Providing for Consideration of H.R. Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2018 and 2019
Floor Speech
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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to bring forward this rule on behalf of the Rules Committee.
The rule provides for consideration of H.R. 6237, the Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscals Years 2018 and 2019. The rule provides for 1 hour of debate, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
The rule also provides for a motion to recommit. Additionally, the rule makes in order 12 amendments from Members on both sides of the aisle.
Yesterday, the Rules Committee heard testimony from numerous Members, including Intelligence Committee Chairman Nunes and Ranking Member Schiff, as well as Mr. LoBiondo from New Jersey and Ms. Jackson Lee from Texas.
In addition to the vigorous debate on this legislation before the Rules Committee, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence held a markup of this legislation on June 27, 2018, where the committee voted unanimously to report the bill to the House floor for consideration.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Nunes and Ranking Member Schiff for their important work on this legislation, and I commend them for the strong demonstration of bipartisanship in moving it forward.
The Intelligence Reauthorization Act is among the most important pieces of legislation we consider in this Chamber. It provides the intelligence community, a community that spans 17 different agencies, with the resources it needs to protect our great country.
Chairman Nunes and Ranking Member Schiff approached the task of writing this bill constructively and with a clear understanding of its importance, and their work is evident in the support for this bill we have already seen displayed at the Intelligence Committee markup.
As a result of Mr. Nunes' and Mr. Schiff's work, and of the Intelligence Committee, the legislation provided for by this rule will not only reauthorize programs crucial to the intelligence community, but it will also make a number of critical improvements to the law in support of that community and our national security.
The underlying bill represents an opportunity to pass an important piece of legislation that will enhance our national security in an age of increasingly sophisticated adversaries.
Its provisions include critical functions like deterring nation-state adversaries like Russia and China, countering and defeating ISIS and other terrorist groups, and defending America against cyberattacks, to name a few.
In addition to the critical missions I have listed above, the bill will improve our ability to recruit and retain top cybersecurity professionals, and will provide better benefits to CIA employees injured by acts of terrorism overseas.
Further, the underlying bill will strengthen both internal and congressional oversight over the various components of the intelligence community.
Our government's most fundamental responsibilities are to defend the American people from harm and to protect their liberty. To grasp the weight of these duties, one need only review the preamble of the Constitution.
Mr. Speaker, the reality is that Americans continue to face increasingly sophisticated cyber threats from foreign states and nonstate actors alike. This legislation recognizes the need to ensure that the United States maintains a tactical advantage in the cyber dimension by giving the intelligence community the ability to recruit the very best talent in the field.
This legislation gives the intelligence community the ability to provide increased pay for certain employees who have unique skills to lend to critical cyber missions.
Cyber criminals and other foreign intelligence agencies have increasingly focused on two critical areas of U.S. national security: our energy infrastructure and our election systems. Thanks to the work of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, this legislation will bolster our defense of both areas.
Specifically, this legislation will require the Director of National Intelligence to electronically publish an unclassified advisory report on foreign counterintelligence and cybersecurity threats to election campaigns for Federal office. It will also create an Infrastructure Security Center within the Department of Energy to coordinate intelligence on significant threats.
We must have the tools to combat these threats, and that includes skilled personnel who know how to navigate these challenges. Whether bad actors hone in on our energy resources, election systems, or other strengths, this legislation takes steps to ensure we have the people we need fighting the forces menacing our Nation.
With these improvements in place, those responsible for our Nation's critical infrastructure will have better intelligence with which to protect it.
To provide for our common defense, the dedicated men and women of the intelligence community work tirelessly to thwart the efforts of our foreign adversaries, which range from terrorists to foreign states to nuclear proliferators.
Many in the intelligence community have seen their work in furtherance of the global war on terror and other missions around the world land them in harm's way. This bill recognizes the commitment of these brave men and women, many whose names we will never know.
Finally, the importance of the intelligence community's work and the inherently secretive nature of its mission necessitate vigilant oversight of these activities. This bill will increase the intelligence community's accountability to Congress by requiring reports on numerous issues, including investigations of leaks of classified information and security clearance processing timelines.
Importantly, it will further bolster intelligence oversight by requiring the intelligence community and the Department of Defense to develop a framework for assessing the numerous roles, missions, and functions of the Defense Intelligence Agency. It will also require the FBI to provide quarterly counterintelligence briefings to the congressional intelligence committees.
This legislation will ensure that America remains safe, and it will ensure that American liberties are protected in the process.
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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, there are several issues here. And to clarify, in being one of the members there yesterday and one spoken of, I think there is an issue of when there is a concern by a member. This has been beyond Mrs. Torres coming to the committee, and has been before and when Mr. Hastings and I have been there, many times, when we have issues with the question, the procedure is to stop and to ask the chairman to suspend the question.
This is what was happening yesterday, because there was a concern that the question was impugning the integrity of the chairman. There needed to be clarification. That was a simple--no matter what member may have asked it. That was the discussion that then continued from there.
Also, though, in the past 4 months, there have been 16 times that the chairman has sent a designee from their committee to testify before the Rules Committee and 14 times that the ranking member has sent a designee. Sending a designee from the committee of jurisdiction is common practice, and the chairman stated at the top of the meeting that that was what was going to be taking place.
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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, the understanding was not--and my intention at that point in discussing this was not to stop the questioning, but it is in the concern for the integrity of the question.
You and I have talked before in our committee, and when we have said--and you have asked the chairman for clarification, that was my intention in that and that was my entire intention in that, and from there, the chairman took action from there.
I think the interesting thing in here is the chairman did, at the start of the meeting, say that Mr. Nunes would be leaving.
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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, this is a time when we come to the floor and debate great things. Sometimes, Mr. Speaker, you actually find out things that you did not know, and I now found out that my friend from Florida's middle name is Lamar as we go forward.
Mr. Speaker, this rule provides for legislation that does what we came here to do, and that is to protect our Nation and preserve our civil liberties. The underlying legislation goes a step further than simply reauthorizing critical programs. It takes a hard look, and a smart look, at how we can strengthen programs, better respond to new and existing threats, and conduct vigorous, effective oversight of the intelligence community, while ensuring it has the resources it needs to serve American citizens well.
Mr. Speaker, I look forward to supporting this rule and the underlying bill to strengthen public safety, protect our Nation and the American people, and to guard our civil liberties.
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