Dutch Ruppersberger: “I want to thank the ranking member for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this bipartisan bill. First…”

“I want to thank the ranking member for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this bipartisan bill. First and foremost, intelligence is about people. We cannot collect, analyze, and utilize intelligence effectively unless we can recruit, hire, and retain the best people possible. Therefore, I want to thank Chairman Nunes and Ranking Member Schiff, and their staffs, for working with me to include provisions in this bill that improve parental leave policies of the intelligence community. These provisions will ensure that these benefits are, to the fullest extent possible, in line with the private sector. Doing so will help the IC develop and retain the workforce required to keep America safe against all our foes, both new and old. This legislation also takes important steps to ensure the IC provides critical updates to Congress in the event the United States faces a foreign cyber attack or other active measures that threaten the heart of our democracy: our elections. There is no doubt that Russia will continue to exert a malign influence on the heart and soul of our democracy. This cannot be tolerated, and I strongly support the efforts of the chairman and ranking member to ensure Congress will be informed of the most critical threats to our democracy. I thank the chairman and ranking member, and the entire intelligence community and staff, for their dedicated oversight of the intelligence community and their commitment to enhancing national security.”