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Floor Speech

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Mr. BANKS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding and for his leadership, and I thank the chairman for his commitment to bipartisanship as well. I believe this NDAA is a true testament to that.

I rise today in support of H.R. 7900, the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2023 because our investments in modernization and innovation are more important than ever.

Our adversaries are focused on our defeat, on and off the battlefield. China is pouring money into research and development of emerging technologies, recruiting top scientists, and stealing intellectual property to gain a tactical edge.

This NDAA pushes the Department to accelerate innovation and strengthen its cyber posture, both of which are critical to maintaining superiority in this era of great power competition.

I am proud of the work that my subcommittee has accomplished, the Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems Subcommittee, along with Chairman Langevin, throughout this bill. Our commitment to work together, I believe, is shown in the input that we have both worked across the aisle to include in this year's NDAA.

We included provisions to improve opportunities for early-career scientists to work with DARPA. This NDAA authorizes great work that the Defense Innovation Unit is doing to field commercial technology by doubling its funding, and it expands the critical work being done in biotechnology and batteries.

We bolstered and strengthened the Department's information security systems and gave Cyber Command the tools that it needs to succeed.

As the ranking member of the Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems Subcommittee, I support this bill fully and encourage my colleagues to do the same.

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