Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding, and rise in support of the fiscal 2020 NDAA conference report. This legislation supports our national security and it also accomplishes long-sought Democratic priorities, like extending paid paternal leave to over 2 million Federal employees. I hope that this achievement will pave the way to making paid paternal leave the norm across the workforce. I am very pleased that as a part of this legislation, we are also passing the fiscal year 2018, 2019, and 2020 Intelligence Authorization Acts, aptly named in honor of HPSCI's Damon Nelson and SSCI's Matt Pollard, two dedicated staffers who tragically passed away last year. The Intelligence Authorization Act is the primary legislative product of the Committee on Intelligence and securing its passage into law after it passed the House with nearly 400 votes, strengthens our oversight of the intelligence community and military intelligence immeasurably. I am also proud that the IAA includes many vital important provisions; among them, protecting our elections from foreign interference, understanding and mitigating the effects of climate change, and a competition to improve Deepfake detection. While I support the bill, it is a bitter pill that bipartisan House amendments to finally fix the injustice that has kept 74 sailors who died aboard the USS Frank E. Evans in 1969 off the Vietnam Memorial was removed from the conference report.…”