William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. WITTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding.

In committee, we went through over 600 amendments and 12 hours of debate to arrive at this point, and we definitely had our share of differences along the way; but, in the end, we were able to come together to arrive at a very good bipartisan bill.

But this floor debate is quite different. The majority has elected to add several nongermane bills to the NDAA at Rules that have nothing to do with defense. And perhaps even more problematic, these bills are partisan and have been recommended that they be vetoed by the President if they were to pass alone. So the majority has decided to tack it on to a must-pass piece of legislation.

We should not use our servicemembers as a tool to achieve a partisan agenda. I voted in opposition to the rule, and I hope that I can vote for final passage of the Mac Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act.

I do, though, want to highlight three areas of note that accelerate our national security in the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee. In the undersea warfare, we made the biggest move in the bill by authorizing a second Virginia-class submarine.

It is imperative that we move to accelerate the entirety of the undersea capabilities and say to potential aggressors: Today is not your day. Dissuading aggressor nations is the cornerstone of peace upon which our national security and our collective economy rest.

Another area that I take great pride in supporting is the continued investment in our surge sealift. The authorization of four additional sealift vessels and a new tanker security program are essential elements to getting the Army and Marine Corps to distant shores.

Finally, we continue strong oversight of our existing resources in limiting funds for a deficient KC-46A tanker and a promising but unproven unmanned surface vessel fleet.

Before I conclude, I want to specifically thank Chairman Courtney and his team, who led a strong bipartisan mark. Chairman Courtney has been tremendous and is a fantastic Seapower Projection Forces chairman, and I look forward to continuing to work with him to deliver the Seapower Projection Forces our Nation needs. He is, indeed, the example of a servant leader and one that works in a bipartisan manner.

My friends, this is a good bill that, in its current form, is worthy of support. I look forward to saying that I was part of passing the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021.

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Mr. WITTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am in opposition to this amendment because it actually creates a structural imbalance, or a structural deficit, in what we have been doing the last 5 years to rebuild our military, to regain that lost readiness.

If you exempt personnel accounts and health plans, this actually turns out to be a 16 percent reduction. Let me tell you the things that this 16 percent reduction will result in.

You will have family housing benefits for military members that go out the window. We won't be supporting their families.

It will make existing base housing agreements insolvent, so what we do to help house our men and women in the military and their families goes out the window. Basic family safety nets for children, suicide prevention, and family support, out the window. So much for supporting our brave men and women who serve this Nation.

Servicemembers on-base food support, so much for helping them through these challenging times and making sure that their basic needs are met.

It creates a hollow force. Remember, what we do in investing in our military is to build the ability for our Nation to deter our adversaries. We have seen, historically, when there is an imbalance in powers between near-peer adversaries, what happens? We find ourselves in conflict.

Why would we want to send a message to the rest of the world that we are going to purposely weaken our United States military, that we are going to put our Nation in a position not to be able to defend ourselves and to deter others from perpetrating their violence across the world?

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