Providing for Consideration of H.R. Stopping Harmful Interference in Elections for A Lasting Democracy Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. THORNBERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and join him in opposing the previous question so that Congress can meet its most fundamental responsibilities under the Constitution.

Article I, Section 8 says that it is Congress' responsibility to ``raise and support,'' ``provide and maintain'' for the military forces of the United States.

Congress is failing in that responsibility. Not only have we missed the October 1 deadline, but we are currently operating under a stopgap funding measure that prevents our military from adapting to a volatile world, and even that expires in less than a month.

In this debate today, we have heard a lot about Russian attempts to interfere in our elections. Well, who is on the front lines of protecting the country in cyberspace as well as the other domains? It is the American military. It is the Cyber Command that is funded for less than a month.

It seems to me that we ought to start with the first responsibility of providing for our military, which is on the front lines of defending us, yes, in cyberspace as well as all the other domains of warfare.

While this House and Washington in general are consumed by secret impeachment proceedings, adversaries are looking to take advantage of this Washington dysfunction.

Who gets caught in the middle of all this political squabbling? It is our troops, the very men and women who volunteer to risk their lives to protect us. They are the ones who suffer the most.

There are dozens of programs in every military service that cannot begin under the current stopgap funding measure. There are dozens of programs in every service where we need to do more of something, but we can't do more under the current continuing resolution.

There are many programs we need to hire good people to work on. You can't do that under the current stopgap funding measure.

Instead, what we get is political squabbling.

Now, I know there will be people who say: Well, the House has passed these bills. It is the Senate's fault. It is Trump's fault. It is somebody else's fault.

We have enough of that squabbling, finger-pointing, and blame. What we need are results. Results will require the leadership of this House to focus on getting first things done first, and that means we need to get these essential defense bills signed into law. To get them signed into law, they have to be done in a bipartisan way.

Madam Speaker, I am absolutely convinced that, given the chaos and volatility of this world, the United States is going to be tested severely in the weeks to come. The best thing this Congress can do is put aside the political squabbling and focus on support for those people who are defending us, the American military.

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