mr. wittman: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield one minute to my friend and colleague, the gentleman rom nebraska, mr. bacon. the chair: the gentleman from . braska is recognized mr. bacon: -- mr. bacon: thank you, mr. speaker. these are indispensable tools to assure the safe and rabbit -- rapid movement of waters. however, the responsibility and accountability for constructing and operating america's icebreakers must rest solely where the congress has assigned it. department of homeland security and the u.s. coast guard. the questions we are debating today is not whether we need icebreakers, but whether how to appropriate the funds and who should build them. as important as ice breaksers are, they are not warships. we must not allow funding legitimately appropriate for our combat fleet to be diverted for nondefense needs. i acknowledge the temptation to raid defense accounts for a worthy cause, we must be mindful of how deep in the hole we are with our air, land, sea, space and cyberforces. we need to keepure oioop the bal

mr. wittman. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. wittman: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise in strong support of h.r. 2810rks the f.y. 2018 national defense authorization act. i continue to be surprised at some of the national security pundits who believe that a diminished force structure will improve our national security. some have questioned whether we should fully fund national defense. some have even questioned whether we should continue to expand our armed services to meet the strategic challenges posed by a rising china and russia, by an unpredictable north korea and a belligerent iran. mr. chairman, our time is up. the time of action is now. the focus of our nation is upon us to provide for our national security. i am pleased that we appear to have turned the tide and properly -- and are properly resourcing the requirements of our armed services and i am pleased that we are authorizing the funding to match our strategy and providing what our combatant commanders need to win any future conflicts. i am pleased that we have acknowledged the importance of our serv

mr. wittman. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. wittman: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise in strong support of h.r. 2810rks the f.y. 2018 national defense authorization act. i continue to be surprised at some of the national security pundits who believe that a diminished force structure will improve our national security. some have questioned whether we should fully fund national defense. some have even questioned whether we should continue to expand our armed services to meet the strategic challenges posed by a rising china and russia, by an unpredictable north korea and a belligerent iran. mr. chairman, our time is up. the time of action is now. the focus of our nation is upon us to provide for our national security. i am pleased that we appear to have turned the tide and properly -- and are properly resourcing the requirements of our armed services and i am pleased that we are authorizing the funding to match our strategy and providing what our combatant commanders need to win any future conflicts. i am pleased that we have acknowledged the importance of our serv

mr. wittman: i yield back the balance of my time. for what purpose does the gentleman from is recognized. mr. smith: i -- thank you, mr. chairman. to the eld one minute gentlelady from florida, a member of the armed services committee, mrs. murphy. the chair: the gentlelady is for one minute. mrs. murphy: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my colleagues for in this my amendment enblach package. my amendment will authorize procurement technical centers to assist small business owners in pursuing funding opportunities phasings of the fcir and ftr programs. small rograms enable businesses to perform research and development that advances the national interest and has he potential for commercialization. my central florida district is imed to benefit from these programs since it's home to large and growing number of small firms that harness power produce ogy, innovative products for customers in the public and private sector, and in the create well-paying jobs and generate broad-based economic growth. thank you, i yield back. the chair: the g

mr. wittman for his first year as subcommittee chairman, in particular i want to highlight the work of our subcommittee staff in helping us craft a -- the bill. i'm joined by one of my staff, steven, who has been working with us and is going to be moving on to better things. i want to publicly thank him for his outstanding work in terms of helping us get to the place we are here today. in closing i would urge my colleagues to support the defense authorization bill and yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. thornberry: i'm pleased to yield one minute to a valuable member of our committee who continues to serve our nation in the reserves. the gentleman from indiana, mr. banks. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. banks: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise today to express my strong support for the fiscal year 2018 national defense authorization act. as the most recently deployed veteran serving in congress, serving in afghanistan, just two years -- serving in afghanistan just two years ago,