Providing for Further Consideration of H.R. 4435, Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015; And Providing for Consideration of H.R. 3361, USA FREEDOM Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. POLIS. I thought, perhaps, they had been holding their tongues all along, wanting to speak after ours. Very well then. I am prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I am grateful that this rule does include several of the amendments that I have had the opportunity to work on.

One is a bipartisan amendment with my colleagues Mr. Perlmutter and Mr. Whitfield, with regard to Rocky Flats in my district, which will help increase transparency to ensure that cold war nuclear workers will have their benefit applications reviewed expeditiously.

There are many survivors in my district who have been exposed to radiation and who are suffering from severe health effects. If they had been on the military side, they would have been taken care of. They are on the civilian side, but have put their lives in harm's way, and they deserve to be taken care of for their service to our country.

I am also pleased with my amendment with Mr. Blumenauer, which would defund the midlife nuclear refueling and overhaul of the George Washington aircraft carrier, which would save $5 billion. The administration released a statement of administrative policy, expressing concern about this unneeded reoverhaul of an aircraft carrier that we do not need as we shrink our carrier fleet permanently to 10 vessels.

Finally, I am pleased with my amendment with Representative Nadler, which is to encourage the Department of Defense to ensure that our ground-based missile defense systems actually work and that there are operational, realistic tests before additional purchases are made of systems that do not keep Americans safe.

This will also be permitted on the floor of the House today.

However, 131 ideas--good, bad, and other--from my colleagues on both side of the aisle are not even allowed to be debated or voted on under this bill.

The single biggest issue, the pressing national issue of the ongoing war in which this Nation is engaged is not even able to have 10 minutes or 1 minute of floor debate, as it has that very same issue, the ongoing presence in Afghanistan. And I have my opinions; my colleague, Mr. McGovern, has his; and folks on the other side and both sides of the aisle have theirs.

This is not a partisan issue. It is simply one that we as representatives of the American people deserve to be able to be their voice on: How long and in what capacity should we continue to send American men and women to Afghanistan?

The only way that we can ensure that this body is allowed to have their voice--Democrats, Republicans, people who want us to stay there, people who don't--is to bring down this rule and to bring forward a rule that allows a debate of the single most significant pressing national policy issue.

In addition, there are a number of amendments around military preparedness and making sure our military has the very best and brightest aspiring Americans to draw from to keep our country safe that is not even allowed to be discussed under the rules of the bill.

And finally, the USA FREEDOM Act, which is no longer the USA FREEDOM Act but a bill that has a loophole as wide as the Grand Canyon that was not in the original USA FREEDOM Act, passed on a bipartisan basis on a voice vote out of committee, and yet 20 amendments--again, good, bad, indifferent, some of which would have addressed the flaws--not even allowed 10 minutes, not allowed 1 minute, not allowed 30 seconds, not allowed 10 seconds, not allowed a vote.

Why are we scared of letting the Members of this body, Republican and Democrat, have a voice in addressing the very legitimate privacy concerns about the NSA?

If people think this bill will somehow address the concerns and they are gone, they are wrong.

I plan on voting against this stripped version, which is no longer the USA FREEDOM Act, to show that it no longer even comes remotely close to addressing the concerns that my constituents have about the NSA overreach with regard to their privacy.

We need to reject this rule to ensure that this body, representatives of the American people, Republican and Democratic, can bring forward the issues that pertain to national defense and our privacy.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the rule, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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