Securing Chain of Command Continuity Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. LaTurner for his excellent introduction. I rise also in support of H.R. 6927, which would amend the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 to require any agency head who is a member of the National Security Council to notify the executive office of the President, GAO, and congressional leadership within 24 hours in the event of medical incapacity.

This bill was brought forth after the hospitalization several months ago of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to treat complications from cancer surgery.

Secretary Austin has taken responsibility for the lack of notification to the President during his hospitalization and has assured the American people that ``there were no gaps in authorities and no risks to the Department's command and control'' during his absence.

A congressional hearing on the topic in February confirmed as much, and a classified review found no ``ill intent'' by the Secretary's staff.

I commend the Biden administration for the swift action it took to conduct a thorough review of current protocols and to ensure that the Office of the President receives all proper notifications. This bill aligns with the Biden administration's efforts in the field.

Consistent with the spirit of transparency embodied in the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which requires congressional leadership to be notified if the President is unable to discharge the duties of his or her office, I agree that Congress should be notified if an agency head who is a member of the NSC is similarly incapacitated.

Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Raskin for yielding time.

I rise in support of H.R. 6972, the Securing Chain of Command Continuity Act. As a proud United States Air Force veteran, I join my colleague, Representative Kiggans of Virginia, who also served our country in uniform, to introduce this bipartisan bill.

If we have learned anything from the past several months, it is, indeed, we are in a more dangerous world. As tensions and threats rise across the globe, timely responses are vital to safeguarding the American people and saving lives.

Congress must require National Security Council agencies to provide a notice of the incapacitation of their agency heads within 24 hours. That is reasonable.

This requirement for our Nation's leaders is a minimum expectation to ensure transparency and accountability. The American people deserve nothing less, and I support the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, we had such a nice bipartisan spirit going. I almost want to bite my tongue, but I do have to respond to the last speaker who took a gratuitous shot at President Biden and the Biden administration, which has moved very quickly to get behind this legislation and to address this gap in the law.

We do need to always establish the chain of command, and we need to know, as the gentleman from Wisconsin was saying, where is the Commander in Chief? Where is the leader?

That was the question everybody was asking on January 6 when this institution, this body, came under brutal, merciless attack by a mob incited by the former President.

Nearly 150 of our police officers were wounded, brutalized, and hospitalized in that attack, and everybody was asking this very question the gentleman from Wisconsin was asking, which is: Where is the Commander in Chief? Where is the leader? Where is the National Guard?

I am sorry to have to make that refutation of the last interjection by the gentleman from Wisconsin. Again, I thank Mr. LaTurner for the bipartisan spirit with which he brings this legislation forward, and I strongly support it.

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