Mike Rogers

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, although I am not opposed to the amendment.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for offering the amendment. Ubiquitous commercial data collection and bulk data sales represent a privacy concern for all Americans. Companies and governments alike have access to once unimaginable amounts of user data through commercial channels. This development and the Fourth Amendment questions that come with it deserve full consideration. I look forward to working with the gentleman on this amendment to ensure that these issues are addressed in a manner that does not unduly burden the Department of Defense relative to the rest of the Federal Government while ensuring its operational needs are met. I think Congress will spend a substantial amount of time on the privacy concerns addressed by this amendment in the coming months, and I welcome that discussion. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, pursuant to House Resolution 583, I offer amendments en bloc.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nunn), my friend and colleague.

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Iowa.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Mike Garcia), my friend.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Van Orden), an outstanding freshman.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Jackson), my friend.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Molinaro), my friend.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, we have no further speakers if the gentleman would like to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chair, I thank our bipartisan HASC staff for their tremendous work. As I talked about yesterday, our committee staff has worked for monthslong hours in a very bipartisan fashion to get us where we are today. I also thank everyone from the Office of the Legislative Counsel, the Congressional Budget Office, the Parliamentarian's Office, the Clerk, the floor staff, the Rules Committee, and the leadership on both sides of the aisle. I especially thank my friend, Ranking Member Smith, for his hard work and assistance. As a longtime former chairman of this committee, he gets the ebbs and flows of this process and has been a very helpful partner in helping me lead this committee. Mr. Chairman, this is a good bill. I will address this to my Conference: There is absolutely no reason why any Republican should vote against the bill. It will enhance the congressional oversight of the DOD. It will improve the quality of life for our servicemembers and their families. It will help build the ready, capable, and lethal fighting force we need to deter the Chinese Communist Party and other adversaries. Mr. Chair, I urge all Members to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Clerk be authorized to make technical corrections in the engrossment of H.R. 2670, including corrections in spelling, punctuation, section and title numbering, cross referencing, conforming amendments to the table of contents and short titles, and the insertion of appropriate headings.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I support the amendment and believe it will help the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees in their ongoing investigations of the war in Afghanistan.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding. DOD's abortion travel policy is a flagrant violation of the congressional intent and our Nation's moral principles. This policy is part of the Biden administration's politicization of the military. It is completely unnecessary, and it is clearly unlawful. Madam Chair, I urge all Members to support this amendment.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong opposition to the amendment.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, this amendment would remove a section in the bill relating to the B83 nuclear gravity bomb and prohibit any funding for B83 sustainment. The B83 is the last megaton-class nuclear weapon in our arsenal. It exists to destroy deeply buried targets. China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran are putting some of the things they value most underground, covered in steel and concrete. The B83 is currently our only way of getting to those targets. When the Biden administration proposed to begin retiring the B83 last year, we asked: How are you going to replace them? They didn't have an answer. So, Democrats and Republicans agreed on a provision in the FY 2023 NDAA that allowed the Department to retire up to 25 percent of those bombs but prohibited any further retirements until the Department completed the study on how to replace that capability. As of this date, the Biden Pentagon is still studying the problem, and we are not any closer to the B83 replacement. The language included in our bill repeats the bipartisan compromise struck in last year's NDAA--nothing more and nothing less. I also note this amendment would prohibit all sustaining funding to the B83. Not even the Biden administration thinks this is a good idea. Stockpile sustainment includes the safety and surveillance activities necessary to keep nuclear weapons safe and secure. There is no exception in this amendment to allow for those activities to continue. Completely cutting off funds is irresponsible. Mr. Chair, I urge Members to oppose this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn), my friend and colleague from the Armed Services Committee and the chair of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Strong), who is an outstanding freshman member of the Armed Services Committee.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I believe this amendment is bad policy. Not even the Biden administration is proposing to zero out this funding. It would also be dangerous from a safety point of view. Mr. Chair, I urge all Members to oppose this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong opposition to the amendment.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, this amendment will strike commonsense provisions that have been consistent policies since 2016. Mr. Chair, I urge Members to oppose the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. This amendment would strike a provision in the bill that prohibits the Nation's ICBM fleet from falling below its current size of 400. In 2014, the Obama administration decided to reduce the ICBM fleet to 400 missiles to comply with the New START Treaty. Ever since 2016, the Congress has included provisions in the defense authorization bill to effectively prohibit any further reduction. The reason is simple. Nuclear threats are growing. In fact, just this year, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command notified Congress that China now possesses more ICBM launchers than the United States. Now is not the time to be considering cuts to our ICBM fleet, which remains central to our deterrent. I want to quote former Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Hyten, whom many of us know and respect. When asked specifically about reducing the ICBM force, he replied: ``I don't understand how, with the threats that we face today, which are growing, not shrinking, we would make a decision today as a nation to lessen our overall strategic deterrent. That makes no sense to me, and my best military advice is that we do not do that.'' Mr. Chair, I urge all Members to oppose the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.