Today, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, on the Subcommittee's markup of HR 2500, The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020:
"Mr. Chairman. I am disappointed in this subcommittee mark. For all my years on the House Armed Services Committee, subcommittee markups have been bipartisan and representative of the comity this committee has enjoyed.
"This year's mark represents a significant deviation from that tradition of bipartisanship. While there is solid work contained in this mark, there are also provisions that I believe violate the principal of executive privilege, question the legitimacy of validated requirements for plutonium pit production, and continue to place us at a significant disadvantage with regard to Russia by prohibiting funds for the deployment of a low-yield ballistic missile warhead.
"Taken in its totality this mark makes us less safe. It makes the Department of Defense less able to credibly deter our adversaries. It makes the National Nuclear Security Administration less able to provide a safe, secure, and reliable nuclear stockpile.
"I hope that the full committee markup works in a continued bipartisan basis to support our men and women of the armed forces. But it is clear that this subcommittee markup does not meet that standard."
