[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 149 (Thursday, September 14, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S5727]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2018--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. McCAIN. Madam President, I thank the majority leader for all the 
support and assistance we have been given on this issue. Of course, I 
regret that we finally had to turn to cloture. The fact is that we have 
incorporated over 100 amendments offered by Senators of both parties, 
and it means the NDAA becomes stronger as a result of including these 
amendments. Second, the process took a step in the right direction, as 
Senators were able to have their voices and opinions heard and 
reflected in this legislation.
  I wish we had never had to come to voting for cloture, but I wish to 
say that we have made enormous progress. We have had debate. We have 
had amendments. We have had votes. All of these are the ``regular 
order'' that some of us have been arguing for that the U.S. Senate--in 
accordance with the Constitution of the United States.
  I am very appreciative of the cooperation of Members on both sides, 
including Senator Reed. I believe we can be proud of our product. It 
came down to about four amendments on which we could never get 
agreement to move forward--that compared to the over 100 amendments we 
were able to adopt.
  I still wish we had been able to go completely through this process 
without having to resort to cloture, but I do want to thank Members on 
both sides--as we approach cloture--for their cooperation, for their 
involvement, for their engagement, and for their dedication to the men 
and women who are serving us in the military.
  We look forward to the next hours. We will have debate and hopefully 
some amendments proposed, vote cloture, and have it completed sometime 
early next week. The work that needs to be done will be done, 
accomplished before then.
  I thank all my colleagues for their participation. I thank them for 
their engagement and involvement. I am proud of this product, which 
comes after hundreds of hours of hearings, of negotiation, of 
discussion, and of debate, because it proves that the first priority of 
Members on both sides of the aisle is the men and women in the military 
and their ability to defend the Nation.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. REED. Madam President, I want to join the chairman with respect 
to noting the progress we have made with respect to 100 amendments. 
They have been bipartisan. They have been carefully weighed by the 
staff.
  We are still continuing to work together to see if there are 
additional amendments we can incorporate before we conclude this bill. 
I think the amendments have strengthened the bill. I think it does 
reflect the bipartisan effort.
  Also, along with the chairman, we would have liked to have been able 
to do more and have more debate, more votes, but at the end of the day, 
we are going to have a national defense authorization bill that 
responds to current threats, that responds to the stresses and demands 
on our personnel across the globe, and also be well positioned to go 
into conference and hopefully further improve this legislation in the 
conference process.
  Once again, I will say this is in large part the result of Chairman 
McCain's leadership--creating an atmosphere of bipartisan cooperation, 
of thoughtful debate, and doing it in a way that brings out the best in 
all of us. I thank him for that.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.

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