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

Floor Speech

Date: Dec. 8, 2020
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. NORCROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding and certainly for his leadership in bringing this conference report to the floor for the 60th year. And certainly, I take a moment to thank Mac Thornberry, who this conference report is named after, for his leadership, and certainly Mike Rogers. They are the type of Members that we all should look toward in terms of being bipartisan and working toward a goal.

Mr. Speaker, this conference report continues the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee's long tradition of bipartisanship to make America's Armed Forces the best in the world. I commend the hard work of our Members, my colleagues, our staff, certainly in these unusual and demanding circumstances brought on by the coronavirus.

I also thank Ranking Member Hartzler for her leadership and commitment to working toward a goal of keeping America safe. Our cooperation has kept us focused on what is truly important. We have delivered a defense bill that meets the modernization and readiness needs of our Nation's air and land forces.

This bill carefully manages our military resources while increasing the Department of Defense program oversight to make sure that we do our job, particularly in the F-35, our most advanced weapons system and also the most expensive in U.S. history.

But we are also looking at manned and unmanned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, and continued oversight of the Army's new modernization strategy with respect to Army aviation, including the CH-47 Chinook helicopter.

Also, I take a moment for our national defense and the priorities of keeping America safe and New Jersey safe while ensuring the KC-10 refuelers are not retired prematurely and making sure the KC-46s are being delivered on time.

I am grateful this bill includes that 3 percent pay raise, taking care of military families and also providing affordable childcare on bases. Making sure that your children are safe is incredibly important.

I am proud of the hard work this committee has done to continue to serve America's national security interests.

Mr. Speaker, this bill deserves our support, and I urge a ``yes'' vote.

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