Mac Thornberry

Mr. THORNBERRY

Mr. THORNBERRY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding and once again want to commend him for his stewardship of the committee through very challenging times. Madam Speaker, I continue to support this bill, as more than 80 percent of the House did just 20 days ago. It is the exact same bill, not a comma has changed. It still prevents the military from having their pay cut. It still creates new tools to deal with a newly aggressive China. It still includes the important U.S.-Israel Assistance Act and provides help for Vietnam veterans. One thing, I guess, is new in the past few days, because a devastating cyberattack by Russia has been exposed; but, fortunately, this bill has dozens of provisions to help strengthen the country's defenses in cyber. So the President has exercised his constitutional prerogative. Now, Madam Speaker, it is up to us. Our troops, the country, indeed, the world is watching to see what we will do, whether we can tune out other differences and still come together to support the men and women of the military and American national security. I would only ask that, as Members vote, they put the best interests of the country first. There is no other consideration that should matter. This vote is about supporting our troops and defending America. While not perfect, this bill does a good job of advancing both and should be supported once again. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. THORNBERRY

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Luetkemeyer), who is a distinguished member of the Financial Services Committee.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Banks), a distinguished member of the committee.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Ms. Cheney), the distinguished Chair of the Republican Conference.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wittman).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Kelly).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Stefanik).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bacon).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I would begin by expressing my gratitude and admiration for Chairman Adam Smith and our ability to work together over a number of years, as well as to the members on both sides of the Armed Services Committee and our colleagues in the Senate, Chairman Inhofe and Ranking Member Reed. Like Chairman Smith, I also want to pay particular attention, gratitude, and honors to our professional staff. They started this conference process in July, and they have been working all these months to make sure that every detail was as right as we could make it. I particularly want to thank Dan Sennott, who had the responsibility of answering my phone calls on nights and weekends and so forth. Our staff worked with the professionalism and patriotism that would make all Americans proud if they could see it. I also appreciate the generous words of my colleagues and having my name attached to this bill. This bill is one of which I am very proud. It strengthens our country's security in many ways. But as grateful as I am, I do not lose sight of the fact that this bill is not--and this bill has never been in 60 years--about any of us. It is not about us or our political agendas or our political grievances. This bill is about the men and women who risk their lives to protect and defend us and our freedoms and their families. This bill is about American national security. We have been able to come together on those things for 60 years, whatever other differences we may have had. Without this bill, both the troops and America's national security will be hurt. Now, Members need to understand that and accept responsibility for the consequences of their vote. That damage that would happen without this bill cannot be papered over with some executive order or any appropriation bill, and it won't or it can't be repaired by a new bill in a new Congress with a new administration. I know we can always find an excuse to vote against a bill, especially an excuse about what is not in it. So I will admit right here that this bill does not fix healthcare. This bill does not fix immigration. It does not raise or lower taxes. And it does nothing regarding the legal liability of social media companies. All of those things need attention and some kind of action. But our troops should not be punished because this bill does not fix everything that needs to be fixed or it doesn't have a provision exactly the way we would want it. The main reason this bill has been signed into law every year for 59 straight years is because of its substance. But like the chairman, I just want to add a note about process. This committee started collecting proposals in January in a database that would be ultimately included in this bill. It went through all the subcommittees, the full committee, a conference process, and hundreds of amendments have been considered one way or another. Every step of the way, Members shape it. In fact, we could easily identify close to 200 Members of the House that have a provision that can be linked to them in one way or another that are in this bill, and I think that is unique, frankly, in Congress today. If the 6-decade legacy of having this bill signed into law ends with us after 59 years, then I am afraid that process of having hundreds of Members contribute would end as well. A very strong vote will help prevent that. The stronger the vote, the smoother the process from here on out. A strong vote will show the troops that we support them. A strong vote will show the adversaries that we can stand together to support this Nation, and that is what this bill is really all about. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Turner).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I understand that the chairman has no further speakers.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul), the distinguished ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Rogers), the next Republican leader of the House Armed Services Committee.

Mr. THORNBERRY

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I support en bloc package No. 2, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. THORNBERRY

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, the underlying bill, as Chairman Smith pointed out a few moments ago, is consistent with the 2-year budget agreement, which was made last year. It turns out, many of the sponsors of this amendment voted for that 2-year budget agreement. But this year, they only want to cut defense. As my colleagues have pointed out, some accounts are exempt, and that means the real cut is not 10 percent. It is 16 percent. That 16 percent cut would have a severe effect on modernization; on the research we need to do to catch up, in many cases, with Russia and China; and especially on maintenance. This House has been a leader in restoring our readiness and maintaining our planes, ships, and equipment. This takes us back the other way. In other words, this amendment may well cost lives. As several of my colleagues have mentioned, while it exempts some accounts dealing with our people, other accounts are not exempt. So, this amendment results in a $216 million cut to military housing; a $470 million cut to the Department of Defense dependent education program; a $184 million cut to commissaries; $900 million to defense nuclear environmental cleanup, including a $145 million cut to the Hanford site. But underneath it all, there is a fundamental flaw in this amendment. It says that we can cut defense without consequences. It is kind of like we can hide our head under the covers, cut defense, and assume that the threats are just going to go away. But they don't. Those who don't share our values will step into the void. The world will grow more dangerous, and Americans and America's national security will suffer as a result. That is the fact. History proves, time and time again, weakness begat aggression. That is what this bill tries to avoid, and I hope that, on a bipartisan basis, Members will reject this amendment. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, has all the gentleman from Wisconsin's time been used?

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Turner).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Ms. Cheney).