[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 96 (Tuesday, June 16, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4195-S4196]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, this week the Senate will complete its work 
on the National Defense Authorization Act by holding a final vote. The 
National Defense Authorization Act is one of the most important bills 
Congress considers each and every year. I think this will mark the 54th 
consecutive year in which Congress has passed a Defense authorization 
bill, recognizing its importance to America's national security 
interests.
  The bill authorizes funding for our Nation's military and our 
national defense, ensuring that our soldiers get paid, their equipment 
and training is funded, and that our commanders have the resources they 
need to confront the threats that are facing our Nation.
  In particular, this bill ensures our air men and women maintain 
readiness levels and receive the training they need to safely return 
home after protecting our national security abroad.
  In my State of South Dakota, we are proud to host the 28th Bomb Wing 
at Ellsworth Air Force Base, one of our Nation's two B-1 bomber bases. 
The B-1s are a critical part of the U.S. bomber fleet, providing our 
military with critical long-range strike capabilities. These bombers 
have the highest payload capacity, the fastest maximum speed, and the 
lowest cost per flying hour of any bomber in our fleet.
  Bombers from the 28th Bomb Wing have played a key role in the armed 
conflicts the United States has engaged in over the past 20 years. 
Whatever the mission, from supporting NATO operations in Kosovo to 
conducting operations in Afghanistan, B-1s from Ellsworth have been in 
the thick of the action.
  During Operation Odyssey Dawn, B-1s from Ellsworth launched from 
South Dakota flew halfway around the world to Libya, dropped their 
bombs, and returned home all in a single mission. This marked the first 
time in history that B-1s launched combat missions from the United 
States to strike targets overseas.
  After 8 years of review, the Air Force and the Federal Aviation 
Administration recently finalized the expansion of the Powder River 
Training Complex, an airspace training range that serves as the primary 
training space for Ellsworth B-1s, as well as the B-52 bombers based at 
Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.
  The expanded training range will be the largest training airspace 
over the continental United States. It will save Ellsworth up to $23 
million a year by reducing the need for the B-1 bombers to commute for 
training to other States, such as Nevada and Utah. In an era of tighter 
budgets, measures such as this, which increase readiness while saving 
costs, are essential.
  I was pleased to work with the Air Force and the FAA on this critical 
expansion, and I am hopeful our air men and women will be able to start 
using this range for large-force training exercises in the near future.
  In addition to ensuring our military has the resources necessary to 
maintain our B-1 bombers, the bill authorizes full funding for one of 
the Air Force's top acquisition priorities--the Long Range Strike 
Bomber, which represents the future of our bomber fleet. This aircraft 
is scheduled to come on line by the mid-2020s and is just one of many 
acquisition priorities necessary to defend our Nation against future 
threats.
  Our Nation's defense budget must consider not only the enemies we 
face today but also those we will face tomorrow.
  In addition to the critical funding this bill authorizes, this year's 
bill is particularly important because it contains a number of reforms 
that will expand the resources available to our military men and women 
and strengthen our national security.
  For starters, this bill tackles waste and inefficiency at the 
Department of Defense. It targets $10 billion in unnecessary spending 
and redirects those funds to military priorities such as funding for 
aircraft and weapons systems and modernization of Navy vessels.
  The bill also implements sweeping reforms to the military's outdated 
acquisitions process by removing bureaucracy and expediting 
decisionmaking, which will significantly improve the military's ability 
to access the technology and the equipment it needs.
  The act also implements a number of reforms to the Pentagon's 
administrative functions. Over the past decade, Army Headquarters staff 
has increased by 60 percent. Yet, in recent years, the Army has been 
cutting brigade combat teams. From 2001 to 2012, the Department of 
Defense's civilian workforce grew at five times the rate of our Active-
Duty military personnel. There is something wrong with that picture. 
Prioritizing bureaucracy at the expense of our preparedness and our 
Active-Duty personnel is not an acceptable use of resources.
  The Defense authorization bill we are considering changes the 
emphasis at the Department of Defense from administration to 
operations, which will help ensure that our military personnel receive 
the training they need and that they are ready to meet any threats that 
arise.
  The bill also overhauls our military retirement system. The current 
military retirement system limits retirement benefits to soldiers who 
serve for 20 years or more--which doesn't apply, by the way, to 83 
percent of those who have served, including many veterans of the wars 
in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Defense bill replaces this system with a 
modern retirement system that would extend retirement benefits to 75 
percent of our servicemembers.
  This bill is the product of a bipartisan process, and it received 
bipartisan support in committee. I believe it came out of the Armed 
Services Committee by a vote of 20 to 6. This makes it particularly 
disappointing that the President is attempting to hijack this bill for 
political purposes.
  Despite the fact that this legislation authorizes spending at the 
President's budget request--his budget request--of $612 billion, the 
President is threatening to veto this legislation if Republicans don't 
agree to provide more funding for agencies such as the IRS and EPA, and 
he has tried to convince Democrats here in the Senate to abandon 
bipartisan efforts on this bill and back up a Presidential veto.
  Holding up funding authorization for our troops is reckless, and it 
is irresponsible. And it is flat wrong for the President of the United 
States to attempt to hijack this bill not because he disagrees with the 
bill itself but because he wants to make sure his pet projects receive 
the funding he wants.
  At this very moment, threats are multiplying around the world. 
Russian aggression is on the rise. ISIS fighters are carving a trail of 
slaughter across the Middle East. Iran is working to acquire a nuclear 
weapon. Now more than ever, we cannot afford to be holding up funding 
for our military, especially for partisan political purposes.
  Democrats and Republicans have had a chance to make their voices 
heard on this bill, and our joint efforts have resulted in strong, 
bipartisan legislation that will ensure that our military is prepared 
to meet the threats of the 21st century. The Senate should pass this 
bill this week and the President should sign it to make sure our troops 
have the equipment and the resources they need to do the most important 
thing we can do as a nation, and that is defend our country.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.

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