Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of FY15 NDAA, and I urge all of my colleagues to do the same.

I want to say congratulations to Chairman Buck McKeon on delivering the 53rd consecutive NDAA to our men and women and this institution. This institution will be much worse off for you not being here after you leave. We thank you and your family for your service to our country and to this institution.

This bill is replete with important policies that have been clear and undeniable in their impact on the security of the American people:

It funds the development of a new rocket engine to be available by 2019, which will allow us to responsibly break our dependency on the Russian engines;

It reduces red tape and bureaucracy at the National Nuclear Security Administration, which is a critical organization with men and women who do important work to provide the American people with its only true security guarantee: its nuclear deterrent;

It introduces commonsense reforms, using public-private partnerships, to procure commercial satellite services for the military in a more cost-efficient manner;

It funds critical missile defense cooperation with Israel, and includes continued direction of coproduction of these capabilities in the United States with its American workers;

It ensures the administration can not overlook Russia's destabilizing and provocative arms control cheating, as in the case of the INF treaty, and it will not allow the administration to continue to cave to Russian demands on the Open Skies Treaty that pose a direct threat to our national security.

I urge my colleagues to support this very important piece of legislation.

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