mr. thornberry: mr. chairman, i'm pleased to yield one minute to the distinguished gentleman from california, mr. rohrabacher. the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. rohrabacher: i rise in support of a very important part of this en bloc proposal which is filled with important parts. dr. fritti is a pakistani doctor who risked his life to help our special forces identify the hiding place of osama bin laden, the planner and command ore they have slauth over 3,000 americans on 9/11. dr. afriti, clearly an american hero, has languished in a pakistani dunfor the past six years and has been sentenced to spend another two decades in captivity. he's a courageous hero, he's not forgeten, his plight is not ignored. tonight i'm pleading that this language be retained in the final version of this en bloc amendment. this man is suffering for us. may he -- making my amendment in order acknowledges his sacrifice and demands pakistan authorities release him immediately. if we turn our backs on such

mr. thornberry: mr. chairman, i yield myself the balance of the time. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. thornberry: mr. chairman, as usual, the gentleman from washington makes a number of good points. we absolutely need to have national security based on a strategy and fund that strategy. there are many of us who would argue that is not what has happened in recent years. i would just point out, it was not only president obama, but also president bush and president clinton. none of them provided a national security strategy in the first year that they were in office. i have tremendous confidence in secretary mattis, among others on the national security team. i believe they are looking at these issues and will provide us with a strategy. the gentleman is also absolutely correct when he points out that the defense authorization bill is only one step in the process. there are many more steps to come. i think we will have a budget on this floor to vote on shortly. i also expect that we're going to

mr. thornberry: i yield 30 seconds. mr. coffman: and rather than imposing a single federal standard, we provide a $500 reimbursement to defray these costs and we ask the states to develop common standards where possible. i want to thank ms. speier and her staff and support in this process. we are joined by an active and informed and dedicated group of subcommittee members. their recommendations and priorities are reflected in the national defense authorization act in 2018 and i appreciate the dedication a and hard work of the subcommittee staff. i urge my colleagues to support this. and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from washington. mr. smith: i yield two minutes the gentlelady from california. recognize our subcommittee chairs and members in bringing this bill to the floor. as has been stated, the budget numbers we are talking about contained in the bill are aspirational. we have not passed a budget resolution and the budget control act is the law of the land. while it was a fail

mr. thornberry: mr. chairman, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from colorado, mr. lamborn. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. lamborn: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. speaker, for yielding and for your great work leading us on the ndaa. and i'd like to address two amendments that are coming up in en bloc packages. first of all, on iron. my amendment to the ndaa number 361 requires the president, along with various agencies, to provide the house with the report regarding iran's use of commercial aircraft for illicit activities. i'm doing it with representative roskam. think tanks such as the foundation for defense of democracies and the american enterprise institute have demonstrated the need for the intelligence community to provide congress with the report of their activities. air, l, iran air, maham and iranian air force operated 400 flights from iran to syria since the iran nuclear deal was adopted on july 14, 2015. now, this report does

mr. thornberry: mr. speaker, i offer additional amendments en bloc. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendments en bloc. the clerk: en bloc number 2. consisting of amendments numbered 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 48, 50, 4, 45, 46, 47, 51, 52 and 53 printed in house report 115-217 offered by mr. thornberry of texas. the chair: the clerk will -- pursuant to house resolution 440, the gentleman from texas, mr. thornberry, and the gentleman from washington, mr. smith, each will control 10 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. thornberry: mr. chairman, this en bloc package consists of a variety of amendments from members from both sides of the aisle. i believe that they deserve the support of the house. i recommend adoption of the en bloc package and reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. smith: thank you, mr. chairman. i agree with the chairman. i support the en bloc package. and i yield b

mr. thornberry: mr. speaker, i make a point of order that the committee is not in order. the chair: the committee will come to order, please. the gentleman is recognized. mr. thornberry: mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. thank you. mr. thornberry: mr. chairman, i am proud to bring before the house h.r. 2810, the national defense authorization act for the fiscal year 2018. it was reported favorably by the house armed services committee at 11:59 p.m. on june 28, 2017. by a vote of 60-1. that vote is an indication of the bipartisan support that exists to support our troops and to fulfill our obligations placed on us by the constitution. mr. chairman, i think the always helpful for us to remind ourselves of the authority by which we undertake our responsibilities. article 1, section 8 of the constitution says that congress has the power and the responsibility to provide and to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a navy, to make rule

mr. thornberry as well, thank you for your leadership in the defense of our country. the bipartisanship in defending our country is something that we value. any interference with that is unfortunate. it takes a special kind of person, my colleagues, who steps forward to serve in the u.s. military. they are men and women of courage, of strength and of patriotism who shoulder the burden of defending our liberties so that the rest of us can live in security and freedom. we owe these heroes an immense debt, a solemn responsibility to do everything we can to defend those who are risking and giving their lives for the united states of america. the defense bill before us today should be about honoring that responsibility, protecting those who protect our national security. instead, here we are considering a republican amendment to attack the health -- that attacks the health and dignity of thousands of men and women serving with honor and courage today. make no mistake, the effect and the intent of this unjust and mean-spirited amendment is to ban patriotic americans from se

mr. thornberry: thank you, mr. chairman. at this time i'm pleased to yield one minute to the distinguished gentleman from mr. a, a combat veteran, mass. the chair: the gentleman is ecognized. >> mr. speaker, i rise today because veteran suicide is an epidemic. nearly every week i hear from a veteran who is thinking about taking their own life, maybe walking into their garage, turning on their car and never coming out. that's why i introduced the oath of exit and why i urge you to pass this bill as part of the national defense authorization act. the bill creates a voluntary separation oath for members of the armed forces with the specific aim of reducing veteran suicide and the idea for this bill came from friends of mine who have struggled with suicidal thoughts since leaving the military. mr. mast: people like my friend boone, people that have actually been there on the edge. i think we all know that throughout our lives, the most important commitments that we make are spoken, whether it's an oath upon joining the military,

mr. thornberry: i yield myself such time as i may consume. i have tremendous respect for the gentleman from massachusetts and he is exactly right. the department of defense medical research program is already spending money on tick borne-diseases and about $5 million this year and about $5 million last year. and as i understand the gentleman's amendment they would expand the number of diseases they would research. i rise to claim the time in opposition, however, to express concern about the direction of this program. mr. chairman, i have a chart that indicates the tremendous owth of dollars going into this congressionally-directed medical research program. it has increased tremendously in recent years. i would like to take a few moments to read some of the diseases that it is researching. .l.s., autism, bone marrow failure, breast cancer, ukemia, epilepsy, food llergies, lung cancer, m.s., there are a couple of here that i can't pronounce, so i won't ead, ovarian cancer, parkinson's, alzheimer's, cancer, prostate cancer, spinal ord injuries,

meanwhile for labour, emily thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, filled in for mr corbyn. ith enough swagger for the both of them. by my reckoning, in the 20 years since he firstjoined this house, he is the 16th member of the party opposite to be represented at prime minister's questions. so how about i give him to the end of this session to be able to name all the others? i'm grateful to the right honourable lady for her kind remarks. i might take up her offer to try and name all 16 in the tearoom later. rather than delay the house now. there are many, many distinguished people of both sexes who have done it in this party, because we of course elect women leaders occasionally. cheering. mr corbyn sometimes avoids the topic of brexit at pmqs. not ms thornberry. she wanted to know what would happen if britain didn't reach a deal with the eu. this isn't some sinister nightmare dreamt up by remainers, it was the prime minister who first floated the idea of no deal, the foreign secretary who said it would be perfectly 0k, the brexit secretary who said that we'd be prepared to w

german thornberry votes i. mrs. davis? mrs. davis votes no. mr. launch them in? mr. lodgment votes no. esther bishop? mr. bishop votes no. mr. cooper? mr. cooper votes i. mr. rogers? mr. rogers votes i. mr. frank? mr. frank says i. mr. courtney? mr. courtney? mr. courtney votes no. mr. shuster? mr. shuster votes i. mr. conaway? mr. conaway votes i. mr. lamborn? mr. lamborn votes i. mr. whitman? mr. whitman votes i. mr. hunter? mr. hunter votes i. ms. gabbard? ms. gabbard? mr. kaufman? mr. kaufman votes i. mr. o'rourke? mr. or work votes no. mr. norcross? mr. norcross votes no. mr. scott? mr. scott votes i. mr. brooks? mr. brooks votes i. mr. moulton? mr. vote -- moulton votes no. mr. brydon stein? mr. brydon stein votes i. dr. winthrop? dr. winthrop votes i. mr. byrne? mr. byrne votes i. mr. graves? mr. graves votes i. mr. brown? mr. brown votes no. miss mech sally? sally? mech miss mech sally votes no. mr. connor? mr. cotter votes no. dr. desjarlais? dr. desjarlais votes i. dr. abraham? dr. abraham votes i. mr. kelly? mr. kelly votes i. mr. gates? mr. gates votes i.

emily thornberry. >> thank you, mr. speaker. if the first secretary won't tell the house what no deal means, can he clear up the confusion over whether a plan for no deal actually exists? because yesterday the foreign secretary told me that indeed no, there was no plan for no deal. two hours later, number 10 fought back and they said there was a plan. the brexit secretary might be laughing, but i'm turning to him next -- the brexit secretary was so busy fighting with himself, that on march 12, he said that there was a plan. on tmarch the 17th he said ther wasn't. on may 19th. he said he spent half his time thinking about it and yesterday he said that he wasn't prepared to comment. so can the first secretary clear up the confusion today, is there a contingency plan for no deal or isn't there? and if there is, will he undertake to publish it? >> the honorable lady says she's happy to talk about unemployment. i notice she can't bring herself to welcome falling unemployment news. we will, we will clearly have to try harder to establ

mr. frelinghuysen: let me reiterate why this package of bills is so important. from 2010 to 2014, defense spending was cut 21% in real terms. we heard that from chairman thornberry in the armed services committee. yet the world did not get 21% safer. we asked more of our military than ever before and we need to support them here at home and abroad. today, i said this earlier in the debate, we have the oldest air force in history. the navy's fleet is smaller than it's been in decades, and the army has three, just three, combat brigade teams fully prepared to fight. moreover, we have too many aircraft that can't fly, too many ships that cannot sail, too many troops who cannot deploy. we need bet every equipment and training for our war fighters and we need more of the war fighters. we need a cyber component that's really effective. in april, seems like years ago, we began to rebuild our armed forces for the fiscal year 2007 consolidated appropriations bill. today, this legislation we're considering continues that critical work. mr. chairman, this four-bill package is carefully crafted to fund our critical military priorities. reenforce our nuclear deterrence, supp