National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, pursuant to House Resolution 1438, I offer amendments en bloc.

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Fong).

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul), my friend and colleague.

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Bresnahan).

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Van Epps).

Mr. VAN EPPS. Mr. Chairman, I am honored to rise today to offer three critical amendments.

Military readiness depends on more than the weapons our warfighters carry. It depends on the infrastructure that supports them, our ability to get new technology into their hands, and an industrial base capable of sustaining them in conflict.

At Fort Campbell, much of the water and wastewater infrastructure is more than 60 years old. A major failure could disrupt military operations and affect the health of military families.

This challenge extends far beyond Fort Campbell. That is why my amendment directs the Department of War to assess critical aging utility systems across military installations and prioritize future investments before failures degrade readiness.

However, readiness also means ensuring our warfighters have the best technology available. My second amendment will accelerate the delivery of advanced technologies to the battlefield, cutting through barriers that too often slow innovation. When conflict comes, we must have the capacity to sustain the fight.

My third amendment requires major defense contractors to plan now for how they would rapidly increase production during a national emergency or major conflict.

We must ensure our military has the infrastructure, technology, and industrial capacity to fight and win. I urge my colleagues to support these amendments.

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I urge all Members to support the en bloc package, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, pursuant to House Resolution 1438, I offer amendments en bloc.

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Davidson).
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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I have no further speakers. At this time I urge support of the en bloc package, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, pursuant to House Resolution 1438, I offer amendments en bloc.

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I have no speakers on this en bloc package.

Mr. Chairman, I urge support of the package, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, pursuant to House Resolution 1438, I offer amendments en bloc.

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I urge support of the en bloc package, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I move to strike the last word.

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I will start by thanking my good friend, Adam Smith, the ranking member of the Committee on Armed Services, for his work on this bill. Again, this year, we have continued to work in a bipartisan fashion to lead the Committee on Armed Services, and we have done this for years. I could not have a better partner in doing that.

Folks really need to take note of this, because this is the largest piece of authorizing legislation that moves through the Congress. It authorizes over half of all discretionary spending. We lead this committee in a bipartisan fashion. We passed this bill out of committee in a bipartisan fashion, and that doesn't just happen. That occurs because of leadership that we get from both sides of the aisle.

The staff take their cue from the chair and the ranking member--and other Members do--when we conduct our business, and we do it in a bipartisan fashion. It is so important. We are talking about our Nation's security. We are talking about our men and women who put their lives at risk for our Nation, for the families involved. We want them to know that this is not political gamesmanship that is leading up here. This is Members working in a serious, focused fashion to try to get good policy developed that will make their lives better and keep our Nation free and safe.

Adam Smith just does a great job in leading the committee. When he was chair, he led by example, and he has continued to lead by example as ranking member, and I appreciate that.

I also thank the staff for their work. We have an incredible professional staff on the Committee on Armed Services on both sides of the aisle. They do follow our lead, and they work in a very collaborative fashion, and I thank them for that.

We had a little over a thousand Member provisions submitted to our committee before the markup. We had 1,200 amendments offered during committee markup and 1,400 amendments here. The staff had to go through all of that and work it up, and they have just done it in a very professional fashion.

I also thank House legislative counsel, CBO, and the Parliamentarian for their leadership and staff in developing this bill to the point it is at today.

Mr. Chairman, a couple of weeks ago, we celebrated the 250th anniversary of our independence. But as many of you know, the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps are each celebrating their 251st birthday this year. That is because in 1775, the Continental Congress knew we needed a professional fighting force to secure our freedom.

It was a bold and courageous act that shocked the British and the world. I am certainly not asking for Congress to do anything that courageous.

But for the sake of guaranteeing our freedom well into the future, we need to act now to reverse decades of underinvestment and neglect in our Armed Forces and our defense industrial base.

This bill will do that and much more. It will build the ready, capable, and lethal fighting force we need to deter China and other adversaries.

I know there are provisions in this bill that some folks disagree with, but understand that this is just a single step in a long process.

Everyone should know that we will continue to work in a bipartisan manner as we make our way through the Conference committee. We will work to produce a bill that can best pass both Chambers and be signed into law.

I urge all Members to help us reach that goal by supporting this bill today and moving it along.

Mr. Chair, I urge a ``yes'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

The motion was agreed to.

Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania) having assumed the chair, Mr. Goldman of Texas, Acting Chair of the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, reported that that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 8800) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes, had come to no resolution thereon.

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