Eric Swalwell: “Happy birthday to you. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the ranking member and our chair. I think this IAA…”

“Happy birthday to you. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the ranking member and our chair. I think this IAA represents the best of what we do together in the committee, and I am really just thrilled on behalf of the men and women who serve this country in our military and in our intelligence services that they have an authorization, act, that respects what they do, that enables what they do and understands that we have trying days ahead. Press reports right now are showing that North Korea may have just launched another ballistic missile, and so people who we represent at home are counting on us to do everything we can to protect this great country. It has been a privilege to work with Mr. Schiff and the chairman on this bill. Of particular interest for me is that this bill also has our intelligence agencies report back to Congress just what efforts the Russians are taking not just in America, but across the globe to interfere and meddle in other countries' elections. We have seen an escalating pattern of this over the past few decades, certainly culminating in our recent 2016 election. It is very important that the Congress knows and that the American people and our allies know what continued efforts will look like. So I appreciate the majority's willingness to work with us. We have seen, I think, in just the past few days, a bicameral effort to come together and say that we are not going to tolerate Russia's aggression in the world.…”