Jim Langevin

Mr. LANGEVIN

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3722, the Joint Task Force to Combat Opioid Trafficking Act of 2019. Mr. Speaker, we are in the midst of a public health emergency that has devastated communities across the country, including in my home State of Rhode Island. No matter your race, gender, age, or religion, Americans are suffering from the opioid overdose epidemic. In 2017, approximately 47,600 fatalities were attributed to opioid overdose. Fentanyl is exacerbating the problem. This powerful, synthetic opioid, 25 to 50 times stronger than heroin and 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, caused more than 15 times more deaths in 2017 than in 2009. The majority of opioids interdicted by the United States law enforcement agencies are seized at ports of entry. In fact, the southern border accounts for at least 75 percent of all opioids collected. I am pleased to offer a solution with my colleagues, Mr. King from New York, Mr. Rose, and Mr. McCaul, that will strengthen the Department of Homeland Security's fight against the drug crisis. This bill authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a task force to enhance the internal integration of the Department's border security operations to detect, interdict, disrupt, and prevent narcotics, including fentanyl, from entering the United States in the first place. Secretary Johnson was the first to use the joint task force model to achieve better unity of effort across the Department's components. All of DHS' many agencies, from Customs and Border Protection to the United States Coast Guard, have an important role to play when it comes to combating opioid trafficking. So if the Homeland Security investigations are looking into a fentanyl distribution ring, for example, in Omaha, they need to coordinate efforts with Customs offices in El Paso so that packages en route to Nebraska are properly interdicted. The JTF model is intended to ensure this coordination is baked into the culture of DHS so that cases don't slip through the cracks. Congress recognized the value of Secretary Johnson's pilot JTFs when we formally authorized them in 2016. As new challenges confront the Department, we must make use of this organizational structure in innovative ways to maintain the synergies that drove the creation of DHS in the first place. Stopping proliferation of fentanyl is particularly well-suited to the JTF approach. Unlike many more traditional narcotics, fentanyl is often shipped directly to dealers from overseas. Fentanyl's extremely high potency allows these shipments to be small enough to go undetected unless carefully scrutinized. That is why it is essential that the joint task force on opioids collaborate with private-sector organizations and any other Federal, State, local, Tribal, territorial, or international entity to increase operational effectiveness, coordination, and information sharing. We need to work with partners, especially the United States Postal Service and private parcel delivery services like UPS and FedEx to ensure suspicious packages are inspected. Having a single task force coordinating the Department's efforts makes it much easier for other organizations to know whom to call. So this crisis gripping our Nation is, obviously, very complex. We cannot succeed in stemming the opioid epidemic unless the Federal Government recognizes the opportunity to integrate and collaborate--not only across agencies, but also with our private-sector partners. So like every bill that makes its way to the floor, this legislation is a result, of course, of a collaborative effort. I have to begin by thanking former Senator Claire McCaskill, who has been a true championship in driving policy to address the opioid crisis and who first proposed applying the JTF model to this epidemic. I must also thank my good friend, longtime colleague on the committee, and cosponsor, Congressman Peter King, who is helping ensure that this effort is a bipartisan one; Mr. McCaul, who helped get this bill to the last Congress; and, of course, Mr. Rose, who has been a real champion in helping to combat the opioid crisis and who has had an immediate impact fighting opioids since he came to Congress earlier this year. I am grateful also to Chairman Thompson for his continued leadership on using all of the powers of DHS to combat this epidemic. Like anything we do, nothing would have been possible, of course, without tireless staff work, and particularly that of Rosaline Cohen and Alex Carnes with the committee; my legislative director, Nick Leiserson; and also Elyssa Malin, a former staffer in my office.

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the additional time. As I said before, the opioid epidemic is increasingly complex, with a number of factors driving the tragic increases in overdose. There is no silver bullet; rather, we need a whole-of-society approach. This bill will bring that unity of effort to the Department of Homeland Security so that it can be a more effective partner in turning the tide against opioid abuse. I hope all of my colleagues will join me in supporting the creation of a joint task force on opioids and support this bill.

Mr. LANGEVIN

Mr. LANGEVIN. Madam Speaker, last week, I was proud to support the Christa McAuliffe Commemorative Coin Act. There is no better way to honor an educator, explorer, and trailblazer like Ms. McAuliffe than to educate the next generation of learners. The explosion of the space shuttle Challenger was a heartbreaking tragedy, but Ms. McAuliffe gave her life in pursuit of discovering the next frontier. She was not afraid of dreaming big. She boldly went out to test our knowledge of what is possible and pushed humanity forward. The commemorative coins created through this act will inspire and support the same passion in the young people who participate in the FIRST Robotics Program today. Founded by Dean Kamen--the inventor of my chair, the iBot--FIRST uses science, technology, engineering, art, and math, or STEAM, to get young people excited about learning and innovating. In Ms. McAuliffe's memory, FIRST competitions are inspiring the next generation of scientists, explorers, and leaders who we will need to solve the problems of today and tomorrow.

Mr. LANGEVIN

Mr. LANGEVIN. Madam Speaker, I rise with my colleague, Congressman David Cicilline, to celebrate the bicentennial of the Congdon Street Baptist Church. Over the last 200 years, the church has been a pillar of the black community in Providence, serving as a place of worship, education, and fellowship for Providence residents. From its founding, the church has thrived in the face of adversity. In 1819, under the backdrop of racial segregation and slavery, a small group of residents came together to create a safe space for black members of the Providence community. In 1869, hostile neighbors had the church demolished. Nonetheless, the community rallied together to rebuild the church in 1875, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Over the years, the church has continued to carry out the mission of its founders: supporting civil rights for the black community. In 1968, the church became a sanctuary for black students at Brown University and Pembroke College during the student walkout, and during the 1960s, members of the congregation marched down Cranston Street with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the fight for equal rights. On its 200th anniversary, we reflect on the Congdon Street Baptist Church's incredible history and wish the church another 200 years of success in connecting community members to their faith and to one another.

Mr. LANGEVIN

Mr. LANGEVIN. Madam Speaker, I rise today on National Constitution Day to renew my call for expanded civics education. The father of our Constitution, James Madison, wrote: ``A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both.'' Yet, today, it feels as if we are in the middle acts of Madison's feared drama. Sadly, only 26 percent of Americans can name all three branches of government, and 37 percent cannot name a single right guaranteed under the First Amendment. Meanwhile, public trust in government and voter participation is low, and foreign adversaries have taken advantage of this to sow discord among us. Madam Speaker, I was proud to include a program in the House-passed National Defense Authorization Act to fund further development and evaluation of civics education programs, but this is just a first step. We must ensure that every child has access to evidence-based civics programs. The future of our democracy depends on it.

Mr. LANGEVIN

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to celebrate the life of Marca Bristo, whose unyielding commitment to advancing disability rights improved the lives of millions. As the founder of Access Living and a leader of the National Council on Disability, the National Council on Independent Living, and the United States International Council on Disabilities, Marca fought passionately to ensure that people with disabilities have the same rights as their able-bodied peers, including the right to live independently in the community. She was a crusader for the Americans with Disabilities Act, and her steadfast advocacy was instrumental in the passage of this landmark civil rights legislation. Her work tearing down barriers cleared the way for people with disabilities to pursue their own dreams, which, ultimately, also helped me realize my dream of becoming a United States Congressman. Marca's legacy is the continued improvement of the lives of people with disabilities. She made a difference, and my condolences go out to her entire family and her friends.

Mr. LANGEVIN

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

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Chairman, the Atlantic Coast has never been a site of significant offshore drilling, and for good reason. In my home State of Rhode Island and all along the coast, we know the importance of these waters to tourism and to the fisheries that they sustain. Indeed, waterways are part of our way of life. It is part of our identity and who we are. This amendment will instruct GAO to perform a study on the costs and the impacts of drilling on the coastal communities and their economies. This study will address how oil and gas companies interact with local stakeholders, including fishermen. It will explore how the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management works with other Federal agencies during siting. It will examine how response teams have reacted to offshore oil spills and the cost of those spills to tourism and the food supply of the affected region. And finally, it will analyze the caliber of the data that we have on hand today regarding these undrilled areas of the Outer Continental Shelf, and whether such data can be reliably used to gauge the impact of proposed drilling. These are all questions that have arisen during my conversations with fishermen, tourism leaders, and other Rhode Islanders deeply concerned about the risks of drilling off our coast. Mr. Chairman, I believe that offshore drilling puts the safety of our waterways at risk, which we have seen from numerous spills over the years, including the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout. We owe it to those who live in our coastal communities to be honest about the damage that such drilling can cause to them. Mr. Chairman, it will take decades to recover from an incident like the one we experienced with the Deepwater Horizon spill. While the news cycle eventually moves on, the coastal communities and the people that are affected have to deal with the consequences and often continue to suffer. That is why I am putting forward this amendment today, so that we can properly understand the full costs of drilling off our coast. I would like to thank Congressman Cunningham from South Carolina for sponsoring the underlying bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it and my amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for his comments and his insights. I see that this amendment gets exactly the right information that we need. I am certainly not opposed to the gentleman's suggestion, and if at a later date he is going to offer such additional information to be gathered by GAO, I would certainly like to look at it and perhaps even support it. But this is the amendment that we have before us. I believe it is well thought out. Again, it is a GAO study to perform--to look at the costs and the impacts of drilling on coastal communities, which my community would be directly affected, and how they would be affected and their economies. And I think having more information is better. I think this hits the right mark, and I urge my colleagues to support it. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LANGEVIN. I reserved the balance of my time, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Chairman, I have said everything I need to say, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LANGEVIN

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember the September 11 attacks, and especially those who lost their lives on that day, including people from my own home State in Rhode Island. I was 8 months into my first term in Congress when our Nation's course was inexorably altered that blue Tuesday morning. Over the last 18 years, as an inaugural member of the Committee on Homeland Security and as a member of the Committee on Armed Services with oversight over our Special Operations Forces, I devoted myself to ensuring our country is safe. I know that we have made progress, important progress, and we worked to eliminate terrorist enclaves around the world. We strengthened our security at home so that we are no longer a soft target. We, of course, paid dearly for these gains through the sacrifice of our servicemembers and the tax dollars of our citizens. However, we still have a long way to go. This summer, Congress, of course, finally enacted, permanently, to protect 9/11 first responders. It is certainly long overdue. We must also now fulfill our commitments to our veterans returning home from the Global War on Terror. We must protect our country against new and emerging threats, including in the cyber domain. And each year, we must renew our pledge to ``never forget.''

Mr. LANGEVIN

Mr. LANGEVIN. Madam Speaker, tomorrow we celebrate the 29th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a groundbreaking civil rights law that has improved the lives of millions across the Nation, including my own. However, the fight for equality and inclusion is not over. Over the past year, I have collaborated with disability advocates and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to pass bills that strengthen protections for airline passengers with disabilities, expand caregiver services for disabled veterans, and establish a more inclusive emergency preparedness and disaster planning process. I have also called for the Federal Government to account for its hiring and retention of disabled workers, increased funding for spinal cord injury research, co-led legislation to help small businesses break down accessibility barriers and passed a bill in the House to authorize $200 million for respite care services. Madam Speaker, these efforts are only the beginning, and I cannot and will not stop fighting until we achieve the goal of equal opportunity, full inclusion, and economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities everywhere.

Mr. LANGEVIN

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I thank both the chairman and the ranking member of the committee and the sponsors of this important piece of legislation. I am proud to rise in support of the Autism CARES reauthorization act. This issue is very personal to me. As an uncle of a young man with autism, my nephew, Joshua, I know how challenging this condition can be. I also know that, unfortunately, we still don't know the causes, let alone how to cure autism. It underscores the importance of why this legislation is so important to continue to invest in research and, at best, treatments for the condition. We do know, Mr. Speaker, that early intervention and early treatments do make a difference in the long-term outcomes. So the provisions in this bill, the Autism CARES Act, are right on point. It is well thought-out and, again, encourages both research through NIH and the talented researchers who do this important work and, again, those who also treat both children and adults with autism. It is essential we pass this bill. We also need to pay attention to the long-term care components. There are long-term care challenges that families have to contend with. We need to do our best to support them, and Mr. Speaker, I urge passage.

Mr. LANGEVIN

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for yielding and his important leadership on this bill and on the committee. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2035, the Lifespan Respite Care Reauthorization Act of 2019, legislation that I introduced with my good friend and colleague from Washington State, Mrs. Rodgers. In 2002, I authored the Lifespan Respite Care Act to create a network of services and supports for family caregivers across the Nation. In the years since the bill was signed into law in 2006, the Lifespan Respite Care program has provided grants to 37 States and the District of Columbia to streamline the delivery of planned and emergency respite services, provide access to direct care services, and address the direct service worker shortage by training respite providers. I am thrilled to be here today to continue building on Lifespan Respite Care's successes and reauthorize the program. Mr. Speaker, family caregivers are a critical part of the long-term services and supports system in the United States. Approximately 43 million family caregivers provide hundreds of billions of dollars--and yes, that is billions with a B--in uncompensated care each year. In fact, in 2013, the last time that statistics were updated, uncompensated family care totaled--if you had to put a dollar figure to it--approximately $470 billion. That is more than Medicaid spending for that year. Respite care services provide short-term relief for family caregivers, allowing them time to account for their own health and wellness needs. Despite respite care being one of the services most often requested by caregivers, 85 percent of family members caring for adults don't receive any respite services at all. For many older adults and people with disabilities, receiving care in the home is preferable, both from a quality of life perspective and a financial perspective. In addition to improving caregiver health, researchers also found that providing access to services such as respite care can reduce the need for admission to more costly institutional settings and allow individuals to remain in their own homes. Mr. Speaker, the Lifespan Respite Care program is the only Federal effort that provides family caregivers access to respite care services regardless of the age or type of disability of their loved one. This is especially important for family members caring for individuals with chronic illnesses or disabilities with an early onset, such as multiple sclerosis, brain injury, spinal cord injury, or ALS. Programs that are predicated on age or a certain degree of disability can often struggle when adapting to the needs of a young person with a degenerative disease, and the Lifespan Respite Care program helps to bridge those gaps. For example, Lifetime Respite Care funds were used in my home State of Rhode Island to establish the CareBreaks program which helps family members caring for an individual of any age access respite when they have nowhere else to turn. Reauthorizing the Lifespan Respite Care program at $20 million in the first year and steadily increasing funding each year after will allow each State and territory to establish and maintain a respite care program. In authoring the original bill, I recognized that different States have different needs for caregivers. Expanding funding will grow additional, unique programs that directly address community needs. By taking this important step to support family caregivers, we move forward in our efforts to provide quality, community-based care for the millions of Americans with special needs. Mr. Speaker, as an American with a disability--in fact, the first quadriplegic elected to the United States Congress--I know the immense service that caregivers provide. I am privileged enough to have paid home health aides, and I want to thank my CNAs, Dave, Valerie, Carolyn, Kelly, and many others over the years, for the vital assistance they provide me each and every day. But, injured as I was at the age of 16, I also relied on my family members; my brothers, Rick and Dave, and my sister, Joanne, and especially my mother and my late father, Richard, for their support over the decades. I would not be here before you today without their help, and I am forever grateful to them for their love and their care. For so many families in a similar position around the Nation, this bill recognizes their sacrifice and the immense support that they provide to their loved ones while reducing the strain on our healthcare system. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, our family caregivers are truly unsung heroes. Beyond those who helped me personally, Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize the many people who were instrumental in bringing this bill to the floor. In addition to the chair and the ranking member, I also want to recognize Jill Kagan with the ARCH National Respite Network for her coalition and her coalition partners for their tireless work to help families access respite care and provide technical assistance to States building respite programs.

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, on my staff, I am indebted to my health and disabilities LA Katie Lee and also Todd Adams, my Chief of Staff, who has been intimately involved in these issues for more years than he probably would like to admit. I also want to thank again Chairman Pallone and his staff, as well as Ranking Member Walden, for supporting this effort through the committee. I also must acknowledge the leadership of Senator Collins. I hope that our actions today will help her in her effort to get this important bill through our sister Chamber. Finally, again, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Washington State, my colleague, Mrs. Rodgers, for partnering with me on this bill when we first attempted to reauthorize this program in 2011 and for her continued leadership on this issue in Congress and on many others in the disability community. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support family caregivers and vote in favor of the Lifespan Respite Care Reauthorization Act. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. LANGEVIN

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I am a Congressman in no small part due to civil rights legislation: the ADA that passed 29 years ago next week. Inclusivity is not abstract to me. Diversity is not just a buzzword. This weekend, our Nation confronted bigotry and discrimination, the vile opposites of these virtues. That we did so is not surprising. Our country is not perfect, built as it is on the original sin of slavery, but the source of these racist remarks should shock all of my colleagues, as they came from the President himself. The President's tweets attacking my fellow Representatives is inexcusable. There is no explanation, no possible context in which they would be acceptable. They are the product of his world view that prizes division and conflict. I believe in compromise. I believe in trying to work together to better our country even when we disagree, but that spirit of tolerance cannot extend to the blatantly racist and xenophobic rhetoric. I voted yesterday to condemn the President's remarks, but that should never have been necessary. Our country is better than the example this President is setting. I only hope that we can heal after this dark chapter.

Mr. LANGEVIN

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

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, my amendment funds ongoing efforts to assess the viability of using low-enriched uranium fuel in naval reactors, including those in aircraft carriers and submarines, something this Congress has supported for many years now. The United States has demonstrated strong leadership to minimize, and wherever possible all but eliminate, the use of highly enriched uranium for civilian purposes. Doing so reduces the risk of nuclear terrorism and makes clear that the accumulation of HEU is solely for nuclear weapons purposes, undercutting any nation's argument that they need it for anything else. Using low-enriched uranium, or LEU, in naval reactor fuel can bring significant national security benefits with respect to nuclear nonproliferation, lower security costs, and put naval reactor research and development at the cutting edge of science. Pursuing the development of LEU fuel offers the opportunity to achieve transformational progress on fuel technology. Additionally, unless an alternative using low-enriched uranium fuel is developed in the coming decades, the United States will have to resume production of bomb-grade uranium for the first time since 1992, ultimately undermining U.S. nonproliferation efforts. Using LEU for naval reactors is not a pipe dream. France's nuclear Navy already has converted from using HEU to using LEU fuel for its vessels. We must evaluate the feasibility of a similar transition for the U.S. Navy and take into account the potential benefits to the U.S. and international security of setting a norm of using LEU instead of nuclear bomb-grade material. As America confronts the threat of nuclear terrorism and as countries continue to enrich uranium for naval purposes, the imperative to reduce the use of HEU will become increasingly important over the next several decades. As such, as I said, Congress has sought to advance these efforts in a bipartisan, bicameral way over the last several years by evaluating the potential of utilizing LEU fuel in reactors for U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and submarines. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Chair, let me say that we can't fear the future. We must invest in research and development. I want to point out that the then-chair, the Naval Reactors Director, Admiral Richardson, testified before the House Armed Services Committee. He said, with current technology, ``the potential exists that we could develop an advanced fuel system that might increase uranium loading and make low-enriched uranium possible while still meeting some very rigorous performance requirements for naval reactors on nuclear-powered warships.'' To address the concerns of my colleague, I want to mention that this House has already included $20 million for this research in the Energy and Water appropriations package that passed the House on June 19, which also included a $15 million increase to NNSA Federal salaries and expenses over fiscal year 2019. These spending levels have already been set by the House. This amendment simply matches the authorization level with the House-passed appropriations level. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Chair, may I inquire how much time remains on both sides.

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support the amendment. Mr. Chair, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Foster), who is the House's only nuclear physicist.

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this en bloc package, and I would also like to speak in favor of en bloc package No. 10, which includes four of my amendments. The first would mandate that the President provide Congress with a copy of National Security Presidential Memorandums related to military operations in cyberspace. Congress has a vital role to play in ensuring that offensive cyber operations do not inadvertently undermine stability in cyberspace. Unfortunately, the White House has continuously stymied our efforts and attempts to conduct this constitutionally-protected oversight, refusing to provide important policy documents that took effect nearly a year ago. Ironically, I have largely supported the administration's more forward-leaning posture, but regardless of my feelings towards the underlying strategy, it is unacceptable that the White House continues to stonewall our attempts to oversee sensitive operations. This amendment will stop that obstruction. A second amendment ensures that new software acquisition pathways will include cybersecurity metrics. I strongly support updating how the Pentagon buys software, but it is important that we have explicit measures of the security of the code that we are buying. Now, I hope that this amendment will both drive the adoption of metrics related to common software weaknesses and lead to broader changes, such as increased use of type-safe programming languages. Finally, this package includes two amendments related to our Special Operations Forces. The first extends by 3 years a relatively new irregular warfare authority, which is designed to address threats in the gray zone below the level of armed conflict in order to gauge its use and effectiveness. The second would strengthen requirements that the Department notify Congress before exercising a counterterrorism authority referred to as 127 Echo. This authority has proven its worth over the last decade, but I believe that we must continue to improve our rigorous oversight to ensure appropriate use. Mr. Chairman, I urge adoption of this en bloc package and my amendments in en bloc package No. 10.

Mr. LANGEVIN

Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Chair, I want to thank the gentleman for yielding. Today I rise in strong support of the fiscal year 2020 NDAA, and I would like to thank Chairman Smith for his work on this important legislation. I am particularly pleased with the provisions in the bill that were reported out of the Intelligence and Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, which I chair. Mr. Chair, I want to also begin by thanking my subcommittee ranking member, Ms. Stefanik, for her contributions to this bill and her bipartisan partnership throughout the process. Befitting our focus on emerging capabilities, this bill provides for additional investments in cybersecurity as well as 5G technology, and additive manufacturing, and supports education programs to grow the STEM workforce. Recognizing the challenges of foreign intelligence services targeting academic institutions, the bill establishes a public-private partnership at the National Academies to address counterintelligence concerns, while maintaining an open and collaborative research environment. Provisions are included also to synchronize efforts and leverage best practices across the Department relating to network, industrial base, military installation, and weapon system cybersecurity. We strengthen oversight of military operations in cyber operations to ensure the administration's more assertive posture continues to promote stability in cyberspace. Several provisions in the bill also reflect my priority that Special Operations Forces remain a professional, agile, and ready force postured for high-end missions. In recognition, though, of the tragic three-fold increase of SOF suicides in 2018, the bill increases funding for suicide prevention. This bill also maintains a focus on professionalism and ethics of the force. The NDAA places significant emphasis on ensuring the Defense Intelligence Enterprise also is oriented to provide maximum support to Department requirements. The bill also requires more rigorous reporting on the progress of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center and the technical achievements of Project Maven. Further, this legislation includes critical investments in our submarine fleet. I hail from the great State of Rhode Island, and we are deeply proud of our Nation's submarines, all of which start their journey being built at Quonset Point in my district. Thanks to the leadership of Congressman Joe Courtney from Connecticut, this NDAA recognizes the unique contributions of our undersea vessels, and for the first time includes a third Virginia-class submarine. It also makes sustained investments in game-changing technologies, like electromagnetic railgun and directed energy weapon systems, positioning our warfighters to continue to dominate the battlefield for decades to come. Finally, the fiscal year 2020 NDAA makes measured investments that reflect both our many national security challenges and the fiscal realities that we face. It reflects the hard choices that our constituents demand on us when spending their tax dollars and it enhances congressional oversight to ensure those dollars are used wisely. Now, I have heard my colleagues across the aisle decry it as underfunding the military. Well, I fundamentally disagree. This is my 17th NDAA, and if this bill put our troops at risk, I would be the first to say so and I would not support it. It does not.