mr. thornberry: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from south carolina, mr. wilson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina is recognized for two minutes. willson contreras thank you, mr. speaker. thank you -- mr. wilson: thank you, mac thornberry, for yielding. i am in strong support of the national defense authorization act of 2017. generations of my family have served our nation in uniform. my father was a flying tiger in india and china in world war ii. i served for 31 years in the army reserves and the south carolina army guard. i have four sons who served overseas on the global war on terrorism. i know firsthand the positive impact this year's ndaa will have on our troops, veterans and military families. after passing this bill, i look forward to telling my constituents at fort jackson that jason mcintyre joint face, neighboring fort gordon, the thousands of veterans and countless families concerned about the safety of our citizens that congress has do

mr. thornberry: i appreciate it. mr.alent: i thought i would give you an opportunity to talk about the personal tour you have engaged in recently in a number of american military installations. i think you followed some of those abroad. and asked a lot of questions and learned a lot of things. but realy talked about day to day readiness issues. so maybe even talk about what you found what the implications are. mr. thornberry: thank you. i appreciate your kind words. but i have to say, i did not fully appreciate the state of our readiness. and, the damage that has been done by sequestration, by the high pace of operations, a combination of factors. at least until i started talking with the people who were trying to live with it every day, and as you mentioned, earlier in the year i started traveling to various installations here at home, talking to pilots, aircraft maintainers and others. some of their stories, you just cannot forget. for example, one of the pilots brought me over to his f-18, and said ronald reagan sent

mr. thornberry: i appreciate it. mr.alent: i thought i would give you an opportunity to talk about the personal tour you have engaged in recently in a number of american military installations. i think you followed some of those abroad. and, asked a lot of questions and learned a lot of things. but we want to talk readiness issues. so maybe even talk about what you found what the implications are. mr. thornberry: thank you. i appreciate your kind words. but i have to say, i did not fully appreciate the state of our readiness. and, the damage that has been done by sequestration, by the high pace of operations, a combination of factors. at least until i started talking with the people who were trying to live with it every day, and as you mentioned, earlier in the year i started traveling to various installations here at home, talking to pilots, aircraft maintainers and others. some of their stories, you just cannot forget. for example, one of the pilots brought me over to his f-18, and said ronald reagan sent this plane to

mr. thornberry: i appreciate it. thought i would give you an opportunity to talk about the personal tour you have engaged in recently in a number of american military installations. i think you followed some of those abroad. and, asked a lot of questions and learned a lot of things. but we want to talk readiness issues. so maybe even talk about what you found what the implications are. mr. thornberry: thank you. i appreciate your kind words. but i have to say, i did not fully appreciate the state of our readiness. and, the damage that has been sequestration, by the high pace of operations, a combination of factors. i started talking with the people who were trying to live with it every day, and as you mentioned, earlier in the year i started traveling to various installations here at ,ome, talking to pilots aircraft maintainers and others. you justheir stories, cannot forget. for example, one of the pilots f-18, and over to his said ronald reagan sent this claim to bomb qadhafi in 1986. flightng when i was in hit par

mr. thornberry and senator mccain on the other side eating dedicated to the principle of bipartisanship of working together, and of the absolute commitment that we will get our job done. sometimes it takes until december. i think we went all the way up to december 16 a few years ago, so we are ahead of schedule. sometimes it takes a long time and we always get it done. i urge passage of this very important bill and i think the chairman again for his great work and all of the staff who works make this possible. >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> i yield myself the balance of the time. i completely agree with the distinguished ranking member that to produce this bill requires a great deal of effort by a number of people, starting with him, other members of the committee, other members of the house. it is also essential that our staff support our work he thanked, as he is done a great job. i also agree about the leadership of senator john unique a man i think in the country's military history at this point. his leadership along with the ranking member senator jack reed have been essentia

mr. thornberry, the chairman. also, senator mccain being dedicated to the principle of bipartisanship, working together. and number two, the absolute commitment that we will get our job done. sometimes -- we got all the way year, weember 16 one are way ahead of schedule by that standard. but we always get it done and it is a credit to that chairman. the passage of this important bill, and i think the chairman for his great work and the staff that made it possible. >> the time has expired. the gentleman from texas. >> i healed the balance of my time. >> recognized. i agree with the distinguished ranking member that produce this deal requires effort by a number of people. starting with him, other members of the committee, other members of the house. it is also essential that our staff, who support our work, he thanked as he has done a great job. i agree about the leadership of senator john mccain, a man country onhe military history at this point. his leadership along with jack reed, have been essential. not only in

mr. thorn berry, and the honorable ranking member from -- thornberry, and the honorable ranking member from and this , mr. smith, bill that supports the military and their families. the defense bill is one of the most important bills that comes before congress. i know the weeks and months that goes into work by staff and members. this is a bill that achieves broad bipartisan support which shows the leadership of the chairman and ranking member and their staff. mr. speaker, there is a great deal to support in this conference report and some provisions that continue to raise concern. some items that are of grave concerns have been dropped from the final conference report like the fiscal cliff, language that would have authorized discrimination by federal contractors and some anti-environment riders. i am very upset, however, that for the second year in a row the house caved to unreasonable senate demands to drop the house-passed provision to honor our atomic veterans with the simple service medal. these uniform men and women literally gave their lives in service to our country, and in many ca

i would also -- if i may, thank chairman thornberry for being here and for continuing to listen on occasion to my good friend, mr. stimmons, who i see also in the back there. you have my written statement. there are a few points to focus on, i think it deserves some attention. recruitment is an ordinary fact of life in the military. our pay systems are not as perfect as we would like them to be. we would run into any number of issues from the person we heard about earlier who may be divorced and still getting a bhas as though they were married to somebody who got the wrong check and failed to pay a travel bill. we're recruiting against hundreds of thousands of marines and civilians as well. the california army national guard cases are particularly the ones in the press and reported. and are particularly an egregious set of cases. but i don't want people to think this is the nature of recruitment and that we always have this problem with recruitment. there are a number of cases in the press that are particularly troublesome. many of them are based on a technical deficiency. we've heard where the soldier may have

i can't -- i'd also like to, if i may, thank chairman thornberry for being here and continuing to listen on occasion to my good friend mr. similar monos who i see also in the back row. you have my written statement and i won't read any of it. there are a few points i would like to focus on, some of which have been discussed but some i think deserves attention. recoupment is an ordinary fact of life in the military. our pay systems aren't as perfect as we would like them to be and we run into any number of issues from the person we heard about earlier who might be divorced and still getting bah as if they were married to somebody who has the wrong paycheck or fails to pay a bill, fails to pay a travel bill. we're recouping against as many as 100,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines at any given time. civilians as well. the california army national guard cases are a -- particularly the ones that have been in the press, have been reported in the press, are particularly egregious cases but i wouldn't want members of this committee to think this is the nature of recoupment and that we always have this problem with recou

i can't -- i'd also like to, if i may, thank chairman thornberry for being here and continuing to listen on occasion to my good friend mr. similar monos who i see also in the back row. you have my written statement and i won't read any of it. there are a few points i would like to focus on, some of which have been discussed but some i think deserves attention. recoupment is an ordinary fact of life in the military. our pay systems aren't as perfect as we would like them to be and we run into any number of issues from the person we heard about earlier who might be divorced and still getting bah as if they were married to somebody who has the wrong paycheck or fails to pay a bill, fails to pay a travel bill. we're recouping against as many as 100,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines at any given time. civilians as well. the california army national guard cases are a -- particularly the ones that have been in the press, have been reported in the press, are particularly egregious cases but i wouldn't want members of this committee to think this is the nature of recoupment and that we always have this problem with recou

also -- i'd also like to, if i may, thank chairman thornberry for being here and -- and for continuing to -- to listen on occasion to my good friend, mr. simmons (ph), who i see also in the back row there. you have my written statement and i won't -- i won't ready any (ph), but there are -- there are a few points that i'd like to focus on, some of which have already been discussed, but i think deserves some attention. first of all, recoupment is an ordinary fact of life in the military. our pay systems aren't as perfect as we'd like there -- as we'd like them to be and we run into any -- any number of issues from the person we heard about earlier might be -- might be divorced and still getting bahs (ph) if they were married to somebody who's got the wrong paycheck or fails to pay a bill -- fails to pay a travel bill. we're recouping against as many as 100,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines at any given time, civilians as well. the california army national guard cases are a particular -- particularly the ones that have been in the press -- that have been reported in the press are a particularly egregious set of cases. but i woul