Providing for Consideration of H.R. William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year Providing for Consideration of H.R. Child Care is Essential Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Child Care for Economic Recovery Act; and Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendments to H.R. Taxpayer First Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Perlmutter for yielding me the time.

I am proud to rise in support of this rule and the underlying legislation. I believe that each of the underlying bills that we consider in this rule will benefit not only people across the country but, in particular, residents of Pennsylvania's Fifth Congressional District in a meaningful and tangible way.

The NDAA provides a 3 percent pay increase for our servicemembers and their families, expands paid family leave, and makes long-overdue changes in how the Department of Defense addresses the needs of servicewomen.

The NDAA also makes necessary investments in our ability to handle future deadly infectious diseases and key investments in military infrastructure to support our troops overseas, but for the residents of my district, the benefits go even further.

More than 4,600 people in my region are proudly employed in building the Chinook helicopter, our country's premier heavy-lift aircraft, as well as the Osprey, one of the Navy's most innovative and invaluable assets. Our neighbors who build these incredible aircraft are immensely proud of both their record of producing these aircraft on time and on budget and their craftsmanship, which correctly supports our national security around the world. I am proud to continue our region's bipartisan tradition of Federal support for this critical program.

This bill is also important to the brave Federal firefighters in our region who protect some of our country's most valuable assets.

Two of the first people who visited my office after I was sworn in were firefighters Joe Love and Brian Collison. They told me that they love their jobs, but the schedule imposed on firefighters in our region was unworkable, leading to low morale, high rates of divorce, high requests to transfer to other stations, and difficulty filling vacancies. I have worked with my friend and colleague Congressman Don Norcross to secure language in this bill that will allow our local Federal firefighters to adopt the alternative work schedule already being used by the vast majority of their peers across the country.

Today's rule also provides for the Great American Outdoors Act, which the House will send to the President's desk this week. This bill benefits every region of the country by permanently funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund and investing heavily in the maintenance backlog at our national parks, both of which are important to our regional economy.

I regularly visit many of the special places in Pennsylvania's Fifth District that will directly benefit from this legislation, including the Heinz Wildlife Refuge and Bartram's Garden.

Funding for the LWCF does not come from taxpayer dollars. It relies on offshore drilling royalties. For every million dollars invested, the program supports 16 to 30 jobs.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all the Members who worked so hard on crafting these critical bills.

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