Disinterment of Remains of Fernando V. Cota From Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, Texas

Floor Speech

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Mr. NORCROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Smith and Chairman Rogers, and those who came before us, for 60-plus years of working on this piece legislation to make sure we get it done on behalf of America. We have a that long, proud tradition of bipartisan work by our Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, with special thanks to my chairman, Chairman Wittman, and his staff. We all work together and have a commitment to make sure we get this done.

Mr. Speaker, this bill addresses affordability and achievability of the current and future modernization requirements while continuing the oversight necessary to ensure reasonable execution of these programs that include all of our tactical aircraft programs; the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft; and tactical munitions.

This bill also includes the subcommittee's multiyear effort to manage the largest acquisition program in the history of the Department of Defense. Yes, that is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. This year, the bill extends by 5 years the annual Government Accountability Office report on the F-35. We have done many things for F-35 oversight in the past 2 years, and I am very proud of the way we are bringing it back to where it needs to be.

As we continue to wage war against so many of those who will do our country harm, the one good thing we can say is that we work together.

Finally, I thank the subcommittee professional staff for their hard work, including Jay Vallario, Michael Kirlin, Heath Bope, Caroline Kehrli, Brooke Alred, and Andrew Smith. Certainly, I also thank my own personal staff assistant, Robin Dickey; defense fellow, Bryant Yee; and legislative director, Sam Devito.

As we finish up, this is going to be an incredibly important vote for the history of our country. Mr. Speaker, I thank all of those involved.

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Mr. NORCROSS. Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to commit this bill back to committee. If the House rules permitted, I would have offered this motion with an important amendment to this bill.

The amendment would talk about the very issue that I spoke about earlier. Earlier this year, President Trump launched one of the largest attacks on labor in U.S. history by signing an executive order to strip Federal workers of their collective bargaining rights.

For more than 60 years, Federal agencies under both Democratic and Republican administrations have recognized these rights, which give workers a voice in the workplace. The one thing that Trump said is that we are trying to keep the Department of Defense from striking workers.

This has always been illegal. There has never been a strike at the Department of Defense by the civilian employees. It is banned. It does not impact national security. It is clear that this is union-busting tactics by the union buster in chief.

I was a union electrician, and I am the co-chair of the Labor Caucus. I know firsthand how important collective bargaining rights are. It gives a voice to those workers.

At a time when we are trying to encourage people to go to work for the Department of Defense, this is a way to try to keep them away because they don't have a voice. It is key to securing fair wages, a safe workplace, and dignity on the job. With that executive order, over 1 million Federal employees were impacted by this, including the Department of Defense.

Unions, the collective bargaining agreement, were created by a vote of the workers--by a vote. They voted overwhelmingly. President Trump's executive order seeks to silence those workers by overriding this sacred vote.

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Mr. NORCROSS. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to please join me in voting for this motion to commit.
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Mr. NORCROSS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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