i rise today in support of the 2021 mac thornberry defense authorization act. i want begin by congratulating chairman smith and mr. thornberry for their persistent team work for bringing this bill to fruition. it's the way congress is supposed to work. the sea power and projection forces subcommittee made a significant mark in this year's bill. last february the president's budget out of nowhere cut the navy shipbuilding budget by 17%, including the removal of an entire virginia class attack submarine with no rationale or 30-year shipbuilding plan as required by law. our subcommittee led the way in fully restoring that submarine having listened to the combatant commanders who are articulated the need for that repeatedly and adding a fast transport ship bringing the total new ships in this bill to nine. two more than requested in the trump budget. we also focused attention on our domestic sealift fleet. the final bill authorizes half a billion dollars for the maritime security program to mitigate the impacts of covid-19 on our domestic sealift fleet and creates a

i rise today in support of the 2021 mac thornberry defense authorization act. i want begin by congratulating chairman smith and mr. thornberry for their persistent team work for bringing this bill to fruition. it's the way congress is supposed to work. the sea power and projection forces subcommittee made a significant mark in this year's bill. last february the president's budget out of nowhere cut the navy shipbuilding budget by 17%, including the removal of an entire virginia class attack submarine with no rationale or 30-year shipbuilding plan as required by law. our subcommittee led the way in fully restoring that submarine having listened to the combatant commanders who are articulated the need for that repeatedly and adding a fast transport ship bringing the total new ships in this bill to nine. two more than requested in the trump budget. we also focused attention on our domestic sealift fleet. the final bill authorizes half a billion dollars for the maritime security program to mitigate the impacts of covid-19 on our domestic sealift fleet and creates a

unfortunately not a surprise the house freedom caucus has indicated they're going to oppose the mac thornberry national defense authorization act. but we will work with with clyburn and we will make sure that it is a robust number of democrats who support authorizing on the national defense act, that provides pay raises to our men and women in uniform. it's unfortunate if the president and the house freedom caucus want to make this more political, but we will make sure we put up good votes so we will continue to have conversations. the chairman and i've had conversations with colleagues about the bill. we will continue to do that. it's important, it's a good bipartisan bill. it always has been, and so we need to make sure we put up the votes. >> to mexico questions as well. on covid relief, leader hoyer has said just a few days ago he would like to get it done by the end of this week. that of course is not happening. in light of what we are this morning, tuesday morning, what are the outstanding issues? where are the barriers to agreement and of issues you mentioned, or any of those red lines

i want to reference some of what mac thornberry said about the bill. in their statement on the among the report, provisions we are most proud of, this, the them in authorization of hazardous duty and or our service men women in harm's way, improvements to military improvements to families with special needs, the quality of life for our military is very essential to our national security. addressing the shortage of childcare. authorizing $8.4 billion in construction projects o for theify critical -- fortify critical infrastructure and base closure cleanup. essential. important pootools to deter chi and russia. it innovative and cost-effective. significant bipartisan provisions on artificial and cybersecurity. and provisions that strengthen israel.ance with i especially want to acknowledge how pleased we are with the also, of congressman anthony brown, a member of the our ttee, a veteran of services, a decorated member of military who now serves in the house, anthony brown. long-term -- we included the process of changing military bases purposefully, pur

i want to reference some of what adam smith and mac thornberry said about the bill. in their statement on the conference report, among the provisions we are most proud of, and we join them in this, the authorization of hazardous duty pay for our service men and women in harm's way, improvements to military housing, improvements to families with special needs, the quality of life for our military families is very essential to our national security. addressing the shortage of military childcare. authorizing $8.4 billion in military construction projects to fortify critical infrastructure and base closure cleanup. very essential. important tools to deter china and russia. reforms to make the pentagon more efficient, innovative and cost-effective. significant bipartisan provisions on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. and provisions that strengthen our alliance with israel. i especially want to acknowledge how pleased we are with the leadership, also, of congressman anthony brown, a member of the committee, a veteran of our services, a decorated member of the mil

but i'd also like to take a moment to commend mac thornberry. the bill is named after mac. he is an extraordinary gentleman. i had the privilege of serving with him for two years in the house of representatives. he's an individual whose wise counsel, whose integrity, whose decency and dedication to the men and women of the armed services is unparalleled. he's an extraordinary gentleman. i can't think of a more fitting tribute and a more attribute than naming this bill after mac thornberry. now, i have to conclude by saying despite the appearance that we've done all this work, our staff is extraordinary. john bonsell and liz king, the staff directors did a superb work. and let me recognize my staff, my democratic staff. jodi bennet, carolyn shu dp a, john clark, jerry feldman, creighton green, osca, gary le lad, maggie mcnamara cooper, john quirk, if i own that tomlin, and last but not least, elizabeth king. again, this f.y. 21 national dense authorization act conference report is a culmination of months of hard work. it is a good bill. i would say in fact it is one of the b

the bill is named for the ranking member on the armed services committee, congressman mac thornberry,s retiring at the end of his congressional term. this runs 90 minutes. mr. speaker, i now yield myself five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. smith: thank you. i rise in strong support of the conference report before us today. this is the defense policy bill and this is an incredibly important piece of legislation. there's a lot of public debate about different issues that sort of rise to the level of people arguing about. and they're very important, passionate issues. but lost in that sometimes is the basic substance of what we do in the defense policy bill. and that is we exercise our legislative authority to do oversight of the pentagon and national security policy. and on that measure, this year's bill is an incredibly impo

mac thornberry, the ranking member on the house service committee, former chairman, is retiring this year. he certainly would not let this be the first ndaa that does not get through on his last time going through it. the other readers on the committees understand this, too. it is one of the areas on the hill with the most agreement, most bipartisanship in the sense that, yes, they fight about the policies and there are disagreements, but at the end of the day, it will come together and make sure it gets through. host: you mentioned this is the defense policy bill, setting the policy for the pentagon for the defense in the coming and current fiscal year into 2021 fiscal year budget. what amount of funding does this authorize? about this authorizes $740.5 billion and that is with a "b," free defense spending. -- $72020 million billion for the pentagon itself. it is thing like troop levels, pay raise for members of the military, and details of how flyers youet buy, and it is the all-encompassing defense standard bill. with the trump administration and the establishment of space force,