Mac Thornberry

Mr. THORNBERRY

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), chair of the Small Business Committee.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Hanna).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Messer).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman, I, too, regret that the distinguished minority whip has chosen not to support this bipartisan legislation. It is absolutely true that this bill does not fix sequester for all those nondefense issues, and as I mentioned yesterday, I think there are a lot of people on both sides of the aisle who would like to find something better than the Budget Control Act--with the caps and sequester--to deal with our budgeting. But that is not what a defense authorization bill is or does or can do. So the idea that we would hold our military and their pay and their weapons and the policies involved hostage in the hopes that we can put enough pressure to have the President and Congress somehow come together to fix all these other problems, I just think that is unrealistic, and I am afraid that that is not fair to the people we support with this legislation. I think that is an unfortunate political tactic that some have chosen to take that puts our men and women at greater risk. They ought to get better from us. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), the distinguished House majority whip.

Mr THORNBERRY

Mr THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to reclaim the balance of the time that I yielded back.

Mr. THORNBERRY

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, pursuant to House Resolution 260, I offer amendments en bloc.

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

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the manager's amendment makes several technical, conforming, and clarifying changes to the bill. It has been drafted in full consultation with the minority and is cosponsored by the ranking member, Mr. Smith. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

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 to insert extraneous material on H.R. 1735.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds. There are, I believe, 19 amendments in this en bloc package from both Republicans and Democrats. Both Republicans and Democrats have contributed to this bill, and I hope all of the Members who have sponsored the 19 amendments that are included in this package will vote for the final passage of the bill, because, if you get an amendment adopted but then you vote against the final passage, you have pretty much negated your own work. I hope that is not the case. I hope Members on both sides of the aisle support its final passage. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I am happy to yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Walorski).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I am happy to yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Coffman).

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

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, pursuant to House Resolution 260, I offer amendments en bloc.

Mr. THORNBERRY

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chair, I ask that the following exchange of letters be submitted during consideration of H.R. 1735: House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Washington, DC, May 1, 2015. Hon. William M. ``Mac'' Thornberry, Chairman, House Armed Services Committee, Washington, DC. Dear Mr. Chairman: I write to confirm our mutual understanding regarding H.R. 1735, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016, which contains substantial matter that falls within the Rule X legislative jurisdiction of the Foreign Affairs Committee. I appreciate the cooperation that allowed us to work out mutually agreeable text on numerous matters prior to your markup. Based on that cooperation and our associated understandings, the Foreign Affairs Committee will not seek a sequential referral or object to floor consideration of the bill text approved at your Committee markup. This decision in no way diminishes or alters the jurisdictional interests of the Foreign Affairs Committee in this bill, any subsequent amendments, or similar legislation. I request your support for the appointment of House Foreign Affairs conferees during any House-Senate conference on this legislation. Finally, I respectfully request that you include this letter and your response in your committee report on the bill and in the Congressional Record during consideration of H.R. 1735 on the House floor. Sincerely, Edward R. Royce, Chairman.

Mr. THORNBERRY

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Farenthold).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the remainder of my time just to mention that in this en bloc package there are amendments from nine Republicans and eight Democrats. We have heard discussed over the last two en bloc packages a number of important issues such as cybersecurity and about equipping and training our National Guard. Again, Members from both sides have contributed to this product. But to make their contributions count, this bill is going to have to pass, and I hope that all the Members who offered these 17 amendments of this en bloc and the other packages will support the final passage not only of this en bloc package but the final of the entire bill. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I support this amendment. I rise just to make two points. Number one, unfortunately, there are a lot of Federal agencies that can't pass an audit, and I hope that all the other committees of the Congress are as diligent as our committee is about making sure they get their agencies to where they can. Our committee in particular, led by CPA Mr. Conaway of Texas, we have pushed this issue, held many oversight hearings, and will continue to push this issue. I think the gentleman's amendment helps that effort. But I want to be really clear that this is a high priority of the committee, and it needs to be a high priority for the other departments besides the Department of Defense as well.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds. In this en bloc package, which I hope Members will support, there are a total of 16 amendments. Nine of them have been sponsored by Republican Members of the House, and seven of them have been sponsored by Democratic Members of the House. They cover a variety of very important topics related to our country's national defense. With all of the hard work that went into writing and now adopting, hopefully, these amendments, I hope that all Members who sponsored these amendments will see their work to its logical conclusion, and that is in their adoption in a bill that passes the House, for it would seem fruitless to me to go through all of the work on these amendments and not have those amendments as part of a bill that passes. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Hardy).

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time in opposition, although I am not opposed to the amendment.

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

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, pursuant to House Resolution 260, I offer amendments en bloc.