Mike Rogers

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. I continue to reserve my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I appreciate the gentleman bringing up the issue of cybersecurity, an incredibly important issue, one that this committee spends a great deal of time on. And the ranking member and myself and many members of this committee have co-authored a bill--and many Members of this House--to give that first important step to protecting Americans' networks from both economic espionage and attack of those particular networks. I can't think of anything that is more pressing than that particular issue, and I appreciate the gentleman's working with us on that particular issue and being a leading voice here in Congress on that particular issue. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The ranking member brings up an important point about how complex this bill is and the level of threats and the degree of threat that this great country faces every day and really the importance of our investment in the technology that we need to keep ahead of enemy nations who seek to do us harm. This bill embodies the fact that there will be members of the intelligence community whose job it is to find those Russian spies-- like the illegal alien Russian case that was here--that are attempting to do bad things to the United States. The same with Chinese spies and Iranian spies, and the list is very long. And, unfortunately, it's not a spy novel; it's not a movie. These things are real. They happen every day in the United States, and we are a target of those nation-states as they seek to steal our secrets. This bill provides those protections, and that means that we have to invest in space. It means that we have to invest in our cybersecurity capability. It means that we have to invest in our HUMINT collection, meaning recruiting others who will help us identify and ferret out those who seek to do us harm. It means that we have the challenges of trying to make sure that al Qaeda, who has expressed an interest in a radiological bomb, doesn't get their hands on those types of materials. It means that we have to be careful about nuclear weapons being proliferated around the world by either force security or, worse yet, nation-states who encourage that type of activity. It is no simple job being an intelligence officer or being in the intelligence community here in the United States. I think this bill is an accurate reflection on how we move to the next place, but also an important reminder of the important work that they do, often in the shadows. The men and women who conduct this important work certainly deserve our support and all of the resources that we can muster to make sure that they're successful in their endeavors. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I appreciate the gentleman and look forward to continuing to work with the gentleman from California on those activities when it comes to our overhead architecture. There are programs worthy of investment, and the technology that we apply to this particular effort is incredibly important. We always need to stay ahead. America always needs to be number one, and this bill reflects that. I think the work of the gentleman certainly is reflected in this bill as well, and I look forward to continuing to work with you to make sure that we don't have crowd-out when it comes to future technology. I think it's incredibly important. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I want to thank the members of the committee, both Republican and Democrat, for their fine bipartisan effort on this national security bill of real significance. Many, many hours on behalf of both the Democrat staff and the Republican staff to get this right. When we had to trim back some finances from the community without impacting the mission, that is no small challenge, and I think this product is a testament to all of the work on behalf of both staffs, and both members, Republican and Democrat, to get us here. I want to take this time to thank Senator Feinstein and Senator Chambliss for their work as well on this particular bill. We wouldn't be here today if it weren't for that bicameral and bipartisan effort, again, on this national security bill. General Leave

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill, H.R. 1892, as it will be adopted.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I wish to announce to all Members of the House that the Senate has passed H.R. 1892, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, with amendments, including amendments to the classified Schedule of Authorizations and classified Annex. It is my understanding the House will consider the Senate amendment to the bill tomorrow by suspension of the rules. The Committee on Rules has posted the legislative text of the Senate amendment online for review by all Members. Mr. Speaker, in addition, the amended classified Schedule of Authorizations and classified Annex accompanying the bill are available for review by all Members at the offices of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in room HVC-304 of the Capitol Visitors Center at any time. The committee office will be open during regular business hours for the convenience of any Member who wishes to review the classified material prior to its consideration in the House. I recommend that Members wishing to review the classified Annex contact the committee's director of security to arrange a time for that viewing. This will assure the availability of committee staff to assist Members who desire any assistance during their review of these classified materials. It is important that Members keep in mind the requirements of clause 13 of House rule XXIII, which only permits access to classified information by those Members of the House who have signed the oath and met the requirements provided for in the rule.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I am honored, yet saddened today to come to the floor to honor the short life of Angelo Zoltan Schwartz. The son of Lawrence Sanson Schwartz IV and his wife Allison, Angelo suffered from a rare bone disease, Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI). He was born on Monday, November 28, 2011 at 11:29 a.m., just one minute after his twin sister Cecilia Anne Schwartz. Angelo was 4 pounds 15 ounces and was delivered at INOVA Fairfax Hospital in Virginia. OI, which is a condition causing extremely fragile bones, was the main cause of Angelo's shortened life. Due to this condition his rib cage was fractured in utero and he succumbed to respiratory failure on December 1, 2011 at 3:45 a.m. Over his 64 hours of life, Angelo made a huge impact on everyone who met him, including the nursing and hospital administration staff, who worked together to modify hospital policy to ensure that the Schwartz family could spend as much time together as possible. Angelo is loved and will be missed by his entire family including his grandparents, Debrah and Barry Shulman of Fayetteville, New York; Joanne and Lawrence Schwartz III of Anaheim Hills, California; and his parents Allison and Lawrence Schwartz IV, and his sister Cecilia Anne Schwartz of Alexandria, Virginia.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a man that needs no introduction in Michigan, nor the transportation and intelligent transportation network in the country. After 34 years of public service to the Road Commission for Oakland County, Brent Bair will be retiring at the end of the year. A pillar of the community, Mr. Bair has a long and distinguished resume. Serving as the Managing Director of the Road Commission for Oakland County, his department is responsible for the largest county road system in Michigan, second in size to the state highway system, and currently operates the second largest system of adaptive traffic signals in the nation. He is widely respected as a leading expert on road funding in Michigan and has been an advocate on behalf of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and ITS funding. He is a founding member and past president of the Intelligent Transportation Society of Michigan as well as an active member in and former chairman of the national ITS association, ITS America. As the Chairman of the Intelligent Transportation Systems' Caucus in the House of Representatives, I have long looked to Brent for advice and guidance on good governance and ITS policy. Early on I recognized the benefits to including technological advances in our cars, highways and infrastructure. Through educational programs and ongoing efforts by Brent and ITS Michigan, Congress has recognized that in this economic climate of doing more with less, ITS solutions are an important step towards fiscal responsibility and more importantly, smart solutions. A tireless advocate for his community, Brent Bair will be missed. I wish him and his family all the best in the years to come.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Thank you, Mr. Pitts, and thank you for your leadership on the committee to allow this bill to come to the floor today. Good news, Mr. Speaker: this bill is bipartisan, it's fiscally responsible, and it will make a positive impact on our Nation's national security. It's been more than 10 years since 9/11 and the anthrax attacks that followed. And while we haven't had a successful terrorist attack on U.S. soil, our enemies are still working every day to kill innocent Americans. Today the threat of bioterrorism remains very real. Earlier this year, the bipartisan Graham-Talent Commission warned that the United States it is still ``vulnerable to a large-scale biological attack.'' Thankfully, we have spent the last decade preparing for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats by developing and stockpiling numerous medical countermeasures to protect American citizens in case of such an attack. Because of these efforts, we now have numerous vaccines and treatments in the Strategic National Stockpile that will save lives, and thousands of lives, in the event of such an attack. But we have more work to do to be prepared. H.R. 2405 is a bipartisan, fiscally responsible bill that will reauthorize successful biodefense programs at the Department of Health and Human Services while also making some key changes to our Nation's biodefense strategy. In 2004 Congress passed Project BioShield, which created a market guarantee that prompted the private sector to develop countermeasures for the Federal Government. Because the government is the only purchaser of these countermeasures, it was important to show the private sector we were committed to developing and eventually purchasing these products for stockpile. Project BioShield Special Reserve Fund has been a critical tool to protect our country against an attack, and this legislation will reauthorize the fund for 5 additional years to continue the Federal Government's commitment to procurement of medical countermeasures. Importantly, this legislation reaffirms that the Special Reserve Fund should only be used for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear countermeasure procurement. This is a national security priority, and these funds should never be diverted for other purposes. In 2006, Congress created a Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, called BARDA, which helped bridge what many termed the ``valley of death'' that had prevented many countermeasure developers from being successful. BARDA was created because we recognize that most of the CBRN countermeasures do not yet exist and medical development countermeasure is a risky, expensive and lengthy process. BARDA bridges the funding gap between early-stage research and the ultimate procurement of products from the SRF fund from the national stockpile. H.R. 2405 reauthorizes BARDA for 5 years. In 2006, we also created a unique set of public health programs to assist hospitals, local public health departments, and first responders in their preparedness efforts. Under H.R. 2405, these programs have been reauthorized for an additional 5 years so that we can continue to strengthen our preparedness infrastructure so critical for prevention and dealing with any possible attack. H.R. 2405 also strengthens the role of the HHS Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response. We need to have one leader at HHS that coordinates countermeasure development and stockpiling across all agencies. This bill does that. Finally, this bill includes important reforms to the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA. The bill strengthens FDA's role in reviewing medical products for national security priorities. I believe that we've identified biological threats and spent millions in taxpayers' funds to develop countermeasures. The FDA must take a lead role in getting these countermeasures approved. While we can use many of these products without FDA approval through an emergency-use authorization, the FDA licensure is hugely important and sends an important signal to developers of these new hopeful technologies and immunizations working on next-generation medical countermeasures. Simply put, medical countermeasures for national security priorities cannot continue to be treated the same way as the next Viagra or Lipitor. FDA must accelerate their review and approval. It's important for Members to know that this legislation, again, is fiscally responsible. H.R. 2405 does not create any new Federal programs or increase spending in any existing programs. I am pleased CBO has confirmed this in their score. H.R. 2405 creates a 5-year reauthorization of the biodefense programs we know are working while making critical policy changes at HHS to strengthen countermeasure development and public health preparedness. I would like to thank my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee for their hard work on this bipartisan legislation. Mr. Upton, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Pallone, and their staffs have spent several months helping us develop a bipartisan bill that can be signed into law. I want to especially thank my friends, Gene Green, Sue Myrick, and Anna Eshoo for their work to advance this legislation; and I appreciate your work and counsel along the way, Mr. Green. I hope we never have to use these countermeasures, Mr. Speaker; but they are critical to the assurance that the public will be protected from an attack, and we must continue to speed development and strengthen our national stockpile. Simply put, we must always be prepared. I would urge the strong support of H.R. 2405.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this time to commend Jon. D. Spalding, an outstanding citizen and business leader from Perry, Michigan. I want to recognize him today as he completes his service as a national officer of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents. Mr. Spalding also served with distinction a term as President of the association. Mr. Spalding has distinguished himself throughout his career as a professional insurance agent and he has exhibited only the highest standards of honesty, integrity and professionalism, serving as the President of the Professional Insurance Agents of Michigan. Jon D. Spalding's tenure as president of PIA National marks the first time in the history of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents that a father, and then his son, has served as President of the organization. Jon D. Spalding was President of PIA National in 2009-2010; his father, Robert M. Spalding, Sr. served as President of PIA National in 1995-96. With his years of hard work and dedication Jon D. Spalding has earned the respect and admiration of his many colleagues throughout the insurance industry. He has embodied the motto of his insurance association, ``Local Agents Serving Main Street America.'' Therefore, I would like to congratulate and commend Jon D. Spalding of Perry, Michigan upon the successful completion of his service as a national officer and as President of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that in the engrossment of the bill, H.R. 1892, the Clerk be authorized to make such technical and conforming changes as necessary to reflect the actions of the House.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chair, I first wish to announce that, subsequent to ordering the bill reported, the committee has modified the classified schedule of authorizations to the bill with respect to the level of funding of certain programs, with bipartisan agreement between myself and my ranking member, Mr. Ruppersberger. The classified annex containing the schedule of authorizations is available for review by all Members of the House, subject to the rules of the House and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, under the procedures described in my announcement to the House on Wednesday. The modified schedule of authorizations is and has been available for review to Members for the period of time required by the rules of the House. Madam Chair, I think this is an important day for the community, certainly rolling into the weekend of the 10th anniversary of that tragic event on 9/11. It is important, it is crucial, that we continue to monitor, to improve, to provide support for our intelligence services who so bravely around the world and here at home serve to protect the United States of America. The bill before us today is a vital tool for our oversight of the intelligence community's classified activities and is critical to ensuring our intelligence agencies have the resources and authorities they need to do their important work. Passing an annual intelligence bill is vital to keeping the laws governing our intelligence operations up to date. The FY12 bill sustains today's intelligence operations and provides for future capabilities while achieving significant savings. The U.S. intelligence community plays a critical role in the war on terrorism and securing the country from many other threats that we face. This bill funds all U.S. intelligence agencies, spanning 17 separate agencies, totaling roughly $80 billion. The bill's comprehensive classified annex provides detailed guidance on intelligence spending, including adjustments to costly programs. It provides oversight and authorization for critical intelligence activities, including but not limited to the global counterterrorism operations such as the one that took out Osama bin Laden; tactical intelligence support to combat units in Afghanistan and Iraq and other places; cyber defense by the National Security Agency; detecting and countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; the R&D, research and development, of new technology to maintain our intelligence agencies' technological edge, including work on code breaking and spy satellites. The bill also reflects our tough economic times as well, Madam Chair. After passage of the Budget Control Act, the committee revamped the bill it reported out of committee in May to double its budget savings. The bill is significantly below the President's FY12 budget request and further still below the FY11 authorized and appropriated levels. We accomplished this without impacting the mission. The savings were achieved through a whole series of joint work and effort by many to merge services and find savings that would bring efficiencies, as I said, again, Madam Chair, without impacting the mission of the intelligence services. The bill curbs unnecessary personnel growth. The cost of additional personnel would squeeze funding for high-tech investments, which is our competitive advantage in intelligence. While the bill denies most of the administration's requested personnel increases, it adds some key positions in high priority areas such as cyber defense. The bill also promotes major operating efficiencies in a number of areas, including data processing, IT, and office leases, finding over $100 million in savings. This bill also makes only ``best value'' investments and shaves $1 billion from a handful of very large-ticket hardware items and programs that the intelligence community is involved in. The bill protects investments in cutting-edge R&D and redirects $500 million of savings to invest in some game-changing technologies. The bottom line is this bipartisan bill preserves and advances national security, and it is also fiscally responsible. Secrecy is a necessary part of our country's intelligence work, so the intelligence committees must conduct strong and effective oversight on behalf of the American people. That oversight is impossible, however, without an annual Intelligence authorization bill. Madam Chair, that's why we stand before you today with a bill that I think this body can be proud of, America can be proud of, and our intelligence community can take to the bank that we're investing in their mission success. House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Washington, DC, September 2, 2011. Hon. Mike Rogers, Chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, House of Representatives, The Capitol, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Rogers: I write to confirm our mutual understanding regarding provisions in the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 within the jurisdiction of the Foreign Affairs Committee, specifically the preparation of Nuclear Proliferation Assessment Statements and a requirement that the Department of State provide information concerning individuals detained at Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. We appreciate your agreeing to include the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the list of committees to which this information will be submitted. In order to expedite Floor consideration of this legislation, the Committee will not object to the inclusion of these two provisions and will not mark up the bill. The Committee takes this action with the mutual understanding that the Committee's jurisdiction over this, and similar legislation, is in no way diminished or altered. The Committee reserves the right to seek appointment to any House-Senate conference on this legislation, and requests your support if such a request is made. I would appreciate your including this letter in the Congressional Record during consideration of the legislation on the House Floor. Sincerely, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chairman.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1892.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Madam Chair, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chair, I have a lot of respect for the gentleman from Ohio. I think on this, unfortunately, his facts were just not correct. It's interesting in the business of intelligence because so much of it is classified that the rhetoric is easy to throw around and the condemnation is easy to heap on the very brave men and women who are following the law that we give them overseas. And I think that's one of the reasons that this administration came to power and said, all of the kinds of things and all the rhetoric around the political campaign just wasn't true. They found that they were following the law. They were comporting with the missions and guidelines and objectives in accordance with the law of the United States. So they are, in fact following the law. There was no, absolutely no role for the CIA to overthrow the Qadhafi regime. That is just false. So I think we need to be careful about making these assertions that are pretty damning, if you will, that are completely inaccurate. We may believe that happened. I can tell you, on the Intelligence Committee, and my friend, Dutch Ruppersberger, we watch this closely. One of the reasons I hope he will change his mind on the bill, Madam Chair, is that we need the ability to have oversight of these 17 agencies. This bill allows us to do it. By having no bill for 6 years, no authorization bill of any meaning was passed in this House. That's when problems start. This gets us back to regular order. It gets us back into the business of conducting proper oversight and setting the guidelines in the classified annex, which I would urge the gentleman to come down and review in the House Intelligence Committee, which every Member has the privilege and, I argue, responsibility to do that if that's what they desire to do. It lays out very clear guidelines on spending and objectives and policies. So I would argue that the gentleman's position is misstated. I understand his frustration. But, again, this gets us back to regular order, and I praise the administration for continuing the programs that we know were put in place under the last administration that are keeping Americans safer today. With that, Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Again, I thank the gentleman for his comments. I too have concerns about weapons systems in Libya. But one of the problems was you can't be against the intelligence services being places to collect information, and then wonder why they're not in a place to get the information that we might need. And that's part of the problem here. There was no CIA involvement in the regime change, none. That did not happen. I don't know where that got started. That is inaccurate information, and I would be careful about throwing out that the agency was involved in some regime changes. They were not. We have pressed the agency and the administration to be more aggressive on accounting for and rendering safe weapons systems that are scattered all around Libya. We saw this in Iraq. When the regime uses these weapons caches, not to protect the citizens of its own state but to protect its regime, it becomes much more difficult to get a handle on it. We ought to be celebrating the agency's work in trying to determine where these systems are and how we render them safe and account for them, and one way we can do that is passing this bill that gives them the resources to do exactly that. I would hope the gentleman would have a change of heart.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. I respect the gentleman from Ohio's position as well and hope that we can work out those differences as we move forward. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.