I'm not a fan of government mandates, and neither are my constituents in Mississippi. There is one mandate that the people of Mississippi sent me to Washington with: to repeal, replace, dismantle, delay, and defund ObamaCare. I've heard…

Reclaiming my time, I want to thank the Representative from Florida. He brought up a good point: it's not just our dual- purpose technicians, our MILTECHs making sure our equipment that our warfighters need is operating. And many times…

This is a very simple amendment that corrects what I believe was a simple oversight when exemptions were laid out for sequestration. In July of 2012, OMB offered an exemption for all military personnel accounts. I believe that decision was…

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following: Sec. 10002. None of the funds made…

I appreciate my colleague's remarks, but the Air Force has a very bad track record of doing this every few years. And what they're doing is they're spending millions upon millions of dollars. They're talking about cutting costs, but all…

My amendment is very simple. It prohibits the Air Force from making changes in fiscal year 2014 until 60 days after Congress hears from the Commission we established to report on the global structure of the Air Force. Over the last two…

If the United States of America is no longer able to keep the shipping lanes open and free for commerce and passage, what kind of implications would that have on the U.S. economy?

I wish the American people would wake up to that reality, and I think they may have us prioritize, or at least try to keep our leadership in space.

I didn't expect to make this a China-specific hearing, but it seems like from my trip to PACOM back in 2011, all of our allies and friends and partners pretty much had China on their minds.

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following: Sec. __. None of the funds made…

I keep hearing that personnel is a serious issue that Customs and Border Protection are, you know, recruiting and retaining and training Border Patrol agents.

if we are going to throw 20,000 more Border Patrol agents at the border, billions of dollars in more resources...

On rollcall No. 312, I was in conversation with the chairman of the Armed Services Committee discussing matters important to the Mississippi National Guard. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.'' Amendment No. 7 Offered by Mr…

I am, Mr. Chairman. So with that, I withdraw my amendment and yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The amendment is withdrawn. Amendment No. 37 Offered by Mr. Polis The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment…

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 444, after line 18, insert the following: SEC. 73__. AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION PARTNERSHIP…

In drafting this amendment, I saw nowhere where it would actually be considered an earmark. I'm definitely opposed to earmarks in this Congress, and it doesn't specify an entity in a certain State or a certain location. If you just want to…

I expect the tenor of today's hearing to be respectful. We are all here because we care about NASA and want it to succeed.

It is a missed opportunity to position NASA for excellence, and it's a bill that if enacted would lead to the erosion of the capabilities that have made NASA such a positive force for progress.

This is a flawed draft, starting from its funding assumptions, and I cannot support it in its present form.

I think this garners consideration, that as mandatory spending continues to erode important discretionary investments like NASA, we are forced to make very difficult decisions.

It also cuts NASA's Earth Science budget by one-third, which I find baffling.

This authorization bill reflects a sincere effort to maximize return to the taxpayer while working to protect America's role as the world leader in space exploration.

I strongly believe that any NASA Authorization bill that comes out of this Committee should reflect those realities.

I would like to say this bill does not require NASA to establish a Moon base or lunar outpost.

We have offered solid solutions and replacements for these damaging cuts, and we stand ready to work with the Senate and the Administration to replace the sequester with responsible, strategic cuts.