National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027
The House debated amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027. Members offered amendments on a range of topics: Keith Self’s chaplain religious freedom amendment drew opposition from Chrissy Houlahan, who said chaplains must serve all service members; Darrell Issa proposed a security clearance program for private investors funding small defense tech firms, which Sean Casten opposed as too broad; Ashley Hinson proposed barring nationals of adversarial countries from nonpublic areas of national labs, which Bill Foster said was unnecessary given existing vetting; and Pat Harrigan proposed banning automated speed cameras on military bases, opposed by Gilbert Cisneros who cited base traffic safety. Other amendments covered a B-52 crash report and base studies, clinical trials of ibogaine for veterans, a Medal of Honor recommendation for a Vietnam veteran, an Arkansas National Guard land swap, a GAO review of cyber threat information sharing, a five-year extension of the Defense Production Act, and continued military partnership with Scouting America. Many amendments were presented without recorded opposition.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .
“We need auditors to look into the Defense Department. They have not passed an audit in almost 30 years, and I think people are afraid of what an audit would find.”
“Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time to close. Mr. Chair, I am just kind of shocked that we have a lot of people who don’t want auditors poking around the Department of War and seeing what they will find out. I will point out the Department of War has not passed an audit for, I believe, almost 30 years. They are somewhat alone in that compared to other agencies. I guess one of the reasons, obviously, that you don’t want to do an audit is that you are afraid what you might find out. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.”
Official Congressional Record
Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time to close. Mr. Chair, I am just kind of shocked that we have a lot of people who don’t want auditors poking around the Department of War and seeing what they will find out. I will point out the Department of War has not passed an audit for, I believe, almost 30 years. They are somewhat alone in that compared to other agencies. I guess one of the reasons, obviously, that you don’t want to do an audit is that you are afraid what you might find out. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
“I want the House to pass this military funding bill. Both parties worked together to write it. It fixes years of neglect in our military and makes our armed forces strong enough to deter China and other enemies.”
“Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chair, I will start by thanking my good friend, Adam Smith, the ranking member of the Committee on Armed Services, for his work on this bill. Again, this year, we have continued to work in a bipartisan fashion to lead the Committee on Armed Services, and we have done this for years. I could not have a better partner in doing that. Folks really need to take note of this, because this is the largest piece of authorizing legislation that moves through the Congress. It authorizes over half of all discretionary spending. We lead this committee in a bipartisan fashion. We passed this bill out of committee in a bipartisan fashion, and that doesn’t just happen. That occurs because of leadership that we get from both sides of the aisle. The staff take their cue from the chair and the ranking member--and other Members do--when we conduct our business, and we do it in a bipartisan fashion. It is so important. We are talking about our Nation’s security. We are talking about our men and women who put their lives at risk for our Nation, for the families involved. We want them to know that this is not political gamesmanship that is leading up here. This is Members working in a serious, focused fashion to try to get good policy developed that will make their lives better and keep our Nation free and safe. Adam Smith just does a great job in leading the committee. When he was chair, he led by example, and he has continued to lead by example as ranking member, and I appreciate that. I also thank the staff for their work. We have an incredible professional staff on the Committee on Armed Services on both sides of the aisle. They do follow our lead, and they work in a very collaborative fashion, and I thank them for that. We had a little over a thousand Member provisions submitted to our committee before the markup. We had 1,200 amendments offered during committee markup and 1,400 amendments here. The staff had to go through all of that and work it up, and they have just done it in a very professional fashion. I also thank House legislative counsel, CBO, and the Parliamentarian for their leadership and staff in developing this bill to the point it is at today. Mr. Chairman, a couple of weeks ago, we celebrated the 250th anniversary of our independence. But as many of you know, the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps are each celebrating their 251st birthday this year. That is because in 1775, the Continental Congress knew we needed a professional fighting force to secure our freedom. It was a bold and courageous act that shocked the British and the world. I am certainly not asking for Congress to do anything that courageous. But for the sake of guaranteeing our freedom well into the future, we need to act now to reverse decades of underinvestment and neglect in our Armed Forces and our defense industrial base. This bill will do that and much more. It will build the ready, capable, and lethal fighting force we need to deter China and other adversaries. I know there are provisions in this bill that some folks disagree with, but understand that this is just a single step in a long process. Everyone should know that we will continue to work in a bipartisan manner as we make our way through the Conference committee. We will work to produce a bill that can best pass both Chambers and be signed into law. I urge all Members to help us reach that goal by supporting this bill today and moving it along. Mr. Chair, I urge a ``yes’’ vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.”
Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chair, I will start by thanking my good friend, Adam Smith, the ranking member of the Committee on Armed Services, for his work on this bill. Again, this year, we have continued to work in a bipartisan fashion to lead the Committee on Armed Services, and we have done this for years. I could not have a better partner in doing that. Folks really need to take note of this, because this is the largest piece of authorizing legislation that moves through the Congress. It authorizes over half of all discretionary spending. We lead this committee in a bipartisan fashion. We passed this bill out of committee in a bipartisan fashion, and that doesn’t just happen. That occurs because of leadership that we get from both sides of the aisle. The staff take their cue from the chair and the ranking member--and other Members do--when we conduct our business, and we do it in a bipartisan fashion. It is so important. We are talking about our Nation’s security. We are talking about our men and women who put their lives at risk for our Nation, for the families involved. We want them to know that this is not political gamesmanship that is leading up here. This is Members working in a serious, focused fashion to try to get good policy developed that will make their lives better and keep our Nation free and safe. Adam Smith just does a great job in leading the committee. When he was chair, he led by example, and he has continued to lead by example as ranking member, and I appreciate that. I also thank the staff for their work. We have an incredible professional staff on the Committee on Armed Services on both sides of the aisle. They do follow our lead, and they work in a very collaborative fashion, and I thank them for that. We had a little over a thousand Member provisions submitted to our committee before the markup. We had 1,200 amendments offered during committee markup and 1,400 amendments here. The staff had to go through all of that and work it up, and they have just done it in a very professional fashion. I also thank House legislative counsel, CBO, and the Parliamentarian for their leadership and staff in developing this bill to the point it is at today. Mr. Chairman, a couple of weeks ago, we celebrated the 250th anniversary of our independence. But as many of you know, the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps are each celebrating their 251st birthday this year. That is because in 1775, the Continental Congress knew we needed a professional fighting force to secure our freedom. It was a bold and courageous act that shocked the British and the world. I am certainly not asking for Congress to do anything that courageous. But for the sake of guaranteeing our freedom well into the future, we need to act now to reverse decades of underinvestment and neglect in our Armed Forces and our defense industrial base. This bill will do that and much more. It will build the ready, capable, and lethal fighting force we need to deter China and other adversaries. I know there are provisions in this bill that some folks disagree with, but understand that this is just a single step in a long process. Everyone should know that we will continue to work in a bipartisan manner as we make our way through the Conference committee. We will work to produce a bill that can best pass both Chambers and be signed into law. I urge all Members to help us reach that goal by supporting this bill today and moving it along. Mr. Chair, I urge a ``yes’’ vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.
“I move that we pause our work on this bill for now.”
“Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise. The motion was agreed to. Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania) having assumed the chair, Mr. Goldman of Texas, Acting Chair of the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, reported that that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 8800) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes, had come to no resolution thereon.”
Official Congressional Record
Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise. The motion was agreed to. Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania) having assumed the chair, Mr. Goldman of Texas, Acting Chair of the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, reported that that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 8800) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes, had come to no resolution thereon.
