Jim Cooper

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 7900, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023. Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Rogers have put together an outstanding piece of legislation.

I also thank my ranking member, Mr. Lamborn, for his tremendous cooperation throughout the year and all the members of the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces for their valuable contributions to the bill.

This bill strengthens our national security at a time when our country is facing new and evolving threats in almost every theater. This bill takes care of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and guardians, and it invests in the tools that we need to protect ourselves, our allies, and our partners, as well as to deter our strategic competitors.

The Subcommittee on Strategic Forces has within its jurisdiction some of the most technical, complex, and consequential issues involved in our national security. At the top of that list are nuclear weapons. It is absolutely essential that American nuclear forces and their command and control infrastructure remain safe, secure, and reliable.

This bill makes certain that the Departments of Defense and Energy are well positioned for the immense task of sustaining our legacy forces while also recapitalizing our nuclear enterprise for the next 70 years.

This bill ensures that both Departments are pursuing balanced approaches, emphasizing deterrence but also nonproliferation and arms control. We must remain focused on the highest priority efforts and realistic in our plans for future programs. Plutonium pit production is a prime example of where greater realism is needed.

Regarding space, the subcommittee this year focused on the ability of China and Russia to degrade and destroy our national security satellites. This bill presses the Department to publicly release a strategy on how they will defend our on-orbit assets. It also requires the new Space Force to continue tactically responsive space efforts, authorizes additional funds to do so, and encourages increased competition within phase 3.

Please support H.R. 7900.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Foster amendment.

Why?

To the average Member, this may sound complicated, but it is all about nuclear testing. We need to stop North Korea and other nations from doing nuclear testing, and if they do, then we need a trusted international source to monitor exactly what they are doing.

It does not help us in America to be blind, and it does not help the House of Representatives to blindly follow what the Senate does, particularly Senate inaction, because the other body is notoriously unable to conduct its work.

The important fact that Members need to know is: all of the heads of our national labs say that we do not need to test. The heads of Sandia, Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, and Oak Ridge certify annually. We do not need to test, and we need to stop other nations who are trying to test.

This amendment helps us stop those other nations. This amendment helps us stop North Korea. This amendment helps us stop other rogue nations and major powers like China and Russia from testing.

Mr. Speaker, let's support the Foster amendment, and let's keep America strong. This is a very important principle for us to stand up for, and I thank Mr. Foster for offering this important amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask support for H.R. 5271, my bill to name this Nashville Post Office for a great friend of mine and a great friend of all Tennesseans, the late State Senator Thelma Harper.

Thelma was many things. She was a beloved public servant. She was the first African American to be elected to the Tennessee State senate, and she was the first female African American to be elected to the Tennessee Senate. She was the longest-serving female State senator in all of Tennessee history.

Her nearly four decades of public service were marked by her tireless service on behalf of her constituents. She started in the city council, and she helped fight a toxic landfill in her community of Bordeaux.

She then moved to the State senate, and she continued to fight for average people in Nashville, Tennessee. She served in the State senate until 2018, and she had a hand in many of Nashville's greatest projects: for example, bringing the Tennessee Titans to our city, the development of Nashville's Music City Center, the downtown public library, and for the National Museum of African American Music.

Thelma Harper was a proud member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and she served as chair of the Tennessee Commemorative Women's Suffrage Commission.

She is fondly remembered by many for her annual Kids' Are Special Too community Easter egg hunts, which kids delighted in, and which I personally participated in for many years. Those were held continuously and are continued by her family since Thelma passed away in May of 2021.

Most importantly, Thelma was a dear friend who was kind enough to include me in her family. She was a member of

many organizations in Nashville, a mentor, a teacher, and a friend. She taught me how to find common ground, even with some tough political adversaries. She saw the best in everyone.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5271.

Madam Speaker I rise today to honor The Tennessee Tribune, one of Tennessee's most influential publications, and Rosetta Miller-Perry, who is the paper's founder, publisher, and CEO.

Thirty years ago, Rosetta took a business risk to launch The Tribune in order to raise awareness of, and address issues facing, Black families. The Tennessee Tribune has become the state's largest minority weekly newspaper, fearlessly speaking truth to power and highlighting stories too often ignored by other publishers.

From joining the United States Navy to working alongside civil rights leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Z. Alexander Looby, Rosetta has always been an advocate for good on the right side of history. Before founding The Tennessee Tribune, she worked at the United States Civil Rights Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. After arriving in Nashville, Rosetta founded the city's Black Chamber of Commerce, which is still the preeminent resource for African American businesses in the area. It's no surprise that Rosetta is known to many as the Queen of Jefferson Street, the historic center of Nashville's African American community.

Rosetta's lifetime of accomplishments is documented in HistoryMakers, an oral history collection of prominent African Americans. In 2019, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Newspaper Publishers Association for her work with The Tribune.

The Tennessee Tribune's work is multi-dimensional. It has two stores in the Nashville International Airport so that most visitors to our state will see the importance and power that diversity has made in shaping our growing region. This progress would not have been possible without Rosetta and The Tribune.

This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of The Tennessee Tribune and Rosetta's dedication to championing the cause of civil rights and leadership of African Americans. Rosetta always makes our city, state, and country better, and I am honored to call her a friend. I look forward to The Tribune's next thirty years and many more decades after that.