National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020

Floor Speech

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Mr. NORCROSS. Mr. Chair, I thank the chairman for yielding and certainly for the work that we have all done, particularly under his leadership, to bring this to the floor.

Mr. Chair, this bill continues that long tradition of transparent and bipartisan work by the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee to support the development and delivery of capabilities that make America's land forces the best in the world.

Mr. Chair, I would like to thank our subcommittee ranking member, Mrs. Hartzler, for her collaboration and contribution to the bill. Both she and her staff have been helpful during this entire process. It is certainly what works well here in Congress. And I appreciate her commitment to the bipartisan tradition we proudly uphold on our subcommittee.

The subcommittee mark was adopted by unanimous voice vote, which is indicative of how important it was to both Democrats and Republicans, but most importantly, Americans.

This cooperation helped us focus on what is important: that we deliver a defense authorization act that meets the modernization and readiness requirements of our Nation's air and land forces.

The committee used the $733 billion as a top line based on sworn testimony from military officials, and the $733 billion is the amount that would give our forces a competitive advantage, based on the capabilities of Russia and China, by 2025.

In fact, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dunford, said that $733 billion:

Is completely informed by the analysis conducted by the military, for the path of capability development.

This goes to the heart of the conversation that we are having here: Are we doing what is right? Certainly the military spelled that out in the number that they provided for the research, development, and acquisition of modern defense systems recommended by our military leaders.

At the same time, this bill includes bipartisan provisions that increase our oversight of the Department's largest, most complex, and expensive programs to protect the taxpayers, support our troops, and boost American industry.

Overall, this is a thoughtful, carefully constructed bill that emphasizes aggressive, effective oversight for the development of our country.

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