Press Releases

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following statement on the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: "Killing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is an important achievement in the fight against ISIS. I am grateful to our men and women in uniform, our intelligence professionals, and our allies who contributed to this success. We have robbed… Read more »

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and Ranking Member Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) announced the official activation of the Future of Defense Task Force.The bipartisan Future of Defense Task Force is chartered to review U.S. defense assets and capabilities and assess the state of the national security innovation base to meet emerging threats. The Task Force is… Read more »

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following statement on US policy in Syria: "It would be a grave mistake for Turkey to send its military forces into Syria provoking hostilities with the Syrian Democratic Forces. It would also be a grave mistake for the U.S. to unilaterally withdraw from Syria or to acquiesce in any way to a… Read more »

An approaching deadline of October 1 will help signal whether the Department of Defense is serious about reducing inefficiency in defense agencies known as the Fourth Estate. Reforms mandated by Congress in the FY19 National Defense Authorization Act require DOD to achieve 25% savings from civilian management, logistics management, services contracting, and real estate management. The… Read more »

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following statement on the proposed Continuing Resolution to fund the military through November."The budget deal we reached earlier this year was intended to give our military stable and predictable funding. While the deal did not provide all the funding I believe our military needs, it made up for… Read more »

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, congratulates the following Republican members of the Committee who have been named by House Leadership to serve on the House-Senate Conference Committee to resolve the differences in the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.The following Republican Members of the House Armed Services… Read more »

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee made the following statement on the diversion of military construction funds for border security: "We continue to face a very real crisis at the southern border. I regret that the President has been forced to divert funding for our troops to address the crisis. His initial requests to secure the border were… Read more »

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee today echoed Secretary Esper's call on Congress to pass the FY20 NDAA and Defense Appropriations before the end of the Fiscal Year. "Our troops have been held hostage to protracted political fights for too long. Those fights, and the inadequate budgets they produced, contributed to a readiness crisis we are… Read more »

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following statement on the budget deal reached between Congressional Leadership and the White House: ​ "Three years ago, America's military was hobbled by a readiness crisis that left all of us less safe. Too few planes could fly, too few ships could sail, and too few troops were ready to… Read more »

Concluding three days of debate, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, made his closing argument on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020:"Madam Chair, let me start in a similar way that I started two days ago and that is to express my appreciation to the staff who has done a terrific job of wading through a ton of issues,… Read more »