[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9479-S9480]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise to speak on behalf of the 1997 
defense authorization bill. I am privileged to serve on the committee 
with the distinguished chairman, Mr. Thurmond, of South Carolina, and 
the distinguished ranking member, Mr. Nunn, of Georgia, and I wish to 
compliment them, together with their senior staffs, for putting 
together an excellent bill and conference report. It is my hope and 
expectation that conference report will be voted on favorably by this 
body very shortly.
  Mr. President, as we deliberate this bill, let us put ourselves in 
any of 10 places beyond the shores of this country where men and women 
of the Armed Forces are standing guard, or actually in some instances 
basically looking down the rifle bore of a potential enemy, but 
standing guard and taking those risks in the cause of freedom.
  It is for that reason I so fervently hope this body turns to the 
defense authorization conference report and passes it this afternoon 
such that it can go on to the President from the Senate and the House 
and receive the President's signature and be enacted into law.
  This conference report goes a long way towards ensuring that our 
Armed Forces will remain capable of meeting the many challenges that 
lie ahead. Let me dwell on that for a moment--challenges that lie 
ahead. Today, we have the finest equipment for the men and women of the 
Armed Forces, but it takes basically 10 years, 10 years from the 
drawing board until the next generation of weapons systems are 
delivered by the American industrial base. And we are proud to have in 
this country the finest industrial base in the world. But it will take 
them 10 years from drawing board to delivery to the men and women of 
the Armed Forces.
  Our actions today ensure that those young men and women today barely 
in their early teens will have that equipment when they, hopefully, 
volunteer to assume their role on the ramparts not only of this country 
but across the world to achieve freedom.
  To achieve this goal the conferees had to add $11.2 billion to the 
Clinton administration budget request. We concentrated those additional 
funds on just that, providing the research and the development, from 
the drawing board to providing the funds for the production lines all 
across the America for airplanes and ships and missiles, trucks, tents, 
and the like for our men and women of the Armed Forces 10 years hence.
  Earlier today I had the opportunity to talk by phone to Secretary of 
Defense Perry. We discussed his mission to Saudi Arabia. Deep in the 
hearts of every person in this Chamber is the sadness for the loss of 
life due to terrorism--make it clear, Mr. President, terrorism--when 
those barracks were maliciously partially destroyed by a truck bomb.
  The Secretary advised members of the committee that he is taking 
steps to ensure greater security for those troops, and, indeed, that 
requires moving from their present quarters to places elsewhere in 
Saudi Arabia. But that is what this money is for.
  I must point out, however, that even with the funding added by the 
conferees, this year will mark the 12th straight year of declining 
defense budgets. The funding level in the fiscal year 1997 conference 
report represents a real decline of $7.4 billion from last year's bill. 
Just 12 months ago this Chamber acted on that piece of legislation and 
already there has been that significant depreciation in the spending 
level for the Department of Defense. To all of our critics I say that 
we have not increased defense spending. This bill merely lessens the 
rate of decline.
  As I stated, U.S. troops are currently deployed in 10 separate 
military operations overseas. Despite the end of the cold war, we are 
calling on the men and women of the Armed Forces at an ever increasing 
rate to endure more and more separation from families. What a joy for 
Members of this Chamber to go home in the evening and join their wives 
and their children, and for millions and millions of other Americans 
wherever they may live. But so often the man or the woman in uniform is 
deployed beyond our shores and separated from that which he or she 
regards most precious in life--their family. They do that, as 
volunteers, so that we can have the exercise of free speech and all the 
other many blessings that this country enjoys.
  Despite the end of the cold war, we are calling on these men and 
women, again, to take more and more deployments abroad. It is our 
responsibility, then, to provide our troops with adequate resources so 
they can effectively and, I underscore, Mr. President, safely--not only 
effectively, but safely--perform their missions. We must not now, 
tomorrow, or ever send them into harm's way without the best possible 
equipment.
  The conference report which passed the House last night and is 
currently waiting Senate action provides for our troops, not only by 
adding desperately needed funding for the procurement, which I have 
addressed in the R&D, but also by funding vital quality-of-life 
initiatives such as the 3-percent pay raise for our troops, enhanced 
military medical benefits, and almost $500 million of budget requests 
for construction of improved quality-of-life housing, both for families 
and single troops.
  Just remembering back in my own lifetime, having had the privilege to 
serve in uniform, the pay raise is particularly very important, 
particularly

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when you are beyond the shores and your family is back here in the 
United States. That pay raise means the difference in their quality of 
life. I cannot tell you the emotional stress on a military person, 
separated from his or her family, beyond the seas, when they hear that 
pay raise could well be in jeopardy should this body, this afternoon or 
tomorrow, not pass this legislation. We owe a duty to those who 
volunteer to see that they are adequately compensated. I hope we will 
do that.
  In addition, this conference report adds almost $1 billion over the 
budget request to provide defenses for our troops and our Nation 
against the very real threat that is in the R&D report, the real 
threat, particularly to forward-deployed troops, against missile 
attack. Those of us who visited the gulf operations during the gulf war 
saw firsthand the damage by the crudest type of ballistic missile, the 
Scud missile, that Saddam Hussein relentlessly fired upon our troops 
and those of our allies, and relentlessly fired upon Tel Aviv. Many of 
us here saw firsthand the devastation of those crude weapons.
  We had in place our best defense at that time, barely off the drawing 
boards, barely off the production lines. We have an obligation to the 
men and women of the Armed Forces and, indeed, to all of our citizens 
and others deployed abroad to put our greatest strength of research and 
development into deterring these systems in the future.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Hutchison). The Senator from New 
Hampshire.
  Mr. GREGG. Madam President, may I inquire of the Chair what the 
regular order is? Are we in morning business?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. We are in morning business with Senators 
permitted to speak for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREGG. I ask unanimous consent, then, to proceed for 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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