Hal Rogers: “Thank you for yielding the time. Congratulations to you on your maiden voyage in this role that you are occupying--very…”

“Thank you for yielding the time. Congratulations to you on your maiden voyage in this role that you are occupying--very expertly, I might add. During the forced march that we undertook in the committee for the last 3 weeks, clearing all 12 bills through the full committee in a historically record time, we had a good drill sergeant, Mr. Frelinghuysen. Thank you for doing a great job. We held 74 oversight and budget hearings, heard from over 400 witnesses, with the overarching goal that each of the 12 bills we passed out of our committee addressed the needs of our constituents. I am proud to say that these bills do just that--advance our national defense and secure our borders, take care of our veterans, provide critical infrastructure funding, increase resources to combat the opioid epidemic, maintain our presence as a leader in global diplomacy--all the while maintaining fiscal discipline. I am disappointed that we won't consider all 12 of these bills before the August recess, but this security package is an important step forward. It will ensure that we, as the Congress, uphold our most sacred responsibility to provide for our Nation's common defense. Under the previous administration, our Department of Defense faced needless uncertainty.…”