July 22, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 129 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E661-E662]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  WILLIAM M. (MAC) THORNBERRY NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR 
                            FISCAL YEAR 2021

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 20, 2020

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of the fiscal 
year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). I would like to 
start by thanking Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Thornberry, and the 
House Armed Services Committee staff who have worked many long nights 
putting together this year's NDAA. The bill that is before the House is 
a good bill and I encourage my colleagues to support its passage.
  As the Chairman of the Readiness Subcommittee, I believe the bill 
upholds our responsibility to provide congressional oversight of and 
support to the sustainment, logistics, infrastructure, and readiness of 
our military. I'd like to take a moment and thank my staff for their 
tireless work--the Readiness Subcommittee staff, Brian Garrett, Jeanine 
Womble, Melanie Harris, Jay Vallario, John Muller, Dave Sienicki, and 
Sean Falvey, and my personal staff, Bradley Bottoms, Betsy Thompson, 
Marcus Jones, and Danusia Hubah. I am proud of the Readiness 
Subcommittee's contribution to this year's bill and I'd like to 
highlight the following provisions.
  The Readiness portion of the bill continues to emphasize the need to 
address vulnerabilities in installation and energy resiliency, both in 
response to climate change and to ensure the Department can continue to 
operate when fuel supplies and utilities are disrupted. The bill:
  requires the Department to report on efforts to consider fuel 
consumption, distribution, and logistics and the steps being taken to 
decrease consumption of fossil fuels by 30 percent to reduce the number 
of resupply convoys and oilers required in a contested environment;
  requires the Department to institute energy metering on critical 
military facilities to assess their energy requirements and to ensure 
resilient power sources for these facilities.
  strengthens an existing preference for the purchase of electric or 
hybrid vehicles for official business on military installations; and
  requires a report on the implementation of provisions from last 
year's NDAA to include installation master planning, updates to 
building codes, sea-level rise modeling, and climate assessment tools.
  Last year's NDAA made sweeping reforms in response to concerns that 
courageous military families raised regarding the management, 
oversight, and condition of military family housing. This year, we pick 
up where we left off. The bill:
  requires a report on known environmental hazards in government-owned 
housing and requires the Department to report on the feasibility of 
standardizing privatized housing performance metrics; and
  requires partners to put funding of maintenance and recapitalization 
of housing units ahead of fees that enrich corporate management in all 
future and renegotiated privatized housing agreements.
  Similarly, we build on previous efforts to address PFAS contamination 
around military installations. The bill:
  requires the Department of Defense to notify the congressional 
defense committees when there has been an uncontrolled release of a 
PFAS-containing firefighting agent that may impact human health or the 
environment;
  requires the Department of Defense to publish on a public website the 
results of drinking and ground water PFAS testing conducted on military 
installations or former defense sites;
  makes technical corrections to ensure all National Guard 
installations are eligible for funding for PFAS remediation in our 
National Guard communities; and
  requires the Department to survey and report on technologies that 
will help facilitate the on-time phase-out of PFAS containing 
firefighting agents.
  While the Department of Defense talks a lot about modernization and 
development of new capabilities, we must ensure that the appropriate 
focus remains on the sustainment of these weapon systems and the 
logistics required to move and supply them in a conflict. To that end, 
the bill:
  requires the Department to examine and periodically report on the 
sustainment and logistics requirements, gaps, and mitigations necessary 
to support force structure, power projection, and other elements of the 
national defense strategy;
  helps ensure Congress continues to receive timely and relevant 
information regarding both

[[Page E662]]

domestic and overseas infrastructure requirements and posture of U.S. 
forces; and requires a report on bulk fuel management strategies in the 
Indo-Pacific to meet current and future requirements.
  In partnership with the Government Accountability Office, the bill 
leverages their expertise to assist the subcommittee with continued 
oversight on topics that include F-35 operations and sustainment, Air 
Force use of contract air support services, and aviation and ship 
maintenance. The previous reports and analytical work produced by GAO 
helped inform the Readiness mark and I'd like to take this opportunity 
to thank the members of the GAO's Defense Capabilities and Management 
team for their support of this subcommittee's oversight work.
  Next, the health and safety of our military and civilian personnel 
remain a priority for this subcommittee. Following a review of a number 
of fatal ground vehicle training mishaps, the subcommittee is concerned 
that the Department's approach to collecting, reporting, and analyzing 
vehicle mishap data may be insufficient and hampers the ability to 
share lessons learned or put in place mitigations to prevent future 
mishaps. To that end, the bill includes a reporting requirement that 
will help clarify responsibilities for collecting and analyzing mishap 
data, how data is being used to identify mishap trends, and actions the 
Department is taking to standardize data collection.
  In addition to concerns with ground vehicle mishaps, the committee 
has identified critical failures and safety issues in the munitions 
enterprise. To start addressing these concerns, the bill requires a 
report on munitions safety waivers and mishaps, an assessment of the 
resilience of the munitions enterprise, and clarifies the role and 
authority of the Chairman of the Defense Explosives Safety Board.
  The bill also supports the civilian workforce of the Department of 
Defense by addressing a pay disparity affecting the Department's wage-
grade civilian workforce and including non-title 5 employees who were 
left out of last year's Paid Parental Leave provision.
  This year's NDAA also begins a unified, whole-of-government approach 
that leverages the best attributes of the government and commercial 
fleets to increase resiliency in our maritime logistics. The bill 
includes several provisions, that together, establish a National 
Maritime Logistics Fleet approach by strengthening U.S.-flagged vessel 
requirements for the transportation of military cargo and fuels, 
creating a Tanker Security Program to address the shortfall in U.S.-
flagged, U.S.-crewed tankers, and requiring the Navy to initiate an 
affordable, domestic built sealift ship. Strengthening our maritime 
logistics will also enhance our military's capabilities by improving 
the over-arching defense industrial base that supports each branch of 
our armed services.
  Additionally, this year's NDAA supports the missions at Travis and 
Beale Air Force Bases in my district. The funds authorized in this bill 
will support the new KC-46 mission at Travis Air Force Base and enable 
Beale Air Force Base to continue to support intelligence, surveillance, 
and reconnaissance (ISR) and multi-domain operations.
  I'm also pleased this NDAA includes a 3 percent pay raise for our 
troops and includes language from two of my bills, H.R. 2617, the 
Occupational and Environmental Transparency Health Act, to require the 
DOD and VA to retroactively update records based on information 
contained in the Burn Pit Registry, since many veterans' health records 
do not account for their exposures, and H.R. 4710, the Pharmaceutical 
Independence Long-Term Readiness Reform Act, to require the DOD to 
identify the vulnerabilities faced by our country's dependence on 
Chinese pharmaceuticals and the steps needed to secure the supply 
chain.
  This bill helps advance our military's near-term readiness goals and 
drives the Department to plan for and take action against long-term 
threats, and with that, I urge my colleagues to support the FY21 NDAA.

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