Mike Rogers

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, pursuant to House Resolution 1287, I offer amendments en bloc.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Self).

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Molinaro), my colleague.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I will take a minute to thank the ranking member for his leadership. He has been an outstanding partner in this process as we have built what is an outstanding National Defense Authorization Act. I can't overstate how helpful the Democrat staff and the Republican staff have been working together throughout this entire process. This is truly a bipartisan committee and a model for the rest of this institution. Mr. Chair, I encourage Members to support the amendments en bloc, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I wholeheartedly agree with the gentleman's desire to ensure the Department obtains fair and reasonable prices. The committee has done a lot to reform that process and crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse over the last few years. However, I believe I speak for both sides when I say we have some concerns that this amendment may be redundant to ongoing efforts as well as efforts we required the inspector general to undertake in last year's NDAA. We also have some questions about how the amendment would be executed. However, if the gentleman would agree to work with us to address these concerns as the bill moves forward, I would be prepared to accept this amendment at this time. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for agreeing to work with us. We will work with him. Mr. Chair, I agree to accept the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, my colleague from Georgia will be pleased to learn that there is nothing in this year's NDAA that authorizes assistance to Ukraine. That money is provided through the supplemental appropriations bills. The problem with this amendment is it would cut off funds to maintain the deployment of marines to secure our Embassy in Kyiv. It would also cut off the DOD's ability to conduct and use monitoring of weapons systems the U.S. already has provided to Ukraine. We don't want them to fall into bad hands. We need to ensure those weapons stay in our hands. I urge Members to oppose this amendment.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for yielding. This amendment would have serious consequences to our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific as they face down China and North Korea. Former INDOPACOM Commander Admiral Harris highlighted that cluster munitions are essential in a potential conflict with North Korea. I would point out China and Russia have not banned cluster munitions. We also should not wait until the fighting starts to transfer these weapons. Deterrence depends on getting real and effective weapons like cluster munitions in place before a potential fight. I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, pursuant to House Resolution 1287, I offer amendments en bloc.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Davidson).

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Self), my friend and colleague.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Fong), the newest Member of the House of Representatives.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I encourage my colleagues to support this en bloc package, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, pursuant to House Resolution 1287, I offer amendments en bloc.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I encourage my colleagues to support the en bloc package, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. 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. 8070.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, for the first time in decades, this year's Defense bill carries a different short title. It is the Servicemember Quality of Life and National Defense Authorization Act. We did that to underscore the tremendous gains this bill makes toward improving the quality of life for our servicemembers and their families. No servicemember should have to live in squalid conditions. No military family should have to rely on food stamps to feed their children. No one serving this country should have to wait weeks to see a doctor or mental health professional. That is exactly what many of our servicemembers are experiencing, especially our junior enlisted personnel. This bill goes a long way toward fixing that. It includes a 20 percent pay raise for junior enlisted. It expands allowances for housing and food and improves the cost-of-living calculation. The bill authorizes $766 million over the budget request to improve existing barracks and build new ones. It enables the services to pursue public-private partnerships to provide better unaccompanied housing. The bill reduces dangerous healthcare wait times by waiving referral requirements for specialty care and expanding the number of DOD doctors and nurses with special recruitment and pay authorities. The bill improves access to childcare for military families by providing over $206 million to build new DOD childcare centers and fully funding childcare fee assistance programs to offset the cost of private childcare. The bill helps military spouses gain and retain employment by making it easier for them to transfer professional licenses between States. It also gives the DOD the authority to quickly hire military spouses and keep them employed during changes in duty stations. We are making these historic improvements in the quality of life of our servicemembers because, now more than ever, we need to recruit and retain the best and brightest. That is because the threats our Nation faces, especially those from China, are more complex and challenging than at any other point in the last 40 years. To deter those threats, the fiscal year 2025 NDAA reforms acquisition authorities and fosters private-sector innovation to speed the fielding of game-changing new technologies that will give us the advantage in a conflict with China. It strengthens our security partnerships with Taiwan and Pacific allies. It fully funds the modernization of our nuclear deterrent, protects the U.S. military bases, the defense supply chain, and academic research from Chinese espionage. The act builds the logistics network in the Pacific the military needs to carry out operations against China, and it includes new investments to retool and revitalize the industrial base to ensure it can deliver the systems we need to prevail in any conflict. In the face of the growing threats from China, it is also critical we restore our military's focus on lethality. The fiscal year 2025 NDAA does that by ending divisive policies that have hurt unit cohesion and military readiness. We all know that deterring these threats will be an expensive endeavor, but we acknowledge there are limits as to what we can spend. That is why this NDAA is focused on rooting out waste in the DOD. If weapons systems are not responsive to the threats we face, we cut them. In fact, this bill includes over $30 billion in savings from cutting systems that can't survive in a conflict with China and by reining in programs, like the F-35, that are not delivering on requirements. I thank the ranking member and his staff for their tremendous work in putting this bill together. This is a truly bipartisan bill. It passed out of committee 57-1. It executes on hundreds of hours of bipartisan oversight conducted by Members and staff over the past few months. It will help revitalize the defense industrial base. It will build the ready, capable, and lethal fighting force we need to deter China, and it will provide historic improvements in the quality of life of our servicemembers and their families. Mr. Chair, I urge all Members to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time. House of Representatives, Committee on the Budget, Washington, DC, May 29, 2024. Hon. Mike Rogers, Chairman, Committee on Armed Services, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Rogers: I am writing you concerning H.R. 8070, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025. H.R. 8070 contains provisions that fall within the Rule X jurisdiction of the Committee on the Budget. In the interest of permitting your committee to proceed expeditiously to floor consideration of this important legislation, I am willing to waive the Committee on the Budget's right to a sequential referral. I do so with the mutual understanding that by waiving consideration of the bill, the Committee on the Budget does not waive any future jurisdictional claim over the subject matter contained in this or similar legislation, and the Committee will be appropriately consulted and involved as this bill or similar legislation moves forward so that the Committee may address any remaining issues within its jurisdiction. The Committee also reserves the right to seek appointment of an appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate conference convened on this legislation or similar legislation and requests your support if such a request is made. I would appreciate a response to this letter confirming this understanding with respect to H.R. 8070 and would ask that a copy of our exchange of letters on this matter be included in your committee report and in the Congressional Record during floor consideration of H.R. 8070. I look forward to continuing to work with you as this measure moves through the legislative process. Sincerely, Jodey C. Arrington, Chairman, Committee on the Budget.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bergman), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn), my friend and colleague and the chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Banks), the chairman of the Military Personnel Subcommittee.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Kelly), the chairman of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee.

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wittman).

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bacon), a very special member of our committee who not only chairs the Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation but also was the chair of the task force that spent last year studying the quality of life issues that our military families have been struggling with and helped put together the package that we have in this year's bill that addresses those issues.