I have had the distinct pleasure to serve on their behalf. As such, I have been and will continue to be committed to our military and our veterans during my time in Congress.

I have been and will continue to be committed to our military and our veterans during my time in Congress.

I have long believed that the benefits afforded our men and women in uniform have been earned through sacrifice and hardship, and that those benefits should be protected.

I represent the First District of Virginia, which includes Fort A.P. Hill, Marine Corps Base Quantico, Naval Support Facility Dahlgren, all call this their home base.

I strongly urge the committee to markup and pass this legislation and any other similar legislation.

Closing the digital divide is the key to lifting up countless communities and populations in unserved areas.

Demand for high-speed broadband has never been greater.

Lastly, we must continue to eliminate the labyrinth of red tape and regulations that continue to hinder shovel-ready projects.

I represent the 1st District of Virginia, which faces a number of unique challenges in expanding broadband.

I am an original co-sponsor of H.R. 3162, The Broadband Data Improvement Act of 2019.

In conclusion, I want to point to the 2016 report that assessed that additional refuelings would increase Navy fleet operating costs by several billion dollars a year. Mr. Chair, as we are looking to rebuild the Navy, that means ships that…

I would like to refer to my amendment, No. 403, involving the Cable Ship Program. I know that there have been some issues pointed out concerning coastal commerce, and I look forward to working through those issues as the bill gets to…

I would like to point out that there have been multiple studies done on this. In 2014, the Department of Defense and the Department of the Navy pointed out the negative impacts that low-enriched uranium would have on the capability of the…

I remind the gentleman from Rhode Island that this is the National Defense Authorization Act. It is not another appropriations bill. This is specific to the use of these dollars here for these purposes specifically. Mr. Chair, I yield 2…

I thank the ranking member for yielding. Mr. Chair, I have supported every National Defense Authorization Act since I arrived in Congress 11 years ago. Unfortunately, in its current form, I rise in opposition to H.R. 2500, the National…

It is not headline grabbing, but I think it is fundamental to how we manage the massive amount of resources that we send to the Pentagon.

Shouldn't there be a single system that cuts across services branches in how we transact, how we acquire, how we pay personnel?

By streamlining our Federal permitting processes, the committee can help better connect the more than 23 million Americans with little or no access to broadband to our digital economy.

I believe Congress can and should do more to provide adequate resources to leverage the State's investment to address the issues on I-95.

As cochair of the House Rural Broadband Caucus I have made expanding broadband access in rural areas a top priority.

Some of them are the multiple levels of permitting processes that have to go through that, instead of occurring simultaneously, have to occur one upon the other.

Currently, burdensome regulations are hindering shovel-ready projects from providing broadband access to unserved populations throughout the country.

It is actually a combination of both.

I would like to thank the committee for its work on WRDA 2018, which fully authorized the port to deepen the Norfolk Harbor to 55 feet and widen the Thimble Shoals Channel to 1,400 feet.

adequately funding the Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Program in directing at least one construction new start designation for navigation are essential to maintaining and advancing the work done by the Port of Virginia to expand and…