[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 114 (Monday, July 27, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S8131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



  (At the request of Mr. Reid, the following statement was ordered to 
be printed in the Record.)

                         DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION

 Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, our military is under an 
unprecedented stress. Over 140,000 American servicemembers are deployed 
fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many have made multiple deployments. 
Their families are also fighting on the home front to live normal lives 
despite repeated absences of a spouse or parent. Our nation owes our 
servicemembers and their families an enormous debt of gratitude. 
Congress has a sacred trust to provide for their needs.
  The fiscal year 2010 Defense authorization bill passed by the Senate 
ensures that our servicemembers on the battlefield have what they need 
to complete their missions come home safely to their families and 
communities. It provides for advanced armored vehicles to keep them 
safe from roadside IEDS. It also authorizes an increase of 30,000 
additional soldiers for the Army to help reduce the strain of repeated 
Iraq and Afghanistan deployments.
  I commend Chairman Levin and Ranking Member McCain for their 
leadership in crafting this bill. They have carefully balanced many 
competing priorities. They recommended a bill that looks out for the 
needs of our men and women while also looking out for their families. 
They have made hard choices to cut programs that are not working or are 
no longer needed. This is not an easy task. We should all be grateful 
for their dedication to our military and to our Nation's security.
  This bill really looks out for our military personnel and their 
families. It includes a 3.4-across-the-board pay raise, half a 
percentage point more than requested. It increases the supplemental 
subsistence allowance from $500 to $1100 per month to ensure that 
servicemembers and their families do not have to rely on food stamps. 
It also authorizes $30 million in IMPACT aid to help communities 
educate military kids, including $10 million for communities hard hit 
by BRAC, and $5 million to help educate military kids with severe 
disabilities. It has been said time and again, that while we recruit 
the soldier into the military, we must retain the family. This is 
especially true in this time of great stress on our military. This bill 
recognizes and responds to this reality.
  I am also very glad that once again, the Senate is passing a DOD 
authorization that looks out for wounded warriors. This bill requires 
that DOD increase the number of behavioral health specialists to ensure 
the military has enough doctors trained to identify and prevent suicide 
and post-traumatic stress disorder. It also directs DOD to devise 
strategies for electronic medical record exchanges between the military 
medical and Veterans Administration systems. This is critical to 
ensuring a smooth transition of care from one medical system to the 
other, and a timely processing of disability and benefits claims. When 
a soldier is injured, we incur a 50 year commitment for their care. I 
am glad that this bill helps ensure that those promises made will be 
promises kept.
  The Senate considered many amendments during our two weeks of debate 
on this important bill. There are two that I want to discuss in 
particular.
  I am pleased that the Senate supported President Obama, Secretary of 
Defense Gates, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff ADM Mike Mullen and 
Air Force leaders in their decision to end the F-22 program. The F-22 
will ensure the U.S. Air Force is dominant in future air-to-air 
conflicts. It is a credit to engineers and technicians who designed and 
built this great plane. Everyone involved in this program should be 
proud. However, I agree with the President that the time has come to 
bring F-22 production to an end so we can channel limited dollars to 
fielding the Joint Strike Fighter as soon as possible. I support ending 
the F-22 at 187 planes, and would have voted in support of the McCain-
Levin amendment on the Senate floor to accomplish this.
  I am also pleased that the Senate voted to reject the amendment 
proposed by Senator Thune to allow gun owners to carry concealed 
weapons across State lines without first getting a permit to do so from 
the State they are entering. The second amendment guarantees Americans 
the right to bear arms. However, each state must be able to make 
reasonable rules to protect residents and public safety officers, and 
this amendment would have made that impossible. It also would have 
undermined Congress's long-standing respect for State's rights to enact 
and enforce their own gun laws. It is no surprise that large city 
mayors and police chiefs all over the country opposed this amendment. I 
would have opposed it also, and I believe the Senate did the right 
thing in defeating the Thune amendment.
  In closing, I reiterate my strong support for this bill. It puts our 
servicemembers and their families first, provides our troops with what 
they need to accomplish their missions, and it makes wise investments 
in our Nation's security.

                          ____________________