Mike Gallagher: “I thank my colleague from Alabama for his strong leadership as our new ranking member, and I look forward to working…”

“I thank my colleague from Alabama for his strong leadership as our new ranking member, and I look forward to working with him and the chairman on what is truly still, I think, the most bipartisan committee in Congress. I want to make clear that I have enormous respect for General Austin's service. I don't think anyone can look at his record and not come away very impressed. But I also strongly oppose this bill. There is no waiver; we are actually changing the underlying law. This was one of the biggest talking points 4 years ago. And we should not do so lightly. Much has been made about the historic nature of Mr. Austin's nomination, which is true but in more ways than one. If we change the law today, we will now have done so twice within 4 years, effectively destroying the historical precedent against such exemptions. We will also invert the congressional intent in the underlying National Security Act by setting the precedent that the presumption is for approval, not the disapproval, of recently retired officers. So the law and the norm of civil-military relations that it is meant to buttress is on life support right now. And, as in 2017, we will be granting this exemption without a public hearing of the Armed Services Committee, which is the bare minimum of our constitutional obligations. We will be getting rolled over, to borrow a phrase that was used 4 years ago.…”