US Congressman Mac Thornberry (TX-13) today issued the following statement after the House passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by a vote of 229 to 186. Congressman Thornberry voted ‘no’ on the final passage of the bill and expressed serious concerns about several amendments: Read more

U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry issued the following statement upon the introduction of America Speaking Out, an effort by House Republicans to engage the American people in the process of building a new policy agenda for America. Through America Speaking Out, the American people will be given a voice in setting the priorities for a national agenda. At town hall meetings, online at AmericaSpeakingOut.com, and through new communications tools, all Americans will have an opportunity to be a part of this effort. He said the following: Read more

U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-TX), a senior Member of the House Armed Services Committee, voted to approve the committee’s national defense bill late last evening. H.R. 5136, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011, passed out of committee unanimously and is scheduled for a vote on the House floor next week. Read more

U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee, today issued the following statement after being notified of Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair’s resignation: "Having Admiral Blair as Director of National Intelligence gave many of us greater confidence in the Obama national security team. I am concerned not only about the effects of his departure on our intelligence efforts but also about the possible differences with the White House that led him to feel that he had to resign." Read more

Today the House Armed Services Committee, of which I am a member, will consider the defense policy bill, which is known as the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2011. Here are quick summaries of the amendments I will offer to improve the bill: GAO Report on Nuclear Weapons Complex Modernization– This amendment would require an ongoing Comptroller General review of whether the funding contained in the President’s Budget is adequate to fully fund the biennial strategy for Moderniz... Read more

Three things strike me about the failed terror bombing in Times Square. 1. We were lucky. Just as with the attempted Christmas Day bombing, there was not one thing that the government did to prevent the bomb from exploding and killing hundreds of people. We should admire the law enforcement work that found and arrested the suspect, but we should not delude ourselves that the government prevented him from being successful. Only his incompetence managed that. 2. We need to use all of the tools we ... Read more

A lot of people have asked me what I think about the new Arizona immigration law. Here are a few of my thoughts: America is a nation of immigrants, and we also are a nation of laws. The bottom line is that the federal government has failed to do its job to enforce our laws and to secure our border. Any country must be able to control who and what comes across our borders. The safety of our nation depends on the federal government fulfilling this responsibility. Despite modest improvements in som... Read more

This article first appeared in Politico on May 6, 2010: Once again, we were fortunate. The bomb did not explode as intended. As with the Christmas Day bombing attempt, many lives were saved by sheer good luck. But we cannot count on luck to keep Americans safe the next time — and the next. Eventually, luck runs out. The pace of planned or attempted terrorist attacks inside the United States seems to have picked up. In the past eight months, there have been reports of at least a dozen thwarted at... Read more

U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) made the following comments regarding his continued support for more domestic energy production following the Gulf Coast oil spill: This accident does not change the fact that the U.S. needs to produce more energy of all kinds here at home, including producing oil offshore. Once the spill is shut off, we do need to find out what happened. There are safety mechanisms that should keep this kind of thing from happening. We need to figure out what went wrong an... Read more

Washington, D.C.— U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry (TX13) was presented with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce “Spirit of Enterprise” national award for his pro-business voting record during the first session of the 111th Congress. Read more