Mac Thornberry

Mr. THORNBERRY

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

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, pursuant to House Resolution 908, I offer amendments en bloc.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I want to take a moment as we approach the conclusion of this debate to again express my appreciation to the members of the Armed Services Committee, to all of the Members of the House who have contributed to this product, as well as to our staff. Mr. Chairman, I think many Members do not realize that it requires a lot of long, hard, late work on the part of the staff to sift through the 578 amendments that were filed for the Rules Committee in order to make our floor consideration go as smoothly as it has. I want to express again, as I have started our general debate, my appreciation to not only our committee staff, who have been doing this throughout markup and on to floor consideration, but the Rules Committee staff and the leadership staff on both sides that have facilitated this product. It was a good bill to begin with, but with the assistance of a number of Members, it has become a better product, and it is certainly a worthy cause for Members to participate in and to show our support for the men and women who serve. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan), the distinguished Speaker of the House. (Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, with appreciation for the kind words, but especially for the commitment from the Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. THORNBERRY

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I reserve a point of order against the motion to recommit.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I insist on my point of order. I have been advised that the amendment contains new direct spending. Therefore, the amendment violates section 302(f) of the Budget Act, and the CutGo rule. Therefore, I must insist on my point of order, and I ask for a ruling from the Chair.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I move to lay the appeal on the table.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. THORNBERRY

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Clerk be authorized to make technical corrections in the engrossment of H.R. 5515, 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. THORNBERRY

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 5515.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, pursuant to House Resolution 908, I offer amendments en bloc.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 53 printed in House Report 115-702 be modified in the form I have placed at the desk. The ACTING Chair. The Clerk will report the modification.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul), the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Poliquin).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler), the distinguished chair of our Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 55 be removed from the en bloc package.

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

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

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Tenney).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate and understand all Members' desire to not only support jobs in their district, but to support American manufacturing. I share, of course, that goal. At the same time, I must oppose this amendment because there is simply no national security justification to mandate where DOD buys its plates and mugs. Now, there was a view in the past that textiles, food, and certain tools were essential for the health and well-being of our military and related to their combat effectiveness. It is absolutely true that we have had troops die from exposure to tainted food, and that not having the appropriate tools has had an effect on the quality of our weaponry. I have never heard that argument apply when it comes to plates and bowls and knives or forks and spoons that we are about to discuss with the next amendment. Mr. Chairman, adding this mandate hurts our troops because if these suppliers of plates are the best price, then that is what DOD buys. But if it costs more to buy these plates, that money has to come from somewhere. And that money will come from bullets or fuel or other things that are essential for our troops to have. I cannot tell you how many fewer bullets the Pentagon will be able to buy because they have to pay more for their bowls and plates and mugs. I also can't tell you how much more exactly the Pentagon will expend in ensuring compliance with this mandate, to do the studies to check the quality, to have a report if they should fall in one of the exceptions, which are all there within the law. But I know it will be some. Some money, some added bureaucracy is too much. As a matter of fact, the underlying bill is trying to go the other way and get more resources into the hands of our warfighters to increase what we send to the tooth and reduce the tail. I would just say one other point at this point, Mr. Chairman. Where does this stop? Where does this end? Last year, we had knives and forks and spoons. This year, we have got plates and mugs. Does it next go to the trays that they carry their food on? What about the plastic cups that they may drink from? Do we just keep rolling with this and go all the way to the hand soap and toilet paper in the bathroom? I don't know where it stops. If there is not a national security justification to put this added cost and added mandate, we should not do it to our troops. Therefore, I must oppose the gentleman's amendment and other amendments that are not related to national security. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time simply to say: Mr. Chairman, before we add this additional burden on our troops and what we provide to them, there ought to be a scintilla of evidence that this is a problem with the military. Saying, well, somebody might get sick some day is not sufficient to say we are going to take more money away from your needs and put it into plates and mugs. We have got to have a sense of priority and a sense of evidence of where the real problems are. Mr. Chairman, therefore, I oppose the gentleman's amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.