U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered the following opening statement at the full committee markup for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024.
Chairman Rogers' remarks as prepared for delivery:
This committee has the fundamental duty to provide for our common defense.
The work we do here is critical to the security of our nation and that of our allies around the world.
The FY24 NDAA is the product of that work.
It executes on hundreds of hours of oversight done by our Members and staff over the past few months.
It is a good bill that will strengthen our national defense and provide for our warfighters.
It will help build the ready, capable, and lethal fighting force we need to deter China and our other adversaries.
I want to commend Ranking Member Smith and the staff for continuing our tradition of putting this bill together in a strong bipartisan manner.
I also want to thank all the members for their input and assistance.
There are over 800 amendments for us to work through today.
I urge all members to work together to get us through this process in a timely manner.
There will be disagreements.
But we all have the same goal - to support the men and women who serve our nation.
If we can keep that goal in mind, I am very optimistic that the bill we report today will enjoy strong bipartisan support.
