U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered the following opening remarks at the full committee markup for H.R. 8070, the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement Act and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25),
Chairman Rogers’ remarks as prepared for delivery:
For the first time in decades, the bill before us today carries a different short title.
It is the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act.
We did that to underscore the tremendous gains this bill makes toward improving the quality of life for our servicemembers and their families.
No servicemember should have to live in squalid conditions.
No military family should have to rely on food stamps to feed their children.
And no one serving this country should have to wait weeks see a doctor or a mental health specialist.
This bill will go a long way toward fixing that.
I want to thank Mr. Bacon and Ms. Houlahan, and all the members of the Quality of Life Panel for their hard work and contributions to this bill.
This bill is also the product of hundreds of hours of oversight done by all members and staff over the past few months.
It is a good bill that will help revitalize the defense industrial base and 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 nearly 700 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.
