Mike Conaway: “Before I get to my objections to the amendment, I want to congratulate the chairman, the majority members of the…”

“Before I get to my objections to the amendment, I want to congratulate the chairman, the majority members of the committee, as well as the majority staff for the great work they did in helping us bring a fully bipartisan bill to the floor, which I fully intend to support. They also helped us navigate the intricacies of the Rules Committee so that what we are debating tonight, with the amendments that were put forward, we will be able to support this bill on the floor tomorrow or whenever they decide to bring it up. I thank the chairman for the good work that they put into it. Madam Chair, I do, though, rise in opposition to this amendment. For the past several years, the House Intelligence Committee has spent a significant amount of time overseeing the intelligence community's ongoing efforts to counter foreign malign influence targeting the United States. Although Russia gains significant and necessary attention given the events of 2016, the committee is also concerned about Chinese, Iranian, and other foreign powers that have designs on sowing discord in the United States or covertly influencing the American populace. The amendment today would establish a foreign threat response center within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.…”