Matt Gaetz: “On behalf of the tens of thousands of military families in northwest Florida, I rise in strong support of this year's…”

“On behalf of the tens of thousands of military families in northwest Florida, I rise in strong support of this year's National Defense Authorization Act. This bill does right by military families by ensuring that we upgrade training systems, increasing their proficiency, and ensuring that our servicemembers are safe when they go down range. The bill enhances platforms and equipment survivability to ensure that our troops are in the best possible position to prevail in every battle and vanquish any foe. The 2.7 percent pay raise is vastly needed and is a small debt of gratitude for the elite level of patriotism that our servicemembers show each and every day. The bill does right by the mission by investing in research, development test and evaluation by increasing our investment in cyber, by ensuring that we have a military construction budget that allows us to meet ambitious goals to be able to grow strategic mission in particular areas, and our investment in the space force ensures that America will always hold the high ground. With this legislation, America wins the future by focusing on great power competition, and by ensuring that we win that great power competition with great focus and great competence. I thank the bipartisan leadership of the committee, and I would note that that bipartisan leadership has been necessary because President Biden's initial budget did not meet the needs of the country to the same degree that this House will.…”