AMENDMENT NO. 405 Offered by Mr. Young of Alaska

Floor Speech

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Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of en bloc Amendment No. 2 which includes three of my amendments, all of which are based on bills I have introduced in the House of Representatives.

The first of these, Amendment No. 237, reauthorizes the Commission on Wartime Contracting. This Commission has a proven track record of helping us reduce waste and fraud in our overseas operations contracting. We are continuing to spend billions of taxpayer dollars in reconstruction and other support contracts overseas and we must do all we can to ensure that those funds are being spent wisely.

This en bloc also includes amendment No. 238 which will require the declassification of previously public information on the performance and readiness of Afghan forces, as well as maps of Afghan Government- held areas. This data is vital to ensuring mission success and it is a disgrace that the Administration is withholding this information from the American people.

My final amendment No. 239, would authorize the Department of the Treasury to establish a Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Rewards Program to pay rewards that help identify and recover stolen assets linked to foreign government corruption.

Inclusion of these three amendments will strengthen Congressional oversight and government transparency, as well as provide vital tools with which to combat fraud, waste, and corruption.

I would like to thank Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Thornberry for including these amendments in this en bloc amendment.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, as the proud representative of two Navy bases in NJ, I come to the floor today to offer an amendment that addresses one of the most serious threats to our Navy and sailors: North Korean & Iranian mini-submarines.

Today, Mr. Speaker, we have no realistic training to defend U.S. carriers & other ships from this threat.

A Los Angeles-class submarine captain told me how he lost sleep over the two-man, diesel-electric mini-submarines that can lie on the bottom of waterways undetected.

Decades ago, North Korea secretly purchased a mini-sub from a German company, and reproduced copies for itself and Iran, which also began reproducing copies.

That the same German-designed mini-sub has a twin--today owned by a small American company in my district, and is available to help train U.S. sailors to detect such weapons.

My amendment proposes a $15 million investment to use this American- owned mini-submarine for detection training, a project that has the support of numerous current and former Navy personnel.

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