Elise Stefanik: “I thank Ranking Member Thornberry for yielding. I want to start by thanking my subcommittee chair, Mr. Langevin, who is…”

“I thank Ranking Member Thornberry for yielding. I want to start by thanking my subcommittee chair, Mr. Langevin, who is a wonderful colleague to work with. I also thank both of our staffs for the hard work. As the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Emerging Threats and Capabilities, I would like to highlight the key themes that will ensure the U.S. retains our competitive edge in the future. First, this bill places special emphasis on basic research and the important contributions that our science and technology ecosystem, including our universities, the DOD labs, and DARPA, provide to our collective national defense, including our pandemic preparedness and response. This bill also restores a critical social science research program that has provided foundational insights into violent extremism, great power competition, and foreign information operations campaigns. In sum, this bill provides an additional $600 million for science and technology investments in critical emerging fields, including AI, autonomous systems, and biotechnology. {time} 1415 Two years ago, I introduced legislation in the NDAA that created the National Security Commission on AI, with the purpose of accelerating and advancing the development of AI across the Federal Government. Mr. Speaker, I applaud the Commission for their work on this important issue, and I am honored that this bill included 18 of those recommendations.…”