Jackie Speier: “I thank the chair for yielding and for his outstanding leadership and to Ranking Member Thornberry for an outstanding…”

“I thank the chair for yielding and for his outstanding leadership and to Ranking Member Thornberry for an outstanding job over his 25 years. I am proud to speak in support of this bipartisan bill that was passed unanimously out of committee. The subcommittee accepted 111 total amendments: 37 from the Republicans and 74 from the Democrats. I would like to thank Ranking Member Kelly, whom I enjoyed working with, and the other members of the committee and the herculean work from our staff: Craig, Dave, Hannah, Glenn, Danielle, and from my personal staff, Josh, Yanna, Brian, and Luke. This bill continues the committee's tradition of improving the lives of servicemembers and their families by authorizing a 3 percent pay raise, requiring standardization and significant improvements to the Exceptional Family Member Program, expanding 24-hour childcare availability and addressing provider shortages, improving sexual assault and intimate-partner violence prevention and response, and delaying the Department's plan to cut the military health system to ensure they are able to respond to future pandemics.…”