National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027

Floor Speech

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Mr. HARRIGAN. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.

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Mr. HARRIGAN. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition today to the Roy amendment. Section 518 is a limited, responsible pilot. It authorizes, but does not require, the Secretary of War to test a risk- informed approach to drug testing, using voice-based assessment to help target where physical testing is actually warranted. It does not replace it. It stays inside the existing Drug Demand Reduction Program, it comes with privacy protections, a report back to this committee within 1 year, and it sunsets automatically with no action after 3 years. This amendment would kill that pilot before the Department ever has the chance to evaluate it.

The Department of War spends roughly $120 million a year on drug testing and burns more than 4.6 million servicemember hours doing it, even though only a small fraction of tests ever come back positive. A risk-informed approach could return millions of those hours to training and mission execution and save the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year. This is not about weakening drug testing. The statute requires the pilot to preserve deterrence, readiness, and good order and discipline. It is about testing whether we can apply our standards more intelligently instead of spreading the same blunt process across a force that is overwhelmingly clean.

This is a readiness issue. It is a taxpayer issue, and it is a servicemember dignity issue all at once. The Roy amendment defends an expensive, outdated status quo over a cautious, measurable pilot that has built-in oversight. Congress should be encouraging this kind of disciplined modernization, not blocking it before the Department of War ever gets the data.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this amendment and preserve section 518.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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