructure. This legislation, which I am proud to cosponsor, simply gives the FAA the ability to analyze the navigable airspace around spaceports, an authority it currently lacks. This will help the FAA and spaceports understand how structures and other features around spaceports will affect the operation of space vehicles. As a pilot myself, I can tell you, I have used approach plates, and I have used departures. And what we need now is an ability for the future infrastructure to incorporate space vehicles into these approach plates so that we can integrate commercial air traffic with space traffic. This is an important tool, and I urge passage of this bill.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. I thank the chairman. Mr. Chair, this defense authorization makes a huge down payment on the readiness of our forces. As a combat veteran, I have participated in the inter-deployment training cycles that are getting ready to deploy. I have seen the force regeneration process. I have seen it during good times, and I have seen it during bad times. Personally, as a Navy reservist, most recently, I saw a very steep decline in readiness when my squadron got eliminated. The VAW-77, the Nightwolves, got completely eliminated when I was a Navy reservist. We busted about $2 billion worth of cocaine every year on the high seas. Now that cocaine comes into the country, and $2 billion worth of cash funds transnational criminal organizations in northern Mexico and in Central and South America. That is what happens when we have defense cuts the way we have had recently. In fact, I will tell you that our remaining forces still face significant shortfalls and disruptions to time-tested training and deployment cycles. The OPTEMPO back home is almost more intense than an overseas deployment, but the resources are simply not available. Pilots are flying the bare minimum flight hours to stay qualified, and our maintainers and our depots can't keep up. As a warfighter, I can attest that this will break our force. The important thing about this bill, this defense authorization--and, Mr. Chairman, it is why I am so grateful for your leadership and the bipartisan support that we had from the ranking member, Mr. Smith--is it makes a huge down payment on the readiness that is required to make sure that the force we have remaining is not hollow, which is critically important to the national security of this country. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Speaker, during the winter months, natural gas demand in New York City outstrips the ability of existing pipelines to deliver natural gas from the nearby Marcellus gas field in Pennsylvania. This capacity limitation can cause gas prices to spike during cold weather. For example, on January 22, 2014, when the price in the Marcellus was $3.50 per thousand cubic feet, the New York City price was $123. I want to repeat that; $3.50 in the Marcellus, and in New York City the price was $123. Constraints on natural gas make electricity more expensive. High energy prices are especially hard on the poor. Businesses suffer and jobs are lost when they lack abundant supply of affordable, clean energy. However, there is a shovel-ready solution: build the Constitution pipeline to bring more of Pennsylvania's Marcellus gas to New York. You would think that New York would welcome a new supply of clean, economical natural gas to lower consumer costs. However, on April 22, New York's State Department of Environmental Conservation denied the construction of the Constitution pipeline needed to deliver more Pennsylvania gas. For several years, the Constitution Pipeline Company, a group led by Williams Partners, located in my district, has been developing an $875 million privately funded project to build a pipeline from Pennsylvania to Albany to deliver gas to the Iroquois pipeline and to consumers in New York State and in New England. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the Constitution pipeline in 2014. I want to repeat that. FERC approves of the pipeline. According to the company, FERC's final environmental review of the proposed pipeline concluded that environmental impacts would be reduced to ``less than significant levels.'' A year and a half later, the State of New York decided to deny certification necessary to issue construction permits. The Williams Group worked with the State for 3 years, including two 1-year extensions requested by the State, and yet the State asserted that information provided by the company concerning the 250 or so stream crossings was incomplete. The company refuted the State of New York's assertions, saying: ``Completely contrary to the New York DEC's assertion, we provided detailed drawings and profiles for every stream crossing in New York, including showing depth of pipe. In fact, all stream crossings were fully vetted with the DEC throughout the review process. We are appalled . . .'' Amazingly, Federal regulations provide no recourse to challenge a State's rejection of a section 401 certification, so Constitution Pipeline may need to initiate legal action to contest the decision. The decision has every appearance of political motivation. The Wall Street Journal called it ``Cuomo's Energy Jobs Veto.'' One has to wonder if the Governor of New York really wants to help the poor and if he can recognize a shovel-ready job when he sees one. This pipeline project would create 2,400 construction jobs and infuse $130 million of labor income into the region, in addition to providing a reliable supply of clean energy. The real victims in this matter, Mr. Speaker, are the people of New York. Hopefully, political agendas that threaten to deny New Yorkers the benefits of the Constitution pipeline will be confounded. In the meantime, the message from New York's executive branch is that would-be energy suppliers to New York State need not apply. It appears to be time for consumers and their representatives to make their views known in Albany and for Congress--that is us--to revisit the pipeline permitting process.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Speaker, I am fully convinced of the potential economic growth and innovation the commercial space industry represents. We already rely on commercial space for so much, and in the coming years, we will see this industry continuing to expand worldwide Internet coverage, advanced communication architectures, remote sensing and weather architectures, affordable access to space for science and commerce, permanent habitats in space, utilization of space resources, and the list goes on. We must make sure that we as members of Congress do not do anything that could stifle this world-changing industry. That is why the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act is crucial. The most important aspect of this legislation is the extension of the so-called learning period or moratorium on regulations for commercial human spaceflight. We need a learning period so we can eventually create a regulatory environment based on real data, not just speculation. The bill also extends launch indemnification to keep American space companies competitive against international companies, clarifies that a launch license and experimental permit can be issued for the same design, and enables private companies to explore and mine celestial resources by incorporating the Space Resource Exploration and Utilization Act of 2015 introduced by my friends Bill Posey and Derek Kilmer here in this body. These provisions will go a long way toward encouraging a continued growth of the commercial space industry. I would also like to address a few provisions of this bill that I worked to include myself, and I am pleased that we were able to keep them as the Senate worked to keep them in the final bill. Section 116 of the bill will require a GAO report to capture the role of space support vehicles in the commercial space industry, regulatory and statutory barriers to the services these vehicles offer, and recommendations for updates that will address these barriers. People will need to be trained to fly, and vehicle designs will not remain static, which is why this provision is so important. This section will help us address situations that will become more prevalent as the commercial space industry continues to expand and diversify. Additionally, title II of this bill incorporates H.R. 2261, the Commercial Remote Sensing Act, bipartisan legislation I introduced with my friend from Colorado, Ed Perlmutter. This title sets metrics to give Congress a full picture of the workload facing the Department of Commerce when licensing remote-sensing activities and what issues are preventing them from meeting statutory deadlines. Title II also recognizes the importance of seeking input from the Advisory Committee for Commercial Remote Sensing, which is largely made up of industry representatives. This legislation will be crucial as industry expands beyond traditional remote-sensing satellites and activities and as Congress looks to update the statutes governing these activities for the first time since the 1990s. Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I would like to thank the majority leader, Mr. McCarthy, the sponsor of this legislation, and the Science, Space, and Technology Committee chairman, Mr. Smith, for their continued leadership on commercial space issues. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2262 is critically important to the future of American leadership, and I urge my colleagues to pass the bill.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler) for all her hard work on these issues. Just as a point of maybe disagreement, I am no longer in the Navy Reserve. I joined the Oklahoma National Guard, and I will be flying with the Oklahoma Air National Guard. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for hosting this Special Order, and I would like folks to understand really what my friend from Missouri just said. The President of the United States vetoed the Defense Authorization because he wants more spending for other domestic programs. This is unprecedented and, quite frankly, it is scary for this country. I am still dumbfounded by it, that you are going to hold defense hostage for a domestic agenda. We don't do that in the United States of America. This President somehow doesn't understand that you don't take the defense of this country hostage for a domestic agenda, and yet that is what he has just done. I want to share with my colleagues why we do an authorization every year, because the world changes. Things get more dangerous year after year after year. As a Navy pilot and now as a National Guard pilot, we utilize space. I am on the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee. We hear all kinds of things about space. I can tell you, as somebody who has used it, we use space for over- the-horizon communications with our space-based communication architecture. We use it for weather so that we can make sure we can get to the target on time. We use it for intelligence. We use it for missile warning. We use it for a whole host of things: the position, navigation, timing, our GPS satellites, for actually hitting our targets. Space is critical, yet something has changed drastically in the last few years. The Russians have been launching various things that were not registered with the International Telecommunication Union, the ITU. What are we discovering that these objects are doing? Well, they are doing very sophisticated co-orbital maneuvers, demonstrating that they can do proximity and rendezvous operations, which means--guess what-- ultimately that could be an antisatellite capability. Friends, if we lose our satellites, we could have even more risk. Imagine your ATM not working. Imagine the food in the grocery store not being there when you go shopping. National security in this country is critically important, and the President is holding it hostage for a different domestic agenda that has absolutely nothing to do with national security. This is absolute craziness. So what did we do in the NDAA? We plussed up spending on space protection, which is critically important; and we not only plussed up spending on space protection, but we provided authorities, critically necessary authorities so the Department of Defense can actually protect this country in ways that it hasn't had the opportunity to do so before. For our communications architecture, we are doing Pathfinder programs, and we are purchasing communications in space in ways that we have never done it before. Why? Because we need to distribute the architecture so it complicates the targeting solution for our enemies. We are not doing this because it is fun or because we like it. We are doing it because it is critical for national security. When the President of the United States vetoes it, it puts all of us in jeopardy. I want to be clear. This is about the troops, there is no doubt about that, but when we are talking about somebody's ATM working, this is about the security of the United States of America, and the President is holding it hostage for a domestic agenda. When it comes to the troops, just a few items. We talk about the authorities in the NDAA. Well, those of us who have served understand that there are special pays that we receive: combat pay, hazardous duty pay, bonuses for reenlistments, flight pay for those of us who fly. There are pays that are going to be in jeopardy now that otherwise wouldn't be in jeopardy. By the way, a lot of these pays are for people who are right now serving this country overseas. Do we not understand that, Mr. President? I should say, Mr. Speaker, the President should understand that. This is a momentous day in American history and not for good reasons--for tragic reasons. I would like to thank my colleague from Missouri for hosting this Special Order and giving somebody like me and all these colleagues behind me the opportunity to make sure that America understands what is at stake here. The gentlewoman's leadership on these issues is critical, and America is in jeopardy. We need to understand what happened today is not the norm. It must not be the norm, and future Presidents must never hold hostage American national security for a domestic agenda.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Colonel Dave ``Cheese'' Burgy on his outstanding leadership as commander of the Oklahoma Air National Guard's 138th Fighter Wing located at the Tulsa Air National Guard Base. He relinquishes command this Saturday. Colonel Burgy received his Air Force ROTC commission at Arizona State University. He transitioned to the Oklahoma National Guard as a C-26 inspector pilot before retraining in the F-16. Colonel Burgy has logged over 3,800 military flight hours and deployed five times to fight our Nation's wars. As the 138th commander since December 2012, Colonel Burgy led the Air National Guard's best fighter wing of over 1,200 airmen. He exemplifies the self-sacrifice and patriotism of the citizen warriors in the National Guard. Colonel Burgy, thank you for your outstanding service to the 138th, the National Guard, and our country.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to salute more than 40 citizen airmen of the 513th Air Control Group deploying to Southwest Asia this month in support of Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria and also continuing operations in Afghanistan. The 513th is the Nation's only Reserve unit flying the E-3 AWACS aircraft. I am proud that the 513th is based at Tinker Air Force Base in my home State of Oklahoma, and it is commanded by Colonel David W. Robertson. I flew the Navy version of the AWACS, the E-2 Hawkeye, both on Active Duty and as a reservist. The AWACS is the Air Force's ``quarterback in the sky,'' calling the plays and managing the fight from an airborne platform. I know firsthand that the AWACS is absolutely essential to projecting air power. Without it, our forces would be like an orchestra with no conductor. Mr. Speaker, we just celebrated yet another year of independence. We should remember that our war of independence was fought almost exclusively by citizen warriors, ordinary citizens who put their lives on hold and at risk, many of them giving the ultimate sacrifice for our independence. The 513th continues our great citizen warrior tradition. Among the citizen airmen deploying are Realtors, IT specialists, and even a pastor. We should recognize that this is a voluntary assignment. These reservists have raised their hands and answered the call voluntarily, when less than 1 percent of our fellow citizens serve in the military. Mr. Speaker, the 513th demonstrates the value of our military's Reserve component and National Guardsmen. Looking across the 513th, you will find skill standards, capabilities, and operational readiness rates equal to or better than the Active component. When I was in the Reserves flying the E-2 Hawkeye, I can tell you that the amount of talent that we held in the Reserve component was amazing. It was very clear that these folks had the confidence, the capability, and the institutional knowledge to carry on the tradition of excellence that was in the Navy when they moved to the Reserves. The amount of talent and skills is also true with the Air Force. We saw it when you think about the fighter squadrons that fought in the opening days of the war in Afghanistan. The Reserve fighter squadron was the one that had the highest percentage of bombs on target. The Reserve and the Air National Guard are critical to our Nation's military readiness. It is important to retain and even expand the reserve component size, missions, and capabilities. Finally, Mr. Speaker, while I rise to give a special thanks to the 513th reservists deploying to Southwest Asia, let me also mention this unit's other recent accomplishments. To say that the 513th is in high demand would be a huge understatement. In the past 6 months, the 513th has controlled training missions for over 200 fighters and bombers, supported critical flight tests, managed air operation center support in Germany, and controlled eight large-force exercises, including Felix Virgo in Louisiana, Northern Edge in Alaska, and CHUMEX in Florida. Mr. Speaker, let me conclude by once again recognizing the citizen airmen of the 513th Air Control Group from Tinker Air Force Base.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Chair, I would just argue that, while it is true that the other body has not acted on this yet, it is also true that this body has already acted in the Defense Authorization bill. It came through committee, and certainly it had overwhelming support in committee and overwhelming support on the floor of the House. I think that the will of this body ought to be done by all of my colleagues supporting this very important amendment and to make sure that Russia understands that they cannot go unchecked when they violate a treaty of this magnitude. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And congratulations on producing a very good bill that will provide the necessary funding to properly defend our Nation. And let me express my appreciation for providing $26 million in your bill to fund an Air Force pilot program for the acquisition of commercial SATCOM services. Aligned with the House-passed fiscal year 2016 NDAA, the program has the potential to lower costs and increase utilization of commercial satellites. Mr. Chairman, thank you for giving me the opportunity to discuss military satellite communications, or SATCOM. As you are aware, the demand for SATCOM has increased by a factor of 10 since the outset of our simultaneous commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it continues to grow. Further, the need for protection against jamming, spoofing, and other interference has also increased as our adversaries deploy more sophisticated countermeasures to deny and degrade communications to our warfighters. The government-owned, government-operated SATCOM system, Wideband Global Satellite Communications System, or WGS, cannot keep up with demand--not even close. As a result, the Air Force has sought less expensive, more protected SATCOM solutions from the commercial sector to augment national capabilities. Mr. Chairman, the military needs more SATCOM capacity, and it needs SATCOM that is better protected. Congress can help by restoring $32.8 million for development and testing activities associated with the Protected Tactical Testbed. We also need additional funding for the Protected Tactical Wave Form itself. This effort will help make both commercial and WGS satellites more robust and protected against jamming. Alongside the Air Force's pilot program I referenced earlier, the Protected Tactical Testbed and Wave Form may begin to give warfighters access to a global architecture of protected commercial SATCOM. That said, I understand the Air Force has programmatic challenges with the Protected Tactical Testbed that must be addressed. However, I urge the committee to keep an open mind in conference. If the Air Force addresses your concerns, then I hope the committee will consider restoring funding for the Protected Tactical Testbed and Wave Form. I thank you again for this opportunity to speak on such an important issue to our military servicemen and -women.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the distinguished chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee for bringing this bill to the floor. The Bridenstine-Rogers-Turner-Poe amendment is not a reflection of concern with what is a good bill under the circumstances. The Bridenstine-Rogers-Turner-Poe amendment would appropriate $25 million to fund military responses to Russia's continuing violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the INF Treaty. This is the exact same amount that the House Armed Services Committee, the HASC, authorized recently in a bipartisan and noncontroversial provision in H.R. 1735, which passed the House Armed Services Committee on a 60-2 vote. Senior DOD officials, from the Secretary of Defense to lesser Senate- confirmed officials, have testified that the United States is considering a range of military options to respond to Russia's violation of the INF Treaty. DOD defines these as countervailing and counterforce options. What do these include? Number one, extending the range of the Army's current Army Tactical Missile System, ATacMS; land-basing Tomahawk or otherwise modifying similar capabilities; and also other capabilities per classified DOD reporting. The emphasis should be on modifying current systems as opposed to developing brand-new capabilities, which would take longer and cost far more. This amendment is imperative to ensuring that another year isn't allowed to go by before Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, is made to understand that he cannot profit by his violation of the INF Treaty. As The New York Times reported on June 5, following the submission of the most recent State Department annual report on arms control compliance: ``American officials have made no discernible headway in persuading the Russians to acknowledge the compliance problem, let alone resolve it. . . . In December, the Pentagon told Congress that it had developed a range of military options to pressure Russia to remedy the violation or neutralize any advantages it might gain if diplomatic efforts fail. Brian P. McKeon, a senior Pentagon official, told Congress that . . . if a diplomatic solution was not found, `This violation will not go unanswered.' '' Mr. Chairman, I urge the support of all Members for the Bridenstine- Rogers-Turner-Poe amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Madam Chair, I rise today to give my very strong support to this amendment offered by my colleague from Oklahoma. The Federal Government creates a regulation. That regulation says that, if you are a church or if you are a civic group or if you are some kind of community organization, you are limited in the size of your sign to 8 square feet, 2 feet by 4 feet; however, if you are a billboard company, you can have 25 feet by 60 feet. This is discrimination against churches and civic groups that I think is inappropriate. I would also say that the State of Oklahoma has weighed in. The State of Oklahoma would like to regulate the signs in the State of Oklahoma. I think that is absolutely not only appropriate, but I think it is constitutional that the State have the right to regulate the signs in its own State. Here is the sad part that I would like to let people know and understand. If the State of Oklahoma chooses not to enforce this Federal regulation that is discriminatory, then the State of Oklahoma risks losing 10 percent of its Federal funding for roads. This is the Federal Government using Oklahoma taxpayer dollars against the State of Oklahoma. It is Federal bullying. This amendment offered by my colleague from Oklahoma is a good amendment. I fully support it, and I highly recommend my colleagues support it.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Madam Chair, the Bridenstine-Rohrabacher-Posey amendment, which is supported by the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, transfers $250,000 from the FAA's finance and management activities to the Office of Commercial Space Transportation. This is a small amount, but it is extremely important if we are to support the booming commercial spaceflight industry. The FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation's mission is as follows: ``to ensure protection of the public, property, and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States during commercial launch or reentry activities and to encourage, facilitate, and promote commercial space transportation.'' To carry out this mission, AST, as the office is known, is tasked with overseeing commercially licensed launches, test launches under experimental permits, licenses and permits for new vehicle designs, supporting NASA and the Commercial Crew contractors, taking the lead role in coordinating space traffic at the White House's request, and many other duties. Over the past few years, the number of activities AST oversees has grown significantly; yet funding and staffing levels have remained absolutely flat. Just last month, the House of Representatives passed the SPACE Act on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis. That bill establishes a statutory and regulatory regime that provides stability and encourages private sector investment in order to facilitate the growth of commercial space activities. If we are passing legislation to encourage growth, we need to provide this office with increased resources to keep up. We rely on the commercial space sector for many things: reliable, frequent, and inexpensive launches; communications, navigation, and imaging satellites; and services such as the Internet, telephone, television, and radio, which are staples of modern life. Going forward, there are companies whose goal is to provide space tourism services. There are also ventures planning missions to harvest precious resources from celestial bodies. This is just the tip of the iceberg for this growth industry. This is an industry that is constantly innovating. It is also an industry we have come to increasingly rely on. If AST does not get the additional resources, it could lead to slips of planned launch dates for some companies as the office is unable to process inspections, permits, and licenses in a timely manner. On top of being a hindrance to this growth industry, it could also reduce the functionality and capabilities we take for granted in our everyday lives. This funding will give AST additional resources to accomplish its mission. As its workload continues to grow, I encourage the Office of Commercial Space Transportation to continue to work alongside industry in developing and supporting consensus safety standards that can streamline the inspection process. I appreciate Chairman Diaz-Balart's leadership and his recognition of the importance of this office. I thank him for working with me on this amendment, particularly given the constraints he is under while crafting this appropriations bill. I understand we are in tough fiscal times; however, we need to ensure we do not strangle the unlimited potential of the commercial spaceflight industry. An important piece of this is ensuring that the Office of Commercial Space Transportation can keep up with the growth of this burgeoning industry. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment and the underlying legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. I thank the chairman. I look forward to working together with you and with NOAA to ensure that congressional intent is clear and to make this critically important pilot program a reality. I appreciate your leadership and assistance on this issue. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank Chairman Smith for his leadership on this important amendment as well as Chairman Culberson. I thank them for working with us on this amendment. I know we have been working very hard to make sure that this is adequately funded and from the right sources. By fully funding the weather research and technology transfer that was authorized by my bill, H.R. 1561, this appropriations bill now reflects the House's will that NOAA prioritize activities that save lives and property. The funding will go to support critical work to increase the lead times that we receive for tornadoes. A lot of this critical work is being done at the University of Oklahoma. I have heard already that we were looking for more funding for some Cooperative Institutes, and that is what this is. This is of extreme importance to my State, as I have already lost constituents this year from tornadoes. It is my sincere belief that this appropriations bill now ensures that programs are funded that will eventually move us to a day where no one is killed in a tornado or other severe storm event. Again, I thank Chairman Culberson and Chairman Smith for their leadership on this issue. We need to adopt this amendment so that we can save lives and property, especially as it relates to my constituents in Oklahoma.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, my amendment designates $9 million within NOAA's Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction account for the purposes of funding a pilot program for space-based commercial weather data as authorized by H.R. 1561, the House-passed Lucas-Bridenstine Weather Research and Forecasting Act of 2015. Although I intend to withdraw my amendment, I intend to use this time to enter into a colloquy with the gentleman from Texas. Mr. Chairman, the commercial satellite industry has revolutionized everyday life. From telecommunications to imaging to navigation, we reap the benefits of private sector innovation. I truly believe we have that opportunity when it comes to weather satellites as well. By introducing newer, more innovative, more resilient and additional forms of data into our numerical weather models, we can improve our ability to forecast weather and save the lives of our constituents. By providing NOAA with the funds to purchase commercial data, it sends a clear signal to the burgeoning, nascent weather satellite industry: NOAA is interested in commercial data from the private sector. This pilot program has the potential to shift paradigms within our weather enterprise and serve as the first step toward moving to a day where the government does not have a monopoly on weather satellites. NOAA operates huge, monolithic, billion-dollar satellite programs that have experienced cost overruns and launch delays. These programs are important to ensuring we have robust weather data, but we need a mitigation strategy when problems arise, a role that commercial sources can play. In addition, they can augment our programs of record, and for a fraction of the cost. In fact, to fully fund this program, NOAA would only need to find the equivalent of one dime out of a $20 bill. Mr. Chairman, I believe, in the long run, purchasing data from the private sector will lead to lower costs for the taxpayers, as well as better data, more data, and more innovation. However, I understand the constraints that the gentleman from Texas is under when crafting this appropriations bill, and I appreciate his willingness to work with me on this issue. The question I pose to him is: Does the chairman intend to have NOAA provide $9 million from within its Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction appropriation for NESDIS Systems Acquisition to carry out this pilot program in fiscal year 2016 as is authorized in H.R. 1561?