On the recordJuly 20, 2020
I am proud today to speak on behalf of the Strategic Forces portion of the Mac Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Ranking Member Thornberry for his outstanding 25 years of service in this Congress. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to extend my thanks to Ranking Member Turner and all of our subcommittee members for their contributions to the bill. Our subcommittee has particularly heavy, often technical responsibilities. This bill does make America stronger and safer by improving the odds for peace and stability with regard to our nuclear forces, hypersonic weapons, and space and missile defense. Preventing a nuclear attack is the first responsibility of the U.S. Government. It is absolutely imperative to ensure our nuclear forces are safe, secure, and reliable and that we strengthen our nonproliferation efforts. This mark ensures that the Departments of Defense and Energy are wisely spending their budgets in a responsible and efficient manner. Regarding space, we continue our focus on protecting our space assets. The bill also focuses on near-term priorities for hypersonic weapons in a way that avoids increasing the risks of ambiguity and miscalculation. We continue oversight in missile defense, including supporting U.S.- Israeli cooperation. In addition, after the failure of the redesigned kill vehicle program, the bill strengthens oversight of the next- generation interceptor program. Mr.…
