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

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 936, I call up the bill (S. 1071) to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to disinter the remains of Fernando V. Cota from Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, Texas, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. 1071.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to present the final National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2026.

This is a good product that was worked in a bipartisan, bicameral fashion.

This year, we focused a lot of our efforts on fixing the Pentagon's broken acquisition process, which is failing our warfighters. The fiscal year 2026 NDAA includes a series of reforms to put commercial solutions first, eliminate regulatory burdens, and end bureaucratic inertia. It also puts in place a system that will deliver capability to the warfighter at the speed and scale that we need.

Fixing acquisitions will go a long way toward ensuring our warfighters are the most capable fighting force on the planet.

Properly equipping our warfighters is critical, but so is ensuring we recruit and retain the best and brightest.

Toward that end, the FY 2026 NDAA continues to make improvements in the quality of life of all of our servicemembers.

This bill supports the Trump administration's 3.8 percent pay raise for all servicemembers that authorizes nearly $3 billion for construction of barracks, family housing, dining facilities, medical facilities, childcare centers, and schools. It also improves servicemember access to mental health services.

Our committee will continue to make improving the quality of life of our servicemembers a top priority every year.

We need a ready, capable, and lethal fighting force because the threats to our Nation, especially those from China, are more complex and challenging than at any point in the last 40 years.

The FY 2026 NDAA counters the threat from China and ensures mission success in the Indo-Pacific. The bill includes a number of provisions to rid adversaries from our defense supply chain. It extends the Pacific Deterrence Initiative to enhance U.S. posture in the region and improves our ability to conduct military operations in the Pacific. It also bolsters Taiwan's defenses and helps build the capacity of our allies in the region.

Furthermore, this bill increases the lethality of our forces to prepare for and deter global threats. The bill authorizes over $26 billion in shipbuilding for additional submarines and surface vessels; $38 billion to ensure air dominance with new generation fighter jets; $25 billion to restore America's arsenal of munitions; and $145 billion to research and develop innovative new technologies our warfighters will need to win on future battlefields.

This is a strong bipartisan bill that delivers for our warfighters and deters our adversaries. It will fundamentally reform the defense acquisition enterprise. It will continue historic improvements in the quality of life of our servicemembers and their families. It will build the ready, capable, and lethal fighting force we need to deter China and our adversaries. It will deliver on President Trump's peace through strength agenda.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Rogers for yielding.

I am grateful to support the National Defense Authorization Act. I appreciate House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers for his success on peace through strength, working together with Ranking Member Adam Smith.

I am grateful that the language that I proposed to support missions at the Savannah River Site and nuclear modernization was included. The two-site solution shows American commitment to peace through strength.

Support for defense programs at universities like the University of South Carolina has provided for the promotion of academia and national security together.

With President Trump's envoy, Tom Barrack, history is being made today for the repeal of the Caesar Act, giving Syrians a chance after 54 years of Ba'athist socialist dictatorship, a message to the dictators in Tehran.

Finally, enhancing security ties with European allies to defeat war criminal Putin keeps American families safe at home.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support the bill.

First, I want to take a minute to thank the ranking member. As anybody who has listened to this debate can just tell, he is a very bright, very thoughtful, articulate fellow, and I am very fortunate that he is my partner in running the Armed Services Committee.

I also thank Chairman Roger Wicker of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Ranking Member Jack Reed. They also are very passionate, thoughtful bipartisan Members of Congress. This product that we bring before the House today is a result of this bipartisan, bicameral effort.

For those of us who have been around here a long time, we used to see more of this. We don't now. It is refreshing to see this kind of effort, this kind of product come to the floor in these more recent years of toxicity in this town and in this Chamber. That toxicity is not reflected in this product.

I also thank our staff for their outstanding work. This is literally a cumulative product of 11 months of a lot of hard staff work. The House Legislative Counsel, the CBO, and the Parliamentarian staff here, leadership staff, as we saw just before this came to the floor, there have been a lot of people pulling hard to get this done, but it has resulted in this product.

A lot of folks don't think about this, but this authorization bill is a massive piece of legislation, not just including what is riding along with it today from other committees, but in and of itself it authorizes over half of all discretionary spending. This is a big deal.

It also has been done for 64 consecutive years. No matter which party has control of the White House, and no matter which party has control of this Chamber, we find a way to make sure our servicemembers have what they need to be successful and safe.

I am very proud of this committee. I am very proud of this product. I am proud of the partnership that we have had with the other party. It is an important bill.

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