Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise in support of this 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. As chairman of the Readiness Subcommittee, I have focused our efforts on ensuring the Department of Defense is ready to fight around the world, especially in the Pacific, by improving its maintenance, improving its logistics, and the availability of our defense assets. This bill moves us in the right direction. As Representative Gallagher and others have said, we are witnessing the largest military buildup in China since we saw in Germany in the 1930s, particularly with their Navy, as they head toward 500 ships and we shrink to under 300. This bill instills accountability for the Navy, especially for its lagging availabilities in its amphibious warships and attack submarine fleets. Mr. Chairman, 18 of the Navy's 49 attack submarines are in maintenance right now as we speak. This is the lowest number of ready attack submarines since 2008, and it is unacceptable. Believe it or not, Mr. Chair, our bases in Europe have been reliant on Russian energy. This bill mandates the Department eliminate that reliance on Russian energy for all our installations in the European Command, and this bill directs a report on foreign control and influence over the supply chain for critical minerals and metals used for defense technologies. Mr. Chairman, importantly, this bill moves our military back toward being a meritocracy focused on lethality and winning our Nation's wars.…”