Press Releases

U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Lead Republican of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered the following remarks at a House Rules Committee meeting on the FY22 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Lead Republican Rogers' remarks as prepared for delivery:

Chairman McGovern, Ranking Member Cole, members of the Committee, thank you for having me here today.

And thank you and your staff for helping us get this bipartisan, bicameral agreement on the FY22 NDAA to the House floor.

I'd also like to thank Chairman Smith for his great work on the NDAA.

There is no better partner to have, and I am grateful for his leadership.

We both would have preferred filing a conference report today, but the Senate's inaction has left us little alternative.

Whatever the process, I can attest that the bill before you today represents a strong bipartisan, bicameral agreement.

It deserves the support of all Members.

Providing the authorities and resources our troops need to defend our nation and defeat our adversaries is the greatest responsibility we have here in Congress.

This bill does that in a number of ways.

It makes investments to ensure our warfighters are the best equipped and trained in the world.

It puts our servicemembers first, providing a 2.7 percent pay raise and expanding benefits for families.

It puts American workers first with historic investments and incentives for our defense industrial base.

It includes the right investments in emerging technologies, such as AI, quantum computing, hypersonic weapons, and autonomous systems.

Most importantly, the bill starts divesting systems no longer needed by our warfighters.

These systems will not help us deter future threats.

Instead, this bill makes historic investments in systems that will enable us to stay ahead of our adversaries.

This is critically important as we watch China and Russia increasingly threaten our allies and undermine decades of peace and stability.

Finally, the bill includes important provisions to ensure accountability for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

And it continues to provide the authorities and funding needed to disrupt and defeat terrorists anywhere they threaten us.

As you consider a rule for consideration of this legislation, I urge you to protect the text the Chairman and I are presenting to you today.

It represents a carefully crafted compromise with the Senate.

Any changes or additions to the text will likely cause the bill to fail in the House or Senate.

That would be a disaster for our servicemembers and their families.

If we fail to reauthorize the provisions in this bill by the end of the year, many of these servicemembers and their families will have a very hard time making ends meet.

I urge you not to let that happen.

This NDAA includes input from both sides of the aisle.

Neither side got everything they wanted in this process, but this a good bill that should garner overwhelming bipartisan support.

Thank you again for the opportunity to be here.