[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 164 (Wednesday, September 22, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1005]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2022

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 21, 2021

  Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I rise to support this bipartisan National 
Defense Authorization Act: which honors our values, supports our 
servicemembers and families, strengthens our security and advances our 
leadership in the world.
  Thank you to Chairman Smith, the Committee and staff for their 
patriotic, persistent leadership on this legislation, which reflects 
the brilliance and diversity of the whole House.
  This bill honors our responsibility to meet the needs of the 
servicemembers who sacrifice for our freedoms, and their families. It 
does so by:
  Providing a pay raise for our men and women in uniform,
  Strengthening parental leave for caregivers,
  Expanding access to child care,
  Improving the financial security of military members, including those 
who are low-income and have family members living with disabilities,
  Protecting military communities from PFAS ``forever chemicals.''
  This NDAA also makes historic changes to better combat sexual assault 
in the military, including creating an Office of Special Victim 
Prosecutor within each service to prosecute crimes and criminalizing 
sexual harassment under the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice).
  And it improves military health care, including related to mental 
health, women's reproductive health and suicide prevention.
  In terms of protecting our security, there are many provisions of 
which to be proud in this NDAA. This legislation helps America combat 
our adversaries and invest in our alliances--with strong action to 
deter China and Russia, fight transnational threats and counter violent 
extremism.
  And it brings our defense further into the 21st Century--with an 
historic 36 percent increase in defense-wide research & development, 
$2.5 billion to fix aging infrastructure & support security-related 
R&D, $1 billion in new cybersecurity investments, over $1 billion for 
artificial intelligence efforts and investments in new partnerships 
with the private sector and academia, including HBCUs and Minority-
Serving Institutions.
  This NDAA builds on Congress's bipartisan action in passing Special 
Immigrant Visa (SIV) legislation to provide for the relocation of our 
Afghan allies and partners, as it authorizes $500 million for this 
effort.
  This bipartisan policy bill has been signed into law for 60 
consecutive years. We all look forward to seeing the Congress continue 
this proud tradition, as we pass this NDAA on a bipartisan basis and 
send it to the President's desk for his signature.
  Doing so allows us to honor the vision of our Founders, as set out in 
the Preamble, to ``provide for the common defense,'' and ``secure the 
Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.''

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