Conference Report on H.R. William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the order of the House of December 3, 2020, I call up the conference report on the bill (H.R. 6395) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2021 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. SMITH of Washington. 6395.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the conference report before us today. This is the defense policy bill, and this is an incredibly important piece of legislation. There is a lot of public debate about different issues that sort of rise to the level of people arguing about, and they are very important, passionate issues. But lost in that sometimes is the basic substance of what we do in the defense policy bill, and that is, we exercise our legislative authority to do oversight of the Pentagon and national security policy.

And on that measure, this year's bill is an incredibly important piece of legislation. To begin with, we address the issue of diversity within the military. I really want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, specifically Anthony Brown, Veronica Escobar, and Ruben Gallego for putting forward policy that will address the diversity problems that we have.

Mr. Speaker, our military right now in its leadership and in its recruitment does not adequately reflect the diversity of this country. This bill puts in place a chief diversity officer at the Pentagon and takes a number of other steps to try to correct that, to make sure that we have a military that reflects diversity of this country and that meets the equity and social justice requirements. I think that is an incredibly important policy statement, and a step forward.

We also implement a number of the provisions from a defense policy board led by Eric Schmidt and Bob Work focusing on artificial intelligence. I heard some Members speaking earlier about the importance of that. We have a series of recommendations for how the Department of Defense can do a better job of getting AI right, developing the technology and using it, but also broader technologies as well. The Pentagon is woefully behind right now in taking advantage of the technologies that are crucial to getting us the proper defense going forward. I think that is incredibly important.

Mr. Speaker, we also have a provision that Ranking Member Thornberry worked on. It is not the most sexy or exciting thing in the world. It is 300 pages of cleaning up the technical problems within the acquisition process at the Pentagon, but it is crucially important.

We have so many innovative technologies, so many small businesses out there that are generating great ideas that would be terrific for the Pentagon, but they can't get in. They can't penetrate the bureaucracy and figure out how to even do business, so most of them walk away. It is crucially important that we take steps to fix that.

We also have a provision I have worked on a lot dealing with satellites and launch. Same thing--encourage competition, encourage innovation. Regrettably, the Pentagon has a somewhat understandable bias towards incumbents. They also have a bias towards large companies. But what that does is it makes it harder for that innovation, for those new technologies that are crucial to get through. We make changes to address that.

We also have a provision in this bill to deal with Agent Orange, to make sure that we are taking care of our troops, because that is a crucial part of our oversight as well, to make sure that once the fighting is done, we don't forget the people who fought, that we help them.

For too long, veterans have not been able to access the healthcare they deserve. This bill addresses that. I know that Mark Takano and Josh Harder on our side worked very hard on that issue and I thank them for that. It is crucially important.

Mr. Speaker, I also take a moment to address the concerns that Representative Gaetz raised. He is not accurate in saying that we stop the President from being able to move troops. All we do in Afghanistan is we say, Make sure you give us a reason. And then, frankly, if the President doesn't give us a reason, he can exercise a national security waiver and not follow our advice. It is simply advice that says, Yes, in our opinion, we need to get out of Afghanistan, but we need to do it responsibly.

It is a way crazy overstatement to say that we prevent a Chief Executive from pulling out of Afghanistan. This bill does not do that. It merely says, if you are going to do it, make sure that you do it right so that we protect our troops as we make that decision.

I think that is not an accurate description of what this bill does.

But overall, I want to remind people, it is incredibly important that we pass this piece of legislation for a couple of basic reasons.

Number one, we are the legislative body. The one thing we have in common--House, Senate, Democrat, Republican--is that we are all legislators. We all represent people. If we don't do our job, if we don't pass this bill and exercise oversight, we are ceding authority to the executive branch, authority that is too great already. I think Democrats and Republicans agree on this as well. Granted, when there is a Democratic President, Republicans are more enthusiastic about it, and when there is a Republican President, Democrats are more enthusiastic about it. But we all agree there is too much executive power and not enough legislative oversight.

Let's not walk away from our biggest opportunity every year to exercise that legislative oversight. This is a good bill. If we don't do this, we are not fulfilling one key aspect of our duties to our constituents.

Also, the legislative process itself, I think, is incredibly important. These are times when we have a deeply divided Nation and a deeply divided Congress, but that is precisely the moment when legislative authority is so important. It is how we come together and solve problems.

I will tell you, Senator Inhofe and I disagree on a lot. We also do not have a lot in common.

Mr. Speaker, we have come together on this bill because we recognize the importance of that process. You have to learn how to work with people you disagree with in order for civil society to function. That is what we have done.

Now, sadly, this is the only conference report that we will vote on this session. I think it might be the only one we have voted on in the last 2 years. I could be wrong about that. But if not, it is one of the precious few. That shows you how far we are drifting away from exercising our responsibilities.

If Senator Inhofe and I can come together and agree on this, then I think we can all understand that this is a good bipartisan compromise that we all should support.

I want to close by thanking the staff. I have not worked with a better group of people on anything I have ever done in my life; the House staff, the Senate staff, all outstanding people doing a difficult job.

I also want to do something I haven't done before, and that is specifically thank the legislative counsel and also apologize. Every year, we put this bill together seemingly at the last minute. It is a very big bill. We come up with our ideas, we turn them over to the legislative counsel at 2 o'clock in the morning on Sunday, and say, ``Please do this.''

I am sorry. We are going to try to do better in the future. But thank you, thank you, thank you for the outstanding work that you do.

Lastly, I want to thank Mac. This bill was named after him--over his objection, by the way. He has done an outstanding job as chairman and as ranking member of this committee. He will be missed. I really thank him for his leadership. Without him, this would not be possible.

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Mr. SMITH of Washington. Pelosi), the Speaker of the House.

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Mr. SMITH of Washington. Speier), the chair of the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

I recognize Mrs. Davis is retiring after 22 years of service on the committee. It has been great working with her, and I appreciate her leadership.

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Mr. SMITH of Washington. Waters), the distinguished chair of the Financial Services Committee.

I really want to thank her for her leadership. The Financial Services Committee provided a number of key pieces of legislation on this bill.

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Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished majority leader of the House.

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Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney).

Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on an important aspect of this bill.

My Corporate Transparency Act is the most important anticorruption, anti-money laundering bill in 20 years. When a terrorist cell or a criminal organization wants to move or hide money, they usually do it right here in the United States with a shell company. So the same terrorist groups that want to attack the United States are using our own financial system to finance those attacks. It is appalling, and it has to stop.

My bill will end the abuse of anonymous shell companies in the United States by requiring companies to disclose their true beneficial owners to the Treasury Department at the time the company is formed.

I want to thank my negotiating partners, Chairman Crapo, Ranking Member Brown, Chairwoman Waters, and Ranking Member McHenry, and I congratulate Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Thornberry for all of their hard work on this bill.

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Mr. SMITH of Washington. Jackson Lee).

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much for his leadership. I also thank my fellow Texan, Mac Thornberry, for his service to the Nation as he continues his journey.

Let me say how important this legislation is as it relates to basic pay, incentive pay, and hazard pay for our military families, many of whom are in my congressional district; the work that has been done on the maternity uniform pilot program; and also the work on reenforcing NATO; the sexual assault prevention and response that is so important, particularly in our community in Texas, for the horrible acts at Fort Hood against Vanessa Guillen, causing her to lose her life along with many others. This is a legislation that focuses on the personnel and that focuses on the security of our Nation.

I am very grateful to Congressman Brown for his leadership on joining with other Members to ensure with Chairman Smith that we remove these Confederate names from the names of military bases that represent all people. I am very grateful that my language indicates that profound, dignified, qualified, and heroic African-American soldiers have the right to have their names listed on these particular bases.

I ask America to send in the names of your relatives. Call my office. Send it to the Armed Services Committee. Let us have a base where soldiers go that reflects everyone. I am thankful that my language was put in to name bases after African- American soldiers and other diverse persons.

Mr. Speaker, I ask support of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in strong support of all the Jackson Lee Amendments made in order for consideration of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021.

I thank Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Thornberry and their staffs for working with me and my staff in consideration of several Jackson Lee Amendments.

I am particularly thankful to Chairman Smith for taking up the challenge of removing the stain of confederate traitors being honored by the naming of bases and military installations in their name.

It has been too long that African Americans guarded their communities from the hidden racism that existed under the guise of the confederate flag and knowing through oral history the brutality of those who served voluntarily in the confederate army and whose names were on bases and military installations.

This bill is ushering in a new era where the names of confederates who served voluntarily to take up arms against the United States will have their names removed from places of honor such as military bases or installations and these individuals be placed in historical context where historians and scholars may study ad understand their place in American history.

It is also time that African Americans and Native Americans be recognized for their contributions in defense of our nation.

The history of African Americans and Native Americans serving in the military date back to the colonial period of our nation to the present day.

In every war waged from the Battle of Lexington to the Battle for Fallujah, African Americans and Native Americans have honorably answered the call to duty, and served with great valor and distinction in America's armed forces.

At decisive moments in our nation's history, the United States military and its citizens warriors, were there and made the difference:

The Revolutionary War (1776-1783),

The War of 1812 (1812-1814),

The Mexican-American War (1836),

The Civil War (1861-1865),

The Spanish-American War (1898),

World War I (1914-1918),

World War II (1941-1945),

The Korean War (1950-1953),

The Vietnam War (1965-1975),

The Gulf War (1991), and

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as conflicts in other theaters of war.

The military is there defending our nation when attacked by hostile nations or adversaries.

But it is also there when needed to respond to attack from natural elements like floods and Hurricanes like Hurricanes Irma, Harvey and Katrina.

The military was there doing a job no other branch of our nation's government could do--in the face of overwhelming calamity when the lives of thousands of American citizens were on the line--they came.

Our thanks to the military for being always ready to answer the call of duty--whether that call comes in the dead of night or the light of day--we know that we can count on you.

The names and faces of millions of African Americans who have served our nation in uniform may fade from memory, but this evening we have the opportunity to remember and see them in the faces of the young people who have answered the call to duty by becoming members of the armed forces.

I offered several amendments to H.R. 6395 to improve the bill.

I thank my colleagues: Representatives Bennie Thompson, William Lacy Clay, Gregory Meeks, A. Donald McEachin, Marc Veasey, Stanford Bishop, Andre Carson, and Jahana Hayes for joining as cosponsors of this Amendment.

The fact that military bases have been named after Confederate military leaders or soldiers is hard to imagine given that they were fighting to end the United States.

The Confederacy was not something that should be held up for honor by the United States or our nation's military.

There is no shortage of honorable replacement candidates to receive the honor of having a military base, installation or facility named in their honor. United States Army

1. Gen. Roscoe Robinson Jr.

General Robinson was a 1951 graduate of West Point who attended the service academy before the Army was desegregated. Robinson served in Korea and Vietnam, with valor decorations in both conflicts, and as a training officer as part of the U.S. military support mission in Liberia. He went on to become the first black commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, deputy chief of staff for operations in U.S. Army Europe, commander of U.S. Forces Japan, the U.S. representative on the NATO Military Committee, and the first black four-star general in the Army.

2. William Harvey Carney

William Carney was the first African American recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, which he received for his actions on July 18, 1863 at Fort Wagner, SC while a member of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment in the Civil War--the state's first all-black regiment.

The 54th Massachusetts was the subject of the film, ``Glory,'' starring Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman.

3. Lieutenant Colonel Charity Edna Adams

Lieutenant Colonel Charity Edna Adams was appointed to lead the African American Women's Army Corps unit designated as the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, which became known as the ``Six Triple Eight.''

This unit was instrumental in establishing and maintaining morale because it assured that mail from the battlefront and the home-front flowed efficiently and timely.

4. Lt. Col. Margaret E. Bailey

In 1964, Margaret E. Bailey, Army Nurse Corps, was the first nurse to be promoted to lieutenant colonel. United States Navy

5. Dorie Miller Messman First Class and Admiral Michelle Howard.

Dorie Miller, Messman First Class was serving in a noncombat role in the Navy, Dorie Miller responded heroically when the battleship West Virginia was attacked at Pearl Harbor. He was the first African American to be awarded the Navy Cross, the third highest honor awarded by the US Navy at the time.

6. Admiral Michelle Howard

Admiral Michelle Howard is a four-star Admiral and one of the highest-ranking African American women ever to serve in any branch of the military. Admiral Howard is also the first African American woman to command a U.S. Navy ship, the USS Rushmore.

She is the Navy's second highest ranking officer and is currently serving as the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Africa, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and commander of Allied Joint Force Command Naples. The Air Force

7. Lt. Col Shawna Rochelle-Kimbrell

In 2012, Lieutenant Colonel Kimbrell became the first female African American fighter pilot in the Air Force history. Her flights in Northern Watch marked her as the first female pilot to fly combat missions for Misawa's 35th Fighter Wing, and the first African American woman to employ ordinance in combat. She has more than 1,110 hours in the F-16, including 176 hours of combat time.

8. Colonel Ruth A. Lucas

Colonel Lucas was the first African American woman in the Air Force to be promoted to the rank of colonel. At the time of her retirement in 1970, she was the highest-ranking African American woman in the Air Force.

9. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr

In 1959 General Benjamin O. Davis became the first African American Major General in the United States Air Force. In 1943, he organized and commanded the 332nd Fighter Group known as the Tuskegee Airmen. General Davis received many decorations during his career, including two Distinguished Service Medals and a Silver Star. On December 9, 1998, General Davis was awarded his fourth general's star by President Bill Clinton. The Coast Guard

10. Alex Haley

Chief Petty Officer Haley is best known for writing letters for his shipmates and his short stories and articles, which got him promoted to Chief Journalist of the Coast Guard in 1959. Haley ultimately received a number of military honors, including the American Defense Service Medal, World War II Victory Medal and an honorary degree from the Coast Guard Academy. And most of you know him also as the author of ``Roots.''

11. Bobby C. Wilks

In 1957, Captain Bobby Wilks became the first African American Coast Guard aviator. He later became the first African American to reach the rank of Captain and the first to command a Coast Guard air station. He accumulated over 6,000 flight hours in 18 different types of aircrafts.

Twenty-five percent of the today's military is comprised of persons of color, of which 17.8% are African American.

In 2017, blacks made up 17% of the DOD active-duty military--somewhat higher than their share of the U.S. population ages 18 to 44 (13%). Blacks have consistently been represented in greater shares among enlisted personnel (19% in 2015) than among the commissioned officers (9%). Native Americans

The amendment I offered during House consideration of the NDAA was expanded to include Native Americans.

It is without doubt that the military has a storied history of Native American contributions to the securing our nation since colonial times to the present.

One famous example of their contributions occurred during World War II when the U.S. military developed a specific policy to recruit and train Navajo speakers to become code talkers.

A code talker is the name given to 29 Navajo Natives who used their tribal language to send secret communications on the battlefield.

The Marines formed the Navajo Code Talkers, who created a code based on the complex, unwritten Navajo language.

The code primarily used word association by assigning a Navajo word to key phrases and military tactics.

This system enabled the Code Talkers to translate three lines of English in 20 seconds, not 30 minutes as was common with existing code- breaking machines.

The Code Talkers participated in every major Marine operation in the Pacific theater, giving the Marines a critical advantage throughout the war.

During the nearly month-long battle for Iwo Jima, for example, six Navajo Code Talker Marines successfully transmitted more than 800 messages without error.

Marine leadership noted after the battle that the Code Talkers were critical to the victory at Iwo Jima.

At the end of the war, the Navajo Code remained unbroken.

Our Native American brothers and sisters are more than worthy to be so honored by having their names considered for military bases and installations. Boogaloo and Proud Boys

A Jackson Lee Amendment included in the House version of the NDAA directed the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress the extent, if any, of the threat to national security posed by domestic terrorist groups and organizations motivated by a belief system of white supremacy, such as the Boogaloo and Proud Boys extremists is reflected in the Conference bill.

The NDAA conference identified that the FBI is under statutory obligation, established by Section 5602 of the NDAA FY 2020 (Public Law 116-92), to complete a report that would better characterize the domestic terrorist threat by requiring the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security in consultation with the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), to produce a set of comprehensive reports over 5 years.

The report is to include: a strategic intelligence threat internal to the United States; metrics on the number and type of incidents, coupled with resulting investigations, arrests, prosecutions, and analytic products, copies of the execution of domestic terrorism investigations; detailed explanations of how the FBI, DHS and NCTC prioritize the domestic terrorism threats and incident; and descriptions regarding the type and regularity of training provided by the FBI, DHS, or NCTC to other Federal, State, and local law enforcement.

The conferees note that the report has not been delivered to the appropriate committees and they urge the FBI Director to deliver the report without delay.

The Jackson Lee Amendment to the NDAA FY 2021 sought the same information that is required under the NDAA FY 2020 because of the threat posed by accelerationists and militia extremists who comprise a range of violent anti-government actors, movements, and organizations, some of which branch out of decades-old ideologies and others of which are relatively new has led to violent engagement of law enforcement.

My concern is that in the aftermath of a historic national election, the activity of violence influencers like Boogaloo Boys or Proud Boys will increase and lead to attacks becoming more frequent.

In 2018, we saw too many instances of violent extremists searching for opportunities to sow violence and disrupt democratic processes.

Boogaloo and Proud Boys are targeting constitutionally protected activity for cooption or to provide cover for attacks.

Jackson Lee Amendment 179 implements a recommendation made by the Cyberspace Solarium Commission to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a strategy to implement Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) standard across U.S.-based email providers to increase the security of email.

I thank my colleagues Congressmen Langevin, Gallagher, Katko, and Joyce for joining this bipartisan amendment to the FY 2021 NDAA.

The security of email has grown in importance as it has become in many ways the primary way that businesses, consumers, government communicate.

The Senate bill also addressed this important issue and the language of the final Conference concurs.

I urge my colleagues to support the Conference for the NDAA FY 2021.

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Mr. SMITH of Washington. Correct.

Mostly, I would like to associate myself with Mr. Thornberry's remarks. I think that was the perfect statement of why it is so important to vote for this bill and why every Member of this body should vote for this bill. It contains incredibly important provisions, and the excuses for not doing those provisions just don't hold up.

As Mr. Thornberry points out, every year near the end of the process, because we are the only bill that actually makes it through the process, people who have been working on issues for a long time are desperate to get them taken care of. We respect that, we honor that, and we are the last vehicle to find.

Many times we are able to help, but not always. That is not a reason to not do the bill because of all the other issues, as Mr. Thornberry laid out, that we have not addressed.

Then, as people want to find reasons to oppose the bill, they start saying things that aren't terribly accurate. I think Mr. Gaetz wins the award for that one this year in his remark on Afghanistan.

Our bill says that if the President wants to go below 2,000 troops in Afghanistan--he said he is going to go to 2,300. So this bill doesn't have anything to do with what President Trump said he is going to draw down in Afghanistan. If he wants to go below 2,000 or a future President wants to go below 2,000, then he has to file a report. It doesn't say that he can't do it. He has to file a report.

I actually agree with Mr. Gaetz on where we need to go in Afghanistan. And I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, this bill does nothing to prohibit the next President, President Biden, from completely drawing down in Afghanistan. That is a policy debate he will have.

So anyone who comes to the floor and says they are voting against this bill because of that is really not telling the truth. That is not what this bill does.

I also want to mention the top line because that is a favorite argument on our side to not vote for the bill. I will let you in on a little secret: the defense policy bill does not control how much money we spend at the Pentagon.

I know that sounds a little odd, but it doesn't. The budget process does that. And when we don't have a budget process because of how much things have broken down, which has happened frequently, then the Appropriations Committee decides how much we spend. What we do is we decide how that gets spent and the oversight of it.

A few years ago, Mr. Courtney pushed us to do two submarines a year, a great provision that saved a lot of money. We can control that. But if you think the Pentagon should spend more than it is spending, or less, then your beef is on the appropriations side. We could take the tables out in terms of the amount of money that we have in this bill, and it wouldn't change the amount of money that is spent at the Pentagon.

So, again, if you have a reason to vote against the bill, that is great. But the top line, Afghanistan, those are not valid reasons. This is an important piece of legislation that has been unduly complicated by the fact that, of all people, the President is one of the people this year who, near the end of the process, said: I want to fix that.

He wanted to fix something about section 230 having to do with social media platforms, and he went looking for the only possible vehicle. Let me just say to people on that issue, that section is not going to be addressed in this bill. You can not address section 230 and pass a defense bill; or you can not address section 230 and not pass a defense bill. There is no choice here where you can do both, Mr. Speaker.

So please make the right choice. Please recognize all of the incredibly important bicameral, bipartisan provisions that are contained in this bill. This is one thing in a very tumultuous time that we ought to be able to agree on. There are enough provisions and good policy in here for everyone in this body.

Mr. Speaker, I want to close by thanking everyone in this body. We have worked together in this process. I am now finishing up my 2 years as chairman. My caucus, in their infinite wisdom, has given me another 2 years to do the job, but these first 2 years I really enjoyed the process.

Members keep coming up to me and saying: You have a terrible job, it must be difficult, you have all these people making all these demands.

I love what I do. I am in a position with all the other team here to help people. We don't always succeed and we don't always get it done, but we have a chance. Every Member of the House and Senate, I think, have worked together, and we have produced an outstanding product. Let us reward ourselves for our work. Let us take care of the troops, as we are supposed to do, and pass this bill.

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Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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