Upper Cumberland Times

WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Representative John Rose (TN-06) took to the House Floor Tuesday to speak in support of several proposed amendments to the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The full remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below:

Madam Speaker, this week the House will consider the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, otherwise known as the NDAA.

The NDAA primarily authorizes the spending levels for our military and the Department of Defense, but it also serves as the legislative vehicle for how our military ought to operate.

That’s why I was proud to submit numerous amendments to this year’s NDAA to ensure our military is focused on fighting our enemies and deterring our adversaries, and that Congress is well informed of the Department of Defense’s goals and initiatives to ensure stringent oversight and accountability. 

One of my amendments would require that all Members of Congress receive a briefing on the joint multi-year plan to fulfill defensive requirements for Taiwan. The underlying bill currently only makes this briefing available to “appropriate congressional committees,” but my amendment would make this briefing available to all members because I think it is important that all of the people’s representatives are included in this process.

I also filed two additional amendments, one to require a briefing and the other to require a report on the People’s Republic of China’s actions in Africa that pose a threat to U.S. national security and the Department of Defense’s plan to counter such threats. We can all agree that we must continue to do everything in our power to assess the threat that China poses to our national security, which includes its actions in Africa.

On that same note, I also proposed another  amendment that would prohibit the Department of Defense’s Office of Strategic Capital from investing or facilitating investments in Chinese-owned firms. As we continue to counteract China’s aggression—including their use of stolen intellectual property and U.S. Trade secrets—we must ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars are not being invested or facilitating investments in Chinese-owned firms.

Lastly, I joined a number of my colleagues in cosponsoring a bipartisan amendment that would establish the United States—Israel Artificial Intelligence Center to leverage the experience, knowledge, and expertise of our two countries to develop more robust research and development cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence.

I believe that all of these amendments I mentioned today would strengthen the NDAA and help provide for a strong national defense.

I urge the Rules Committee to make all of my amendments in order and with that, I yield back.

You can watch the full speech here.

Original source can be found here.