Aukus Reform for Military Optimization and Review Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4233. The AUKUS Agreement established by the Biden administration was a historic accomplishment, and Congress has played an important and constructive role in laying the legislative foundation for closer cooperation between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

With this latest legislative effort, Representatives Kim and Dean are continuing and furthering that legacy and promoting a free and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

AUKUS is an important way to bolster our alliance structure in East Asia and the Pacific and do what we do best as a nation: work with our allies toward a common cause, in this case, a free and open Indo- Pacific.

The AUKUS agreement accomplishes these ends by providing Australia with additional submarine training and technology in Pillar I, as well as knitting together cooperative defense research and development efforts between Australia, the United States, and the U.K. in Pillar II.

This bill builds on important, bipartisan provisions agreed to in the fiscal year '24 NDAA which set the foundation for AUKUS and provides minor technical improvements, as well.

Principally, it clarifies and enshrines the ability for AUKUS partners to reexport and retransfer defense material and technology within the AUKUS construct and through established and secured channels.

The bill also provides other technical fixes and clarifications to the already strong bipartisan AUKUS foundational text which continues to serve all three AUKUS countries.

As the Trump administration conducts its belated review of AUKUS, many of us here in Congress on both sides of the aisle look forward to seeing AUKUS continue forward. This bill is a helpful contribution to its shared goals.

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Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Dean).

I applaud the sponsor and cosponsors of the bill for their work on this legislation. We should be working more closely together with allies who share our values. That is the central idea behind the AUKUS agreement and the driving principle of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support it, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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