mr. thornberry: i have no further speakers and i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i yield two minutes to the ranking member of the armed services committee, mr. smith. the chair: the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. smith: this is a problem we need to work on. and making sure that our military assets are protected as we deal with spectrum al qaedas. i look forward to having the conversation in conference committee about how to deal with this. my concern is this many on the energy and commerce committee and i as well have worked on and we worked with the department of defense for years to try and make sure that their equities were protected and talked with everyone we could talk to and this was set up to make sure we protected those. now we are hearing a slightly new argument. i certainly want to make sure that the department of defense interests are protected. but i want to make sure they have no veto power on auctioning sfecktrum. that wa

mr. thornberry: mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. thornberry: mr. chairman, i appreciate the opportunity to offer this amendment which i do not believe is controversial. mr. chairman, one of the many parts of this bill on which members on both sides of the aisle have contributed is to try to improve our acquisition system. partly to get more value out of the money -- the taxpayer money that is spent, and partly to try to get technology into the field, into the hands of our war fighters faster. because technology evolves and the threats evolve so quickly. we have consulted with folks in the pentagon and the industry to make improvements in this part of the bill this amendment is a technical amendment which deals with some of those issues to ensure that the -- whatever process we set up here obviously the money has to be appropriated as well. i don't think it is controversial, but i want to reiterate, mr. chairman, that most to have this bi

mr. thornberry. mr. thornberry: i'm pleased to yield an additional minute to the gentleman from texas, mr. farenthold, to discuss an additional amendment he has. mr. farenthold: i rise today in support of an amendment that direct ours service academies to notify members of congress of acceptees at least 48 hours before publishing the acceptance or letting the acceptee know. as most members of the body know, we are the interviewing source for the service academies. young men and women seeking to serve this country apply for nomination through their member of congress, most often go through a vetting process and we develop a relationship with the young men and women. historically the academies have allowed us to call them and tell them you're accepted and congratulate them. in some instances they've quit doing that a long-standing practice. i believe it's appropriate that those who interview and work so hard to get those young men and women into our service academy should be the ones delivering the news to

mr. thornberry: mr. chairman, i ask unanimous consent to claim the time in opposition, even though i am not opposed. the chair: without objection. mr. thornberry: mr. chairman, i appreciate the many contributions the gentlelady from guam has made to our committee as the ranking member on readiness among -- readiness, among other capacities. i think this is a good amendment aped certainly hope our members will -- and i certainly hope our members will support it and i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlelady from guam. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. thornberry: i move that the committee do now rise. the chair: the question is on the motion that the committee rise. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly, the committee rises. the speaker pro tempore: mr. chai

mr. thornberry of texas. the chair: the gentleman from texas, mr. thornberry and the gentleman from washington, mr. smith are recognized. mr. thornberry: each of these amendments have been worked on both sides of the aisle. i believe this package deserves members' support and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from exas reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. >> i rise to claim time in opposition. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. o'rourke: i yield two minutes to the the gentleman from texas. >> my amendment today would require the defense department and f.a.a. to discuss the helicopter noise. and develop recommendations to reduce the noise on people and property. the airspace around washington, d.c., is more highly congested than any other part of the country. 144 helicopter operations take are here every day, 75% military. one recent addition to our airspace is a hybrid helicopter and airplane with the width of an eight-story building. it has been deployed to iraq and afghanistan and now the peaceful comm

mr. thornberry: mr. chairman, i'm honored to bring to the house today h.r. 4909, the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2017. the house armed services committee reported it favorably about three weeks ago by a vote of 60-2. now, the only way a vote like that is possible is that members are willing to work together for the best interests of the country and i want to start by thanking my partner on this committee, mr. smith, for his work, his insight and his commitment to working together to try to do the right thing for our service members and for the good of the nation. i'm sure that he does not agree with everything that is in this bill. and nor do i. it is the product of difficult choices, of cro compromises, of input from many members of this body. but as a whole, i think this bill is good for the troops, good for the country and is faithful to the constitutional responsibilities that we have on our shoulders to provide for the military of the united states and defend the country. i wa

mr. thornberry: barely contain. i would say just avoid disaster because what you've seen is the president slowly dialing up the pressure of a few hundred people. a slight relaxation on the rules on when they can drop bombs. it's not really to win and there has been success on the ground, but in iraq and syria but the rest of the story is isis is spreading out to more countries than ever before. so it's not even very successful in containing them geographically and i think in some ways are going more dangerous. jeff: so the u.s. is not trying to defeat isis right now? mr. thornberry: it might be someone's stated intention but that's not what the facts on the ground, i think, would show. karoun: strategic planning, one of the things you added to the defense policy bill was a move to shrink the national security council from 400 approximately now chopping it down to 100. that's grown and grown over several administrations. if the concern of republicans is we should be doing better strategic planning with isis, is that

mr. thornberry: i yield one minute to mr. kelly. mr. kelly: i rise in strong support of an amendment to renew the ban on the obama administration from using any department of defense funds to implement the united nations arms treaty a treaty which has never been ratified. t bans the use of funds to the body for effectively implementing the a.t.t. according to the treaty's supporters. the member nation organized a conference, a conference which we did not have a vote and american taxpayers are on the hook to pay 22%. this taxpayer money would go to

mr. thornberry: mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to the motion. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. thornberry: mr. speaker, i want to start by thanking the 63 members of the armed services committee, not only for all of their work in putting this bill together but for the seriousness with which they take our duties under the constitution to help provide for the common defense. our members don't always agree, but we're able to work our way through our differences most of the time and think about the larger cause. you might say we sacrifice some of our individual differences or preferences in order to support the men and women who sacrifice so much for us. and i want to thank all the members of the house. we've had a lot of members over the last two days who have come down to the floor and talked about their amendments. who have -- and all of those amendments have helped make this bill a better bill. and that's the way that for 54 straight years congresses of majorities of both part

mr. thornberry has an important amendment we should consider and look at that will be part of the issue as we move forward. there are a lot of outstanding questions. we wanted to get the person who is in the thick of things from the white house to come here and testify. the white house on thursday claimed this was not about executive privilege and then less than 24 hours before this anding the reversed course said it is about executive privilege. who is being inconsistent? you have plenty of time to go out and talk to all the media friends and talk to the echo chamber that you brag about it when it comes time to answer our questions under oath you decide has faro it. my time exceeded what we have allocated. we will recognize mr. cummings. mr. cummings: thank you. forink all are witnesses being here today. surprised -- very surprised and shocked that you would invite john hannah to testify before committee as an expert witness. on the subject of false white house narratives. mr. hanna was vice president dick cheney's top national security advisor in the white house. helped prepare colinary

mr. thornberry has an important amendment we should consider and look at that will be part of the issue asrd. there are a lot of outstanding questions. we wanted to get the person who is in the thick of things from the white house to come here and testify. the white house on thursday claimed this was not about executive privilege and then less than 24 hours before this anding the reversed course said it is about executive privilege. who is being inconsistent? you have plenty of time to go out and talk to all the media friends and talk to the echo chamber that you brag about it when it comes time to answer our questions under oath you decide has faro it. my time exceeded what we have allocated. we will recognize mr. cummings. mr. cummings: thank you. forink all are witnesses being here today. surprised -- very surprised and shocked that you would invite john hannah to testify before committee as an expert witness. on the subject of false white house narratives. mr. hanna was vice president dick cheney's top national security advisor in the white house. helped prepare colinary of state powel

mr. thornberry, and the ranking member, mr. smith of washington, for once again working in a bipartisan manner to bring before this house h.r. 4909, the 2017 national defense authorization act. . i don't agree with everything in this bill. there's a lot of i -- i do disagree with. but i appreciate that the chair and ranking member always treat all members, submitting amendments, with respect. that's very much appreciated. but i must rise in very strong opposition to this structured rule, because there are very serious issues that merit the time and attention of this house, that were submitted to the rules committee by members from both sides of the aisle, which have not been included in this structured rule. almost 200 amendments were not made in order. and as a democrat, i'm used to being shut out by the republican majority. but dozens of republican amendments were blocked as well. let me say to my republican friends, who do not have their amendment made in order, if you don't want this to be a pattern, then vote no on this ru

mr. thornberry has a very important amendment we should all consider and look at that would be part of the issue as we move forward. again, there are a lot of outstanding questions. we wanted to get the person who was right in the think of things from the white house to come here and testify. the white house on thursday claimed that this wasn't about executive privilege, and less than 24 hours before this hearing, they reversed course and said, oh, it is about executive privilege. now, who is being inconsistent? who is being inconsistent? you have plenty of time mr. rhodes, to go to talk to the media friends and talk to the echo chamber that you brag about in "new york times," but when it comes times to answer our questions under oath, they decide not to do it. my time has far exceeded what we allocated, now recognize the ranks members mr. cummings. >> thank you, mr. charm. i thank all our witnesses for being here today. mr. chairman, sitting here today, i'm surprised and supremely -- very surprised and shocked that you would invite john hannah to testify before our committee as an expert

mr. chairman i moved to adopt the subcommittee report on land forces. chair thornberrythose in favor will say aye. those opposed say no. a quorum being present, the ayes have it and the motion is adopted. the committee will now receive postponet on -- will until the end of the subcommittee mark. the chair recognizes the joe manchin meant from south carolina, mr. wilson. mr. wilson: thank you, mr. chairman. thisleased to present report on the tree 17 national defense authorization act. i appreciate we are a subcommittee that oversees some of the most critical aspects of the department of defense including cyber command and major origins of the national security agency. andnse wise, science technology efforts such as the defense advanced research project or dark but and the military service labs. operations forces and programs that counter weapons of mass distraction from state and alike.e actors the subcommittee has been active in all of these major areas and truly represents a bipartisan product of which all members can be proud. review sensitive department of defense a

mr. thornberry: mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to the motion. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized.