To provide for an exception to a limitation against appointment of persons as Secretary of Defense within seven years of relief from active duty as a regular commissioned officer of the Armed Forces.

Mr. Speaker, I think I would like to raise the question, what would Abraham Lincoln do, a man who faced the turmoil of a divided Nation. I think he would look for an individual like General Mr. Lloyd Austin, someone who had had the balance of seeing life as a civilian but being an impeccable leader of the United States military.

Mr. Speaker, before I came to this floor, I walked down Independence Avenue to greet the young men and women in the National Guard who had come here from Texas. I wanted to let them know how important it was for them to be here to defend the citadel of democracy and how grateful we were that we had a peaceful transition of power yesterday.

What I see in Mr. Austin is a recognition that civilian control of the military has been a bedrock principle of our democracy since the founding of our Republic. Yet, at the same time, in the backdrop of the last 4 years, I think he is needed for two reasons.

One, the military has faced an enormous amount of instability. They were called ``suckers'' and ``losers.'' Generals were criticized. So you need someone who is a military person's military person, someone they know is part of the team.

Then you need someone who can build that morale. Yes, we had morale in the previous administration of President Barack Obama, having respected them. Now, I believe we must give President Joe Biden the opportunity for his Secretary of Defense.

Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who will support this concept, knowing that we believe that civilian control of the military is a bedrock.

I do think that we cannot call this a precedent. One and two is not a precedent. I do think we can look at maybe some other definitions of what it means.

But a man who is able to end a war of 150,000 soldiers coming home is a man who can lead the United States military in a spirit of lifting the morale, providing stability, and calling them the brave men and women that they are.

Let's support the waiver. Vote ``yes'' on this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary and on Homeland Security, I rise in support of H.R. 335, which provides an exception to a limitation against appointment of persons as Secretary of Defense within seven years of relief from active duty as a regular commissioned officer of the Armed Forces so that President Biden can nominate retired four-star Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III to serve as the next Secretary of Defense.

Gen. Austin retired from active duty in 2016, which under current law (10 U.S.C. Sec. 113(a)), makes him ineligible for appointment as Secretary of Defense.

Civilian control of the military has been a bedrock principle of our democracy since the founding of the Republic.

That principle has served the nation well and we should depart from it only where there is compelling reason to do so.

Indeed, in the history of the Department of Defense, the only Defense Secretary ever given a waiver was then-Secretary of State, General George Marshall--who was provided an individual waiver in 1950 at the height of the Korean War in a stand-alone bill approved by the Congress.

That is why I did not support granting waiver for General Mattis to be nominated as Secretary of Defense in the last administration. Even General Mattis is a great general and a great American and served well as Secretary of Defense.

But the experience of the last four years leads me to a different result today.

For four years, the Department of Defense has had to deal with attempts by the last President and his staff to undermine the independence and capability of the Department of Defense, going so far as to refer to the men and women who risk their lives to keep us free as ``suckers'' and ``losers'' and appointing unqualified persons as Acting Secretary of Defense and to other senior positions.

The Pentagon needs--the United States needs--an experienced, Senate- confirmed Secretary of Defense to restore morale and regularity as soon as possible.

I agree with President Biden that Gen. Austin's many strengths and intimate knowledge of the Department of Defense and our government are uniquely matched to the challenges and crises we face.

The next Secretary of Defense will need to immediately quarterback an enormous logistics operation to help distribute COVID-19 vaccines widely and equitably.

General Austin oversaw the largest logistical operation undertaken by the Army in six decades--the Iraq drawdown of 150,000 service personnel.

The next Secretary of Defense will need to ensure the well-being and resilience of our servicemembers and their families, strained by almost two decades of war.

General Austin knows the incredible cost of war and the hardships experienced by the families that pay it.

The next Secretary of Defense will have to make sure that our armed forces reflect and promote the full diversity of our nation.

General Austin is uniquely qualified to lead and oversee this effort to ensure that every member of the armed forces is treated with dignity and respect, including Black, Latino, Asian American, Native American, women, and LGBTQ+ service members.

General Austin, who was born in Mobile, Alabama and raised in Thomasville, Georgia, graduated from the United States Military Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1975 and rose through the Army's ranks during his distinguished and trailblazing career, becoming only the sixth African American to attain the rank of an Army four-star general, and over his nearly four-decade military career, challenged his beloved institution to grow more inclusive and more diverse at every step.

General Austin was the first African American general officer to lead an Army corps in combat and the first African American to command an entire theater of war, and if confirmed, will be the first African American to helm the Defense Department, which will signal to every American and every member of the Armed Forces that the country they pledge the last full measure of devotion is one of endless possibilities.

Any lingering concerns I may have about injuring the sacred principle of civilian control over the military have been laid to rest by the Armed Services Committee Chairman Smith's representations that General Austin has assured him that he understands this crucial principle and that he is completely committed to upholding it.

In addition, Chairman Smith represents that General Austin has agreed to appear before the members of the House Armed Services Committee to address the issue, and he has already spoken to numerous House members and made it clear that he will ensure that civilian control of the military is maintained.

Finally, President Biden has also already expressed his intent to nominate civilians with strong backgrounds and expertise to fill the roles of Deputy Secretary of Defense, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense.

Mr. Speaker, we also cannot overlook the impact of January 6, 2021 on the decision we are called upon to make.

On that day, the U.S. Capitol, was attacked and breached by angry mob of insurrectionists, comprised of an inordinate number of white supremacists and white nationalists, intent on preventing the Congress from carrying out its constitutionally imposed responsibility of counting electoral votes and announcing the election of the President and Vice-President.

This represent a dangerous escalation in the activities of what FBI Director Wray testified to Congress is the greatest domestic terror threat facing the nation.

Equally disturbing is that troubling evidence continues to emerge that the military itself has servicemembers sympathetic to extreme views and white supremacist causes.

The appointment of the first African American to lead the Department of Defense in the nation's history will send a powerful signal that racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny, homophobia, and other divisive, anti- social, and anti-American attitudes and actions have no place in the Armed Forces and will not be tolerated.

For all of these reasons, I urge all Members to join me in voting for H.R. 335, granting the waiver needed to pave the way for Secretary- designate Lloyd J. Austin III to serve as Secretary of Defense.

[From the Hill, Jan. 19, 2021]

Lloyd Austin is the Right Nominee for Defense Secretary and the Right

Leader for This Moment

(By Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Opinion Contributor)

As a senior member of Congress and a senior member of the

House Homeland Security Committee, I know the importance of

domestic security and the defense of our nation. Retired

General Austin, I believe, can bring that balance and that is

why he deserves a congressional waiver to become President-

elect Biden's secretary of Defense. I am going to support

President-elect Joe Biden's nomination of retired General

Lloyd Austin as the 28th U.S. secretary of Defense.

First, let me acknowledge that I did not support giving a

waiver to General James Mattis to become the secretary of

Defense nominated by President Donald J. Trump in 2017. My

opposition was not because I did not have respect for General

Mattis who might have warranted such a waiver, but it was

rather because of the view that I had of the United States

military at that time. President Barack Obama handed off to

the Trump administration a military that was strong in morale

and a stable organization. After all, the military under his

command was able to capture our greatest enemy--Osama bin

Laden. His capture was an enormous boost to the Pentagon and

to the overall military rank and file. Military personnel and

families were treated with dignity and their needs were

responded to expeditiously. Certainly, improvement could have

been made, but generally the United States military was in

very good shape. On the other hand, in 2020, my concern is

that throughout the last four years the military has been

under attack by negative comments on generals and by a

succession of secretaries of Defense. There is a great need

to bring in a person who can first of all boost the morale of

our men and women in uniform who sacrifice their lives on

behalf of the people of this nation, and their families every

day. Secondarily, now we need stability and a firm hand that

shows the balance between the needs of the military and

guidance as a civilian leader. I believe after listening to

Mr. Austin in our conversation, it is clear that his view of

the role of the secretary of Defense is solidly based on the

fact that the Commander in Chief is his boss and will be the

guiding force on the policies and on the vision for action.

This is a time for impeccable leadership to bring about a

morality boost and stability to our men and women in uniform.

And for that reason, I truly believe this is a distinct and

different time, and that General Austin who has been a

civilian for a good period of time knows the role of a

civilian leader and will act accordingly. I believe more that

this is the right decision at the right time.

Lloyd Austin, a retired General, is an accomplished and

respected trailblazer in the United States Army. He is a

trusted and crisis-tested leader who has broken barriers in

his historic ascent to the highest ranks of the military.

With more than 40 years of service, Retired General Lloyd

Austin is a deeply experienced and highly decorated commander

who has served with distinction in several of the Pentagon's

most crucial roles. He is a son of the South born in Mobile,

Ala., and grew up in Thomasville, Ga. He graduated from West

Point United States Military Academy and later earned degrees

from Auburn University, Webster University, the Army Command

and General Staff College and the Army War College.

Mr. Lloyd Austin was promoted to Lieutenant General in 2006

and assumed command of the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort

Bragg. And in 2009 he handed over his command to become the

Director of the Joint Staff. He retired from the U.S. Army in

2016 as the first African American to serve as Commander of

CENTCOM, the U.S. Central Command, where he oversaw America's

military strategy and joint operations throughout the Middle

East and in Afghanistan.

He was the chief architect of the military campaign to

defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and became the

second highest ranking commander in Iraq, taking command of

the Multi-National Corps--Iraq.

Mr. Lloyd Austin is highly decorated with many awards and

decorations including medals for Defense Distinguished

Service Medals, Army Distinguished Service Medals, a Silver

Star, Defense Superior Service Medals, and a Legion of Merit

medal.

If confirmed, Lloyd Austin will become the first African

American secretary of Defense which culminates a barrier-

breaking career as the first African American general officer

to command an Army Division in combat, to lead a Corps in

combat, to command an entire theater of war, and to serve as

Commander of U.S. Central Command.

Secretary-designate Austin has proven and demonstrated

extraordinary leadership across a lifetime of distinguished

service and is well prepared to lead our nation's military as

a strong and dedicated civilian leader.

The nation needs a leader over the Pentagon that respects

civilian control, to build up morale of our armed forces, and

bring consistency, stability, and leadership at the highest

level to the Department of Defense. That is Lloyd Austin,

retired General. Further, as an African American woman, I

believe this historic moment will further heal and unify the

nation.

Secretary-designate Lloyd Austin has previously been

confirmed by the Senate because of his impeccable commitment

to duty and his reputation. As a proud American who loves his

country just as much out of uniform as in uniform, he

deserves a waiver by the Congress and deserves to be

confirmed for this critical role of overseeing our military

forces and protecting our great nation. Retired General Lloyd

Austin is an example of why America is still that ``shining

city on the hill'' and why he should be confirmed by the

United States Senate for secretary of Defense. Retired

General Lloyd Austin is the right person for this right and

momentous time in our nation's history.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the order of the House of January 21, 2021, I call up the bill (H.R. 335) to provide for an exception to a limitation against appointment of persons as Secretary of Defense within seven years of relief from active duty as a regular commissioned officer of the Armed Forces, and ask

for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 335.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, this is the bill that will grant a waiver, an exemption, to Lloyd Austin to be nominated and confirmed as the Secretary of Defense. This is required because there is a law on the books that says that you must be 7 years separated from military service in order to serve as Secretary of Defense.

Mr. Austin has been out for almost 5 years, but does not meet the 7- year requirement. So we need to pass this law to give him that exemption.

Now, this is not an easy question. Civilian control of the military is enormously important. That is why this law was put in place. But in looking at this, I feel there are three basic questions:

Number one, does the nominee in question understand and reassure us in the House--for the purposes of our vote on this portion of the waiver--that he understands and is committed to civilian control of the military?

Second, is there something about this particular nominee that makes it important to grant this exclusion, to grant this waiver?

And, third, is the individual qualified for the job? Because I do believe that that is important, and the details of their history is important in deciding that.

And I have, after a lot of thought and a lot of conversations with Mr. Austin and others, concluded that all three of those criteria are met in this instance.

Taking the last one first, Lloyd Austin is unquestionably highly qualified to be the Secretary of Defense. He had a distinguished career in the military, serving in multiple different command posts, including the commanding general in Iraq, the head of CENTCOM, and the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army. It is beyond question that Lloyd Austin is qualified for this job.

He just finished a 2-hour presentation before the Armed Services Committee, taking our questions, in which he made it absolutely clear that he has a keen understanding of the issues that are going to face the Secretary of Defense and the experience and the intelligence necessary to deal with them. He is highly qualified.

On the first question of civilian control of the military, he has assured us over and over again of how important that is, and, more importantly, his actions reflect that.

He has come before the House, which you do not typically have to do in order to be confirmed to a Secretary-level position, but he has called us and he has reached out to us in a way that, frankly, 4 years ago, the Trump administration did not permit then-Secretary-nominee Jim Mattis to do.

He has called countless members of the committee; he has met with us. He has showed us that he respects what is really one of the cornerstones of civilian control of the military, and that is the House and the Senate. We are the ones who have oversight over the Pentagon. He has shown that he respects that.

So I can tell you and all Members voting, without a shadow of a doubt, I have no concern whatsoever about Lloyd Austin upholding civilian control of the military.

And then there is the second issue: Why this person, in this instance? Mr. Austin will be the first African American nominated.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself an additional 1 minute.

Mr. Austin will be the first African American nominated to be Secretary of Defense, which is enormously important in and of itself.

The military has a problem with diversity. They have an insufficient number of people of color who have been advanced to high positions, to general and general flag officers. It is enormously important that they address that.

In addition, in this country, we have an enormous problem right now with White supremacy. We also have a problem within our military ranks.

Now, let me be perfectly clear: I have 100 percent confidence in our military. But this is an issue that they do need to address, the rise of White supremacy and White nationalism within their ranks. Having a highly qualified African American be Secretary of Defense will be an enormous step toward addressing that problem.

So I believe 100 percent Mr. Austin has met the criteria to be granted this exclusion.

Lastly, I want to say, this law still matters because without this law we wouldn't have this process. We would not have the opportunity to question Mr. Austin in advance of his confirmation in the Senate. So the law has upheld its meaning and its role, to maintain civilian control of the military, by forcing this conversation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to vote in favor of the waiver for Lloyd Austin, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, we are going to have process arguments all year long in this House, but what was just said is really disingenuous. The only reason that we didn't go through regular order, the only reason we didn't have a public hearing, and the only reason we didn't have a vote in our committee is because the Republicans, as we stand here right now, have not appointed their members to the Armed Services Committee. So, therefore, we don't have a committee.

It is the day after Mr. Biden has become President. He needs his Secretary of Defense. I have begged the Republicans for the better part of a month to appoint their members so we could do our job.

So for them to choose not to appoint their members and then come to the floor crying about process, that is not really fair. We tried to do the process right. They stopped us from doing the process right. I want the record to reflect that.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Brown), a soon-to-be member of the Armed Services Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the distinguished Speaker of the House.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Khanna).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the other gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Crow).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from the U.S. Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, from this debate, it is clear that Mr. Austin is highly qualified to be Secretary of Defense. It is also clear that he has a full appreciation of the importance of civilian control of the military.

And, finally, it is clear that he is unique to this moment. His experiences as an African-American man coming up through the military puts him in a unique position to address the problems of White supremacy and a lack of diversity across the military in addition to all of the other challenges that we have heard from speakers today.

There is no question that he is qualified for this job and that he should be given the waiver so that he can serve in this position.

Mr. Speaker, I want to close by speaking to the urgency of why we need to do this today and how we got to this point.

When I first heard that Secretary Austin was going to be the selection, I will confess that I was not thrilled about it, not because of Secretary Austin--I know him, I have worked with him, and I think he will do an outstanding job--but because I realized the responsibility that it put on this House.

By and large--not ``by and large''--entirely, nominees are the business of the Senate. They confirm; the President picks. But because he picked someone who would require a waiver, we had to engage.

And I understood the urgency of getting that done, even while the Committee on Armed Services was still in the midst of dealing with the President's veto of the defense bill and trying to get the override done. But I knew the urgency. We had to find a way to get it done.

And, Mr. Speaker, I want to make perfectly clear that Mr. Rogers has been an outstanding partner in working towards the urgency of moving this forward. The process arguments get lost in the weeds. There were a whole bunch of things we had to do to be organized as a committee, to be ready to meet the requirements that we had, and we tried our best to do it.

Now, it is my humble opinion that we met those requirements even if we didn't have a public hearing. As has been stated by many Members, right before this vote we had 2 hours with Mr. Austin over in committee, in which members, Republican and Democratic members alike, were able to ask him questions and get his answers.

And I will tell you, I feel even stronger about the need to confirm him after that conversation. Not only was he intelligent, not only was he on point, not only did he understand the issues, but he had something, frankly, not everybody in the Pentagon has: He seemed to genuinely respect us. He seemed to genuinely want to answer our questions, want to deal with us as a coequal branch of government. That is enormously important.

But the urgency is why we are here today and why we didn't wait the extra week or 10 days. Joe Biden is President. He doesn't have a Secretary of Defense. Every day that goes past that he doesn't have a Secretary of Defense is a huge problem for a variety of reasons.

Let's start with the fact that much has been made that this waiver is problematic because we did it 4 years ago and now we are doing it again; the exception has become the rule.

Well, if it makes anybody feel better, there have actually been four separate Secretaries, people in the Secretary of Defense position, in between Mattis and Austin. So it is really just, sort of, two out of six.

That many people have churned through the leadership role in the Pentagon. And while the people at the Pentagon have done an amazing job fighting through that, it is still problematic to have to have that much turnover. The disruption that President Trump brought to the Pentagon cannot be underestimated.

I will never forget being in the meeting in the White House when we were talking about the pullout from Syria when someone dared to bring up Secretary Mattis's opinion--recently departed Secretary Mattis from the Department of Defense--and President Trump just lit in to Secretary Mattis, called him weak, called him a terrible human being.

Meanwhile, sitting right next to him was the incoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, who had worked with Jim Mattis. And this is his new boss.

Mr. Speaker, the disruption at the Pentagon has been enormous. They need a fully confirmed Secretary of Defense immediately to begin to thoroughly clean up that mess and get the Pentagon back to being as effective as it needs to be.

Also, and I will not belabor this point at all, we have a complex threat environment, right? Let's just say that. We heard about it on the committee today, about China, Russia, Iran, the Middle East, North Korea, not to mention the domestic insurrection that we all witnessed here just a couple of weeks ago. There is an urgency to this.

If there wasn't an urgency to this, I would have waited a week and said, okay, let's take however much time. People can figure out their ratios, and pick their members, and whatever.

There is an urgency. So instead of having the public hearing, we had a very, very successful briefing.

The House this time has done its job in a way that it didn't 4 years ago when we simply took Mattis, didn't hear from him, and voted on it.

There is a minor point of whether or not we mark this up in committee. This is not a complicated bill. Either Austin gets the waiver and he serves, or he doesn't.

There is really nothing to mark up. It is a question for the House. That is why we came to the full House.

This House, with the cooperation, I may say, of Mr. Rogers and all the Members has done its due diligence, above and beyond. We have concluded, without question, that the waiver is appropriate. Lloyd Austin will be an outstanding Secretary of Defense. He deserves this waiver, and our country deserves a fully confirmed Secretary of Defense as soon as we can possibly get that done, which, for the purposes of the House, is now.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I want to take a minute to thank the men and women of the National Guard for the service they have provided in protecting this Capitol over the last 2 weeks.

I especially want to thank the 750 men and women from the State of Alabama who came here to the call of duty.

Once again, these citizen soldiers left their homes and their jobs to respond to this call, and, although it is unfortunate they were needed, it is certainly appreciated by all of us that they were here.

Mr. Speaker, I firmly believe that each President deserves the opportunity to fill their Cabinet as they see fit. And I agree that it is important to confirm President Biden's national security team as soon as possible, especially given the grave threats that we face.

Four years ago, this House provided a process to consider a waiver for General Mattis. We were all disappointed when General Mattis did not appear before the Armed Services Committee. Yet the Armed Services Committee still convened and held a public markup of the waiver, which passed without a single vote from any Democrat. Then the full House debated and voted on the waiver.

This time around, the Armed Services Committee was excluded from the process by the Democrat leadership of this House. This was not a decision

made by Chairman Smith, who wanted a public hearing as much as I did. There has been no public hearing, no markup of a waiver, no opportunity for amendments.

Just 4 years ago, Democrat leadership told us how important it was to follow regular order and allow the Armed Services Committee to consider the Mattis waiver.

Speaker Pelosi said, ``The American people are entitled to regular order and thoughtful scrutiny of nominees and any potential waivers.''

Majority Leader Hoyer said, ``The committee has a right and a responsibility to inquire of General Mattis why he thinks he ought to be given a waiver.''

I guess this time around they don't feel the same way.

Mr. Speaker, civilian control of the military is a fundamental tenet of our Republic. It is rooted in our Constitution. The law prohibiting recently retired military from serving as Secretary of Defense was enacted shortly after World War II to uphold this principle.

In nearly 75 years, the law has only been waived twice, for General Marshall and General Mattis. This will be the third time.

But Biden didn't have to do it this way. There was a strong pool of diverse civilians and former military leaders with qualifications and experience to serve as Secretary. President Biden could have selected from this talent pool, but he chose not to.

I voted for the waiver for General Mattis, and I will vote for the waiver for General Austin. For me, it is just fair--a waiver for a Republican President and a waiver for a Democrat President.

But I stand here frustrated by this dysfunctional process. President Trump and President Biden forced this Congress into situations made worse, this time around, by the Speaker's decision to ignore regular order.

Congress should not have to entertain these waivers. Presidents need to follow the law as written. They need to stop asking Congress to waive a statute. And we certainly shouldn't be forced to do so outside of regular order. If Presidents don't think the law matters, then they need to address this waiver issue in this year's NDAA.

Mr. Speaker, America faces extraordinary threats from strategic competitors like China and Russia, rogue nations like Iran and North Korea, as well as terrorists and other transnational enemies. It is more critical now than ever to strengthen our military, address mounting readiness problems, and modernize our conventional and nuclear forces to defeat these threats.

I believe General Austin understands the threats that we face. I believe he respects the principle of civilian control. I believe he will stand up to the efforts of many of the Democrat majority who seek to slash defense spending and rewrite our defense strategy.

I hope the rest of the Biden administration shares his commitment for providing for our men and women in uniform the resources they need to successfully defend our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I want to address my friend, the chairman's remarks about the establishment of the Armed Services Committee.

We did not establish our members from our steering committee because we didn't get our ratio from the Democrat leadership until last week. It was physically not possible.

Had we gotten our ratio a month ago or even 2 weeks ago, we would have sat our members, and we would have had a sitting committee.

The reason we didn't have a public hearing today, the chairman is right, we didn't have a sitting committee. That is the fault of the Democrat leadership, not the minority.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Gallagher), my friend and colleague.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jacobs).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), my friend and colleague.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn), who is the ranking member of Readiness Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I have two more speakers who aren't here yet. So I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa).

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, at this time, I am prepared to close, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

First, I want to thank my friend and colleague Chairman Smith, and I look forward to working with him over this 2-year cycle.

The debate we have had today is a serious one. The executive branch is asking the legislative branch to waive a law for its benefit. President Biden knew this law when he selected General Austin. He could have made another selection.

But, as I said earlier, President Trump got a waiver with General Mattis, and I believe it is only right that I supported one waiver for General Austin.

Mr. Speaker, it is critical that the President has his national security team in place as soon as possible. I look forward to working with General Austin if he is confirmed, and I urge a favorable vote.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and Mr. Rogers from Alabama, the ranking member, for bringing this forward as a bipartisan effort.

Mr. Speaker, I rise as one of those who opposed the waiver for General Mattis. People ask me, well, what is the difference? Mr. Gallagher raised this. You change your mind.

Let me tell you what makes the difference for me, Mr. Speaker. I think this law is a very relevant law. It is a very important law. It anticipated, when the Congress passed it, that there would be reasons for waiver, or it would not have included it. It would have made a preclusion. It did not do that.

It said under circumstances that the Congress considers, it may be well be in order to have a waiver. This, I think, is one of those times.

Very frankly, one of the reasons I voted ``no'' on Mr. Mattis is because Mr. Trump did not know Mr. Mattis, his outstanding military service.

General Mattis really didn't know Mr. Trump; and that relationship did not go well, unfortunately. In my view, General Mattis was a great tower of strength and independence in leading the Department of Defense. So I congratulate him for his service, although I participated in a meeting in the White House in which President Trump was very harsh in his analysis of General Mattis, which I thought was unfortunate. But this difference that I see today is a very important one.

What is that difference?

The President of the United States--the Commander in Chief, the civilian leader--knows General Austin, has worked with General Austin, and has taken the measure of General Austin, and they have a relationship, a positive relationship.

In addition to that, of course, the son of the President, Beau Biden, serving in the military, served with General Austin and took the measure of the man and his commitment to civilian leadership in the Armed Forces--a critically important concept for the Secretary of Defense.

One problem that dictates the speediest possible passage of this bill is the security situation in which we find ourselves. Always in a transition the enemy can think you are weak and not able to respond in an effective way. That is why, traditionally, Mr. Speaker, the Congresses do, in fact, confirm the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State.

Ms. Avril Haines was just confirmed as the head of the DNI. It is because we do not want a long period of time between having somebody in charge in the Defense Department and, in this case, somebody in charge who obviously knows and agrees with the principles of the President of the United States.

I am sure he will give good advice and sometimes he will disagree, but we have a confidence relationship. So very, very important.

This is not a moment for our country to be without a Secretary of Defense. Secretary-designate Austin is a highly qualified nominee, spoken to by the bipartisan support that this waiver will garner this day in the Congress of the United States. Mr. Speaker, he would make history, of course, as has been pointed out, and not an insubstantial mark on history.

Secretary-designate Austin is the first African American who will be Secretary of Defense. At this time, our country is fighting to overcome the legacy of slavery, segregation, and prejudice, as has been pointed out by my friend, Mr. Brown, who served as a lieutenant colonel in the Armed Forces.

Secretary-designate Austin served in Iraq. Forty percent minorities. What a symbol and a bridge between those of the majority and those of the minority in our services, which will coalesce and bind together better the units, which is extraordinarily important.

Secretary-designate Austin served our Nation admirably in uniform and oversaw the safe and successful drawdown of our troops in Iraq, as has been pointed out by Representative Khanna. In doing so, he earned the trust of then-Vice President Biden and Beau Biden.

Because of Secretary-designate Austin's recent military service, he requires a waiver. But, again, the waiver is included so that the Congress can make a determination as to whether this is appropriate. I can't think of a more appropriate Secretary of Defense than somebody who has great knowledge and confidence of the Commander in Chief. We ought to take that action without delay.

Mr. Speaker, we must always have a clear delineation between the military and civilian authorities in this country. I have a picture hanging on my wall, which is also in the rotunda. I have it in my office because it is in the Maryland State Senate, the Old Chamber. It is still in existence, still in the capitol in Annapolis, of George Washington resigning his commission as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. And I always point out to people who come into my office that the Members of the Continental Congress are seated notwithstanding their inclination in the presence of this great, iconic figure was to stand and pay reverence to him. And George Washington said, ``No, you sit,'' because the civilian government is superior to the military. What a great lesson George Washington taught us at that time, which, thank God, has been revered until this time.

I think this appointment is the right appointment. I think it will be good for America. I think it will be good for the Armed Forces of the United States of America. I think the President has chosen well.

I urge my colleagues to grant this waiver. This, I would add, is not confirmation. Our brothers and sisters in the United States Senate will still have to judge and give advice and consent to this appointment, but this waiver is a precondition to their considering it on the merits. I hope that we will give them that.

Madam President, I rise today in opposition of the legislative waiver for the nominee to become the next Secretary of Defense.

Since the inception of our Republic, civilian control of our military by democratically-elected civilians has been fundamental to American Government. This principle was firmly established as General George Washington famously resigned his commission to the Continental Congress in 1783, when he might have easily positioned himself as the leader of the fledgling American Government instead. With this bedrock principle in mind, Congress in 1947 established a limitation on former military generals serving as Secretary of Defense without a sufficient number of yes in civilian life. Today, Active-duty military members must have been retired for at least 7 years before becoming eligible to serve as Defense Secretary.

Four years ago, despite great concern for what I saw as an erosion of the principle of civilian control of our military, I voted in support of granting a ``one-time exception'' to the statutory requirement for the confirmation of Gen. James Mattis. Until Congress

granted a waiver of this requirement in 2017 for General Mattis, Congress had approved a waiver only once before, in 1950 for General George Marshall. With the nomination of Gen. Lloyd Austin, what I had thought would be a once-in-a-generation waiver in 2017 now appears to be the start of an unwelcome trend.

To be clear, I do not believe that General Austin himself poses a specific risk to the civilian control of our military. By all accounts, he is a dedicated public servant and patriot with more than 40 years of successful military service. However, I do not believe that President Biden has offered a strong enough justification for granting another legislative waiver in so short a time.

Should a waiver for his service be approved over my objections, which appears likely to occur, I intend to support General Austin's nomination based on his merits and qualifications. Over the course of his long and distinguished career, including as commander of U.S. Central Command during one of the region's most challenging periods for the United States, he has served with professionalism and diligence and has earned the trust of President Biden.

General Austin has committed to uphold the principle of civilian control of the military and pledged to ensure civilian leadership and oversight over the Pentagon's strategic and operational planning. I commend General Austin for once again answering the call to serve, and I look forward to working with him to rebalance our civil-military relations toward civilian control.

In November 2018, the congressionally appointed National Defense Strategy Commission concluded that, ``There is an imbalance in civil- military relations on critical issues of strategy development and implementation. Civilian voices appear relatively muted on issues at the center of U.S. defense and national security policy.'' Losing this civilian perspective can have profound, long-term strategic impacts on the Pentagon and our national security policy.

There are many reasons for this trend toward unbalanced civil- military relations in recent years, including the failure of the prior administration to adequately fill Senate-confirmed positions at the Pentagon, instead relying on acting officials with limited ability to assert themselves within the department.

We have also seen a troubling increase in the politicization of our military. For example, hundreds of retired generals and admirals signed public letters of support for Presidential candidates in 2020, with both campaigns competing for the most military endorsements. That was coupled with a growing trend toward political expression among the ranks on social media and elsewhere; in at least one instance, servicemembers in uniform were featured at one of the national Presidential nominating conventions. It is imperative that military officers do not come to view their commands as auditions for future political appointments or opportunities to curry favor with civilian political leaders.

As Dr. Lindsay Cohn, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, stated during the recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing examining civilian control of the Armed Forces, civilian control of our military is not necessarily an on-off switch. It is a web of institutions, norms, practices, and understandings which can be weakened or strengthened. Recently, we have begun to see the principle of civilian control of the military weakened and degraded.

In my view, Congress must not simply acquiesce to that growing trend. I do not believe it would be wise to allow the exception to swallow the rule when it comes to such a foundational principle of our Republic as civilian control of the military.