Tonight on going to conference with the u. S. Senate. Live coverage of the house now on cspan. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. The chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. The clerk the speakers rooms, washington, d. C. December 4, 2017. I hereby appoint the honorable Bradley Byrne to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. Signed, paul d. Ryan, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. Chaplain conroy let us pray. God of wisdom, we give you thanks for giving us another day. The great compromise, Benjamin Franklin addressed the constitutional convention. We indeed seem to feel our the want of political wisdom since we have been running about in search of it. In this situation of this assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us. Have we now forgotten our powerful friend . Lord, you are the powerful friend referred to by franklin, and we turn, again, to you to your wisdom might break through the political discussions of these coming days. Bless the members of the peoples house and all your wis congress with the insight and foresight to construct the future of security in our nations politics, economy, and society. May they, as you, be especially mindful of those who are poor and without power. May all that is done be for your greater honor and glory, men. The speaker pro tempore the chair has examined the journal of the last days proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. Journalpursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands. Proved the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentlewoman from florida, ms. Frankel. Ms. Frankel i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america. The and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and stice for all. From the secretary of the senate on december 4, 2017, at 11 24 a. M. , that the Senate Passed with an amendment h. R. 1. Signed, sincerely, karen l. Haas. The speaker pro tempore the chair will entertain requests for oneminute speeches. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from North Carolina seek recognition . Ms. Foxx i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore without objection. The gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Ms. Foxx thank you, mr. Speaker. Today i rise to wish two very special constituents a happy birthday. Mrs. Lectiony holbrook and her great, great, great nephew mr. Jake wagner of Wilkes County creentsly celebrated their respective birthday. Mrs. Holbrook observed her 110th birthday, and jake enjoyed his 10th. Mrs. Holbrook is the gran dam of north willings barrow and hold the title of the oldest living person in the county. While 100 years and five days may separate them in age. Jake is proud of lectionys age and regards her experience as cool. Further, he believes her to be something of a celebrity. Jake reported to his fourth grade class about her upcoming birthday and explained, thats right. Shes mine. The pride and love mr. Wagner feels for lectiony is inspiring. Mr. Speaker, i hope their story will serve to inspire others to strengthen the ties of friendship across generational lines as we should all hope to have such bonds within our families. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition . Ms. Frankel to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlewoman is cognized for one minute. Ms. Fnkel thank you, mr. Speaker. This congress with a unanimous voice vote passed the resolution that mandates antisexual harassment training for members and staff. Well, of course its about time. But heres the thing, mr. Speaker. It is pitiful and embarrassing that a member of congress would need an instructive manual that tells them that they must keep their pants on in their office. What we need is to create an environment, an environment of a safe and respectful workplace and policies and procedures that will allow victims to come forward to be fully compensated for members to be held accountable and to have fair due process. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield ba. The speaker pro tempore the getlewoman yields back. For what purpose does th gentleman from pennsylvania se recognition . Without objectionthe gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise day in recognition of greenville, Junior Senior High School in greenville, pennsylvania. And laurel juniorsenior high school in new castle, pennsylvania, which were recently honod by the department of education as 2017 nationablue ribbon schools. This award, given to only 342 schos in america this year, is baseon a schools Overall Academic performance, as well as its progress in closing achievement gaps among studen. In her message of congratulation, secretary devos commended t visionaries, innovatorsand leaders who are preparing every child for a bright future. Mr. Kelly im proud to join her in congratulating the teachers and administrators of greenville and laurel as well as the families o these students for the love and support they provide. Most of all, i want to congratulate the students themselves for a job well done, they are truly a credit to pennsylvanias Third District and to our country. It is an honor to represent them in the peoples house. Yield back. Ms. Jackson lee mr. Speaker, i the House Judiciary Committee and serve as the Ranking Member on the crime, homeland security, terrorism, and the House Judiciary Committee and serve investigati which means that i deal with every single federal Law Enforcement entity across the nation. I am disappointed and i am outraged of the language from the commander in chief to suggest that the f. B. I. Is in tatters. We have agreements and disagreements with the chief Law Enforcement agency, but the work of these men and women froketting us in this nation but also against domestic terrorism, and even beyond, they are called around the nation to investigate heinous crimes, their expertise is respected. I remember when there was a child molester in my community. I work with local police, but i insisted the f. B. I. Get involved. They were willing to do so even though it was not matter across state lines. Their very presence made a difference. I think we owe them a better response. And i certainly think the commander in chief has the responsibility to do a better job. I also believe that weve got to pass chip because thousands of children the speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The gentleladys time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition . Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. You know, at least robin hood stole from the rich. Mr. Engel and gave to the poor. But my republican colleagues with this republican tax bill are stealing from the poor and the middle class and giving to the rich. Its absolutely disgraceful. A tax bill boosts the rich and burdens the middle class. I can say i have been here a long time and this is one of the worst bills i have ever seen in all my years in congress. What happened to the republican talking about fiscal responsibility . This blows a 1 trillion hole in the federal deficit and puts the burden on our children and grandchildren. Lets not look at this tax scam. People should be getting together on both sides of the aisle, tear up this onesided bill. And lets put our Heads Together and come up with something good. It was done during the Ronald Reagan years in a bipartisan way. Why can it not be done that way now . My particular state of new york, my home state of new york, gets really attacked for this. High cost of living states get he really attacked. Its not right to play political games. You take a look at this and you notice the blue states get attacked with this terrible bill. Tear it up. Lets Work Together and come up with something good. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Pursuant to clause 12a of rule srk the chair declares the ouse in recess until approximately 6 30 p theyll also vote on a democratic motion to instruct coffer conferees. Vote on going to conference coming up shortly about 6 30 eastern or show and well have live coverage on cspan when they return. Until they come back well hear from Navy Secretary richard spoke today at the u. S. Naval Institute Forum on global security. [applause] mr. Spencer we are out this weekend at the Reagan National for those who nd might have been there or didnt have a chance to see the live version on television, if you did i suggest you find a life, it was a beautiful saturday, too nice to be inside watching television. But it was interesting and timely topics. I want to thank you all for asking me to come and address, i sincerely mean it, august group. Work honorable bob bob rork on my way in, hes standing up straight because that 4,000pound ruck sack is off his back. Its interesting time were living in, as the chinese Fortune Cookie always says. But id like to kind of address with this group who i know in looking here youve been enduring endorsers of National Security and forceful advocates for a strong navymarine corps team. And i want to kind of address my thoughts on how were going to take this institution going forward. Ill pause and give you an update right now. Its already started out to be a good week in the pentagon, which doesnt mean that thats going to keep on the same trajectory but today certain sli a nice day because i swore in the new undersecretary of the navy, thomas modely. Tomorrow i get to swear in james hondogeurtz as the assistant secretary for rd a. I think were putting meat on a frame thats going to carry the Organization Forward in a positive trajectory. I think one of the first things we do when we address the topic of National Security is acknowledge that we are a commercial nation. Were a maritime nation. E benefit from the use, we benefit from the sea lanes that are open for commerce and we are protector of those sea lanes. We have a responsibility to provide security and contribute to the collective safety and stability of a global nation, not only for ourselves but for our allies. Its not only the right thing to do but as you all know its in our best interest to do it also. An overarching theme to American Naval policy has always been freedom of seas. To support the open, are bust trade amongst nations. Threats to global stability put our notion of the and our purpose of freedom of seas at risk. And that we cannot abide. The United States navymarine corps team, as you well know is forwarddeployed around the world for the preservation of global stability. Their presence is a deterrence. To potential adversaries and a reassurance of our allies. Whether it be the green suits of the navy on shore, whether it be he gray ships in the harbor, presence provides stability. Its my job to make sure our naval forces have the fangs and the longer and the sharper is better. The navymarine corps team needs to be ready to fight tonight and win. Thats easy enough to say, but clearly its a challenge to do. I must be blunt here. We have readiness issues in beth the navy and marine corps. Were getting at them but we have a ways to go. Yet despite the challenges that were facing im confident were going to successfully tackle every single issue and right the ship. Were going to utilize the aid of some outstanding problem solvers we have within the organization and were going to task some problem solvers from outside the organization. Our seven fleet forces are under the microscope right now and rightfully so. The c. N. O. s comprehensive review is an example that leadership and problem solving from within our organization will be done with focus. It has fwiven us a deeper insight into the systemic issues and provided us a way forward to address the shortfalls that we see. My strategic readiness review has enlisted the outside aid that i just mentioned. Its still forthcoming but were looking at everything. And i mean, were looking at everything. From datma to how the joint cheafs task our organization, to goldwaternichols and the fleet forces structures. As youre well aware, there are a multitude of obstacles in our path both current and emerging. Lets go over some to refresh your memory. Funding issues born of the budget control act and continuing resolutions have take an toll on readiness, maintenance cycles and have also cost us time and resources that e cannot buy back. The infrastructure needed to grow, support, refit and repair our fleet as you well know are shows dwsh showing signs of strain and woefully underfunded. Technological leaps have put new, affordable capabilities in the hands of our adversaries. And a number of these adversaries have begun demonstrating renew aid gregses that we have not seen in some time. These points are simply the basis for the environment in which we operate. So in the challenging world, how can we maintain our advantage . I believe the key is to remain focused on mission with three priorities in mind. People, capabilities, and processes. People are our greatest asset, we dont win without them and we need to keep the winners that we have. We need to recruit, train, empower the subject Matter Experts and hold these people accountable. Our ships, planes, submarines, vehicles, theyre all just hunks of metal. They cant do much without the human interface. They need sailors and marines to bring them to life. And our sailors and marines are sons and daughters our sons and daughters, are the best in the world at what we do. Theyre all volunteers and theyve given wholly of thems to ensure we at home can enjoy the freedoms we sometimes take for franted. Her hear they are hearing the reinforcing message every single day now that they are our warriors and that is their job. They deserve the right gear and lethal platforms to deliver the fight tonight. Im dedicated to ensuring that our people, these war fighters, get the capabilities that they need. Im also dedicated to ensuring that our Service Members and their civilian teammates receive the best training because its welltrained people that will employ their gear and extract capabilities in the most efficient and effective manners. We must foster an environment where our sailors and marines are given the choice and paths to challenge them and give them a career path that will keep them in our organization. We need to ensure that our people have the professional and Educational Opportunities they need to grow as leaders and critical thinkers. We must also ensure that families and loved ones of our sailors and marines are taken care of. Those families are entrusting us with the lives of their houses, wives of their husbands, wives, sons, daughters. When they send them off they need to be sure their loved ones are taken care of at home so they can be take focused on the mission. When our sailors and marines can focus 100 on the mission theyll be table effectively apply war fighting capabilities wherever and wherever whenever and wherever they are needed. Which leads to my second priorities. Giving the right capability into the hands of our sailors and marines. Our sailors and marines are the best in class and deserve the best in class. They deserve it in a timely manner. To that end, i directed my acquisition teams to do their part in expediting ourry search, development, and ive and acquisition process. Our technological advantages are real. Those advantages, though are diminishing. You can be sure there are some countries and nonstate actors out there working hard to bridge these technological gaps and thats why my goal is to never send our troop into a fair fight. Ive learned from the world of business that when youre facing competition, you need to have the resources and processes in place to compete and win. And to stay aed of the competition at all times. Its when you take your hand off think throttle that the competition begins to close. Its bad enough in business when you dont win but ladies and gentlemen, the stakes here as you well know, are much, much higher. I can assure you that near peer potential adversaries are not just treading water, theyre at full throttle and catching up quickly. Theyre spending money to develop the lethal capabilities to challenge ours and have a path that in many cases is much more expeditious than ours. But fear in the. We will answer this challenge. We must respond on all fronts, internal research and development, rapid pro to typing, accelerated learning and partnering with industry to get the capability our people need. Im talking about true partnership. We talked about this this weekend out at reagan. Its based upon the concept of shared risk will yield shared benefits. The u. S. Government cant be the only entity when it comes to acquisition that takes all the risks or the majority of risks. We must come back to a true understanding of partnership with our Industrial Base so we can have a sustainable acquisition process. Not a transactionoriented process that simply grinds down to the lowest common denominator. This is a partnership where we provide industry a clear line of sight to our needs and we must provide them a clear line of sight to our resources. So they can invest in the Necessary Research and development and provide solutions to our challenges. The challenges we have in the navy and marine corps teamside are a mess. Theres no relief in sight that will have all the resources we need. We must leverage every single aspect we have and as i said, thats both internal and external partnerships. And we must do this all the while by making sure we dont squander the resources of our taxpayers. A component of the Partnership Im talking about requires that we be a responsible customer to industry and frankly thats something we have room to improve upon. We can start by focusing on our third priority and that is process. To meet the threats of today and tomorrow, we must reform our reprocesses now. Weve been talking about this for decades. We actually are starting to move the needle. Youll see some of this come to fruition, i believe, in the near future. Sometimes that means joining with our fellow services to share expertise to meet a common goal. Weve struck a partnership, as an example work the United States coast guard as they begin the acquisition process for a polar ice breaker where were combining best practices. The navy knows how to build ships. So does the coast guard. We know how to build Large Capital asset ships an were teaming up to provide the best solution for our Sister Service this enavy will benefit, the coast forward will benefit, the taxpayer will benefit. Weve had success in working with congress on lowering cost through process improvement but we have a lock way to go. We appreciate the past congressional authorities for block and multiyear buys and we continue to use those to effectively fund our programs. Tools like these help us balance the economies of scale while ensuring the health of the defense Industrial Base. A base that the end of the day, provides us our capabilities. I also appreciate the bipartisan congressional advocacy in defining a 355ship navy. Its not just ships when we talk about growing the fleet, its every asset across the board. Well work diligently to implement the decision to rapidly and frugely with the resource provided by congress, grow the fleet of the United States navy. As we press forward, im committed to expanding the san, under the sea and in the air. But we have to lay e to lay the foundation for that growth. We have to ensure the health of the Defense Industry and work force are in place. Large Capital Investments need to be made today to build the fleet of tomorrow. And to maintain that fleet the way that we should so those that have these assets in future years have the capability to fight. I cant tell you exactly what the maritime fleet will look like in 20 to 25 years but i can tell you it wont exist unless we get serious about providing the funding needed to build those capabilities today. We cant buy back time and we dont if we dont invest for the future, we will be in a corner that will be tough to extract ourselves from. The bottom line, ladies and gentlemen, urgency is the battle cry. In addition to our efforts with congress, were reaching out to our Industry Partners to spur innovations and efficiencies. I know that wherever theres a challenge someone else is almost certainly already addressed it. Whether directly or tangentially and that they have insights on what works. Were looking for the best practices. The best practices of people who have gone through similar situations. I found out that just by reaching out, talking about our issues, produces amazing feedback from outside the building and from some of the most unlikeliest places you can imagine. Youll see that forthcoming in the Strategic Review well roll out in a week and a half. Weve already reached out to Industry Leaders to learn how they improved safety. And im confident, i truly am confident after seeing these people and what they contributed that well gain from their valuable insight and improve our own culture as we move down the road to work for sustainable readiness. So what is needed . We need the right processes in place to recruit, train, equip and organize our people in a sustainable, responsible manner, giving them the capability to win at any time, anywhere. The challenge of doing this may seem daunting to some but i see opportunity. Theres opportunity to enhance our partnerships that i just discussed. Theres an opportunity to innovate and oh, do we have innovators. Theres the opportunity to lead and theres the opportunity to properly address what has been the most harmful impediment to reaching our goal, the budget control act and continuing resolutions weve seen. And will continue to be incredibly harmful unless we address this as soon as possible. C. R. s have cost the department f the navy roughly 4 billion. Since 2011, we have put 4 billion in a trash can, put lighter fluid on top of it and burned it. 4 billion as you know, youre all doing the math, i can see it, or youre snooze, i cant tell if youre thinking. Ts enough to buy us two destroyers, 3,000 harpoon missiles, 2,000 tactical tomahawk missiles. Its enough money to buy us the additional capacity and capability that we need. Instead that 4 billion of taxpayers money was lost because of inefficiency of the ways of the continuing resolution. Each member of our allvolunteer force makes a promise to protect our nation from harm if called and to give their full measure to do so. Its time for our nation and congress to keep the same promise to them. As secretary mattis has said, our nation can afford survival and another continuing resolution is a broken promise and one more chip away at our ability to survive. In close, i want to thank you all for the opportunity to stand in front of you. Im going to stop bloveuating and take questions from the floor, thats where we find the most interesting things to talk about. So open the mikes. [applause] thank you. Good morning, mr. Secretary. My question is, this weekend at Reagan National defense forum, the commander of u. S. Strategic command said when he was growing up , he aspired to be a colonel program director, not the general, because he had the responsibility and authority to deliver products and processes to the war fighter. He also said that when the lieutenants and captains want to be the colonels again, thats when were going to have things right. So my question is, how do you as secretary plan to fix the bureaucracy that war fighters deal with day in and day out whether thats in the fleet or the pentagon, to ensure that our j. G. s grow up wanting to be commanders and captains. Mr. Spencer it is a timely question. Theres a couple of things going on here. I wont say its an alarming rate but the fact that theres one or two of these events really just shocked me completely. There are officers that are asking not to take command. They would rather take another path than take command. When i was in the marine corps, the ultimate goal that i had immediately in front of me was to become a captain and to take command. We are doing something terribly wrong if in fact theres more than one person who wants to check that box and say id rather not take command. Addressing in the Strategic Review, i told you we were looking at datma. We have to provide and we will provide all of the Navy Secretary hearing