[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 188 (Thursday, November 16, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7288-S7290]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
National Defense Authorization Bill
Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise to discuss the fiscal year 2018
National Defense Authorization Act.
After several months of negotiations, the House and Senate Armed
Services Committees have arrived at a completed conference agreement.
Earlier today, we passed the NDAA for the 56th consecutive year.
Let me highlight some of the important issues that we addressed in
this agreement. This conference agreement authorizes a total of $692
billion, which includes $626.4 billion in base budget funding for the
Department of Defense and certain security activities of the Department
of Energy and $65.8 billion in overseas contingency operations, or OCO,
funding.
Of course, we could not have done it without the cooperation of all
the members of the committee, including the Presiding Officer, and I
thank him for his contribution and his service.
This includes the administration's $5.9 billion budget amendment we
received earlier this month, which seeks an additional $4.7 billion in
base budget funding to bolster missile defense and to repair two Navy
ships after recent collisions, as well as $1.2 billion in OCO funding
for operations in Afghanistan and for additional capabilities in the
Central Command area of operations.
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The conference agreement includes significant increases in additional
resources aimed at restoring full spectrum readiness, as soon as
possible, across the military services. Specifically, operation and
maintenance funding, widely known as the lifeblood readiness, was
increased by $1.16 billion for the Army, $277.9 million for the Navy,
$82.3 million for the Marine Corps, and $1 billion for the U.S. Air
Force.
This conference agreement supports the topline of $700 billion for
national defense, or 050, activities, which is roughly $150 billion
over the Budget Control Act cap. If the cap is not adjusted and if this
amount is fully funded by the appropriators, then we would trigger the
harmful across-the-board cuts of sequestration, just at the time when
we are trying to restore readiness.
I want to be clear. I agree that the DOD needs additional resources.
But we must address the caps for both defense and nondefense
activities.
I remind my colleagues that under the Budget Control Act, or BCA,
national defense activities include certain programs at the FBI and the
Coast Guard, while nondefense activities include the State Department,
veterans' care, Customs and Border Protection, and the TSA. We need to
look at our Nation's needs holistically, and we must remain vigilant
over the amount of money the DOD can effectively utilize. We have to
look at national security, and that includes both sides and both caps
With regard to our overseas operations, the conference report
authorizes the entirety of the funding request for our efforts in
Afghanistan, including $1.7 billion to invest in critical aviation
capabilities, such as close air support platforms and modernized rotary
wing assets, and to continue to sustain and train the existing fleet.
The report also authorizes 3,500 special immigrant visas to continue
to uphold our commitments to the many brave Afghans who have provided
critical support to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. In this regard,
let me thank Chairman McCain and Senator Shaheen, without whose efforts
this provision would not have been included, I believe, in the final
conference.
The conference report continues robust support for our
counterterrorism efforts against ISIS, al-Qaida, and the other violent
extremist groups, including approximately $1.8 billion for the Train
and Equip Programs in Iraq and Syria. It also fully funds the
Department's budget request for U.S. Special Operations Command.
With this bill, we will enhance public transparency and congressional
oversight of military operations and the policies that underpin them.
Most notably, it requires a public articulation of the legal and policy
frameworks governing the use of military force outside of declared war
zones, as well as additional reporting on civilian casualty incidents
and DOD efforts to prevent them.
The conference report includes a requirement for the Secretary of
Defense to appoint a senior official in the Department to lead an
effort to harness and integrate all of the Department's capabilities to
confront and defeat the kind of strategic influence operations that
Russia has conducted against us and our allies over the last 2 years.
It is vital that the Defense Department integrate its cyber
capabilities with its information warfare experts to provide
capabilities and options in time for next year's election cycle in the
United States and to support our allies in Europe against Russian
operations directed against them.
Additionally, the conference report includes a requirement for the
Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State to develop and report
to Congress on a comprehensive, whole-of-government strategy to counter
the Russian malign influence threat. Such a detailed strategy must
include measures to defend against and deter Russian activities related
to national security, including hybrid warfare, cyber attacks, and
information operations.
The 2018 NDAA also authorizes the Secretary of Defense to establish
the Indo-Asia-Pacific Stability Initiative, which will be used to
improve our posture in the Asia-Pacific region and provide additional
resources to increase partner capacity and multilateral exercises in
the region.
The Chief of Naval Operations' Force Structure Assessment from last
winter identified a goal of 355 ships, including 66 attack submarines.
This bill makes a good downpayment on that goal by adding five ships to
the budget, including one DDG-51 destroyer, two littoral combat ships,
one LX(R) amphibious ship, and one expeditionary sea base.
Perhaps not as dramatic, but no less important, is the addition of
$698 million in the budget request to allow the Navy to begin expanding
the submarine industrial base. Achieving the CNO's force structure goal
will require adding 18 attack submarines to the previous force
structure goal of 48 boats.
This will be no small challenge since retirement of older submarines
will exceed deliveries of new submarines. During the 10-year period of
1991 to 2000, we ordered only four attack submarines--Connecticut,
Jimmy Carter, Virginia, and Texas--so we have to do some catching up.
Providing the resources for the Navy to expand the submarine
industrial base in an orderly fashion will be a critical element of
efficiency and a critical element in building up our fleet.
The conference fully supports the budget requests for the
modernization of the triad and its nuclear command and control to
ensure we can deter existential threats to our homeland. Our triad of
submarines, ICBMs, and bombers have been in service for decades and
must be replaced.
Secretary Ash Carter put the situation eloquently when he said that a
failure to do so, in his words, ``would mean losing confidence in our
ability to deter, which we can't afford in today's volatile security
environment.''
In the area of technology and acquisition, I am pleased that this
bill shows strong support for the Department's network of labs and test
ranges, which help drive efforts to maintain our battlefield
technological superiority. In particular, I think this bill makes
significant strides in enabling DOD to develop and buy the modern
software and IT systems that are integral to every system, platform,
and business system in the Department of Defense. Additionally, it
reauthorizes the Defense Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive
Research to expand the number of universities capable of working with
the Pentagon on advanced research.
The bill also pushes DOD to make use of advanced ``Big Data''
techniques to manage its business functions and processes. New ways of
collecting, analyzing, and applying the lessons of data are
revolutionizing the commercial world. It is time that DOD applied these
same techniques to lower costs and save money and time.
The conference report also includes a provision that would allow the
Army to transfer all excess firearms no longer actively issued for
military service to an organic facility for the purpose of melting and
repurposing. This provision not only allows the Army to divest itself
of these weapons, but it will also provide a steady stream of work to
our organic foundries. These are an important part of our arsenal
system.
Furthermore, the provision will authorize the Secretary of the Army
to annually designate additional excess firearms that are no longer in
military use to be repurposed. This commonsense approach will allow the
Army to save money on storage costs, as well as repurposing these
excess weapons for higher priority needs identified by the Army.
I am also pleased that the conference report builds on a markup
amendment by Senator Nelson that directs the Department to conduct a
threat assessment and deliver a master plan for climate change
adaptation.
The conference report includes House language from my colleague
Congressman Jim Langevin that codifies several findings related to
climate change and expresses the sense of Congress that climate change
is a threat to our national security.
In the area of military personnel, the conference agreement
accomplishes much on behalf of our servicemembers and the Department of
Defense. The bill authorizes a 2.4-percent across-the-board pay raise
for our troops and extends authority to pay over 30 bonuses and special
pays to encourage recruitment, retention, and continued services.
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It also includes authority for service Secretaries to extend by an
additional year the time that the recruits may remain in the Delayed
Entry Program to ensure that background checks are completed, so that
they are not unnecessarily separated due to the fault of government.
These are individuals who are here illegally. Their status is a result
of their joining the MAVNI Program. If this program were terminated, we
would lose their service to our military forces and they would be
forced to leave the country.
Additionally, the bill permanently extends the special survivor
indemnity allowance under the Survivor Benefit Plan, which was due to
expire early next year. This ensures that widows of our veterans and
servicemembers who die of service-connected causes will continue to
receive their monthly benefit and authorizes annual cost-of-living
adjustments to this benefit going forward.
With regard to military family care, the report authorizes $50
million for impact aid, including $40 million in supplemental impact
aid and $10 million--twice the usual amount--for military children with
severe disabilities. For military families and for local school systems
all across this country, this impact aid is absolutely essential.
Furthermore, it requires the Department to improve pediatric care and
related services for children of members of the military.
This bill will also improve military family readiness by addressing
the shortage of qualified childcare workers, requiring that the
realities of military life be considered in setting the operating hours
of childcare centers, and by increasing flexibility for families when
the military requires them to move.
Let me conclude by stating the obvious. The reason this bill passed
was because of the extraordinary bipartisan leadership of Senator John
McCain and also because of the extraordinary bipartisan leadership of
Chairman Mac Thornberry of the House Armed Services Committee and
Ranking Member Adam Smith. I look forward to working with them in the
future.
Finally, the conference agreement would not have been possible
without the hard work of the entire committee staff, who worked
diligently to help finalize this agreement. I thank Chris Brose, Eric
Swabb, and all the majority committee staff for their hard work this
past year. On the minority side, I thank my staff director, Elizabeth
King. I also thank Gary Leeling, Creighton Greene, Carolyn Chuhta,
Maggie McNamara, Jonathan Clark, Jonathan Epstein, Jorie Feldman, Ozge
Guzelsu, Jody Bennett, Kirk McConnell, Bill Monahan, Mike Noblet, John
Quirk, Arun Seraphin, and Jon Green.
Let me state the obvious: They do the work. Sometimes we get the
credit, but the work is theirs. I am deeply appreciative of all of
their efforts.
Again, let me indicate what is obvious to all our colleagues. Without
the inspirational, practical, dynamic, and unrelenting leadership of
Chairman McCain, we would not be at this moment today--the 56th
consecutive passage of the National Defense Authorization Act.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Blunt). The Senator from Maine.
Mr. KING. Mr. President, before addressing the topic that I want to
take up--and I know it is one that is near and dear to the Presiding
Officer's heart--which is rural healthcare, I want to express my
admiration and thanks to Senator Reed, the Senator from Rhode Island,
and Senator McCain for their incredible leadership of the Armed
Services Committee. They show us what it is like to lead. They show us
what it is like to take on difficult issues and to work out difficult
problems, and I would like to express my appreciation to them for that.
I see the Senator----
Mr. SASSE. Will the Senator from Maine yield for 30 seconds?
Mr. KING. Absolutely.
Mr. SASSE. I would just like to associate myself with your comments,
sir, in praising the ranking member.
Senator Reed went through a long list of people who have gotten the
NDAA across the finish line for more than half a century in a row.
As a newbie rookie in this body, I have to say that serving with the
two of you on the Armed Services Committee is a real privilege and
honor. Much of the body doesn't work very well right now, but that
committee works incredibly well.
So I want to agree with the Senator from Maine that the ranking
member is a huge part of why the Armed Services Committee works so
well.
Thank you, sir.
Mr. KING. I thank the Senator.
I say to Senator Reed, I appreciate your leadership.
Mr. REED. I thank the Senator from Maine and the Senator from the
great State of Nebraska.
Mr. SASSE. I thought you were buying time.
Mr. REED. No. Once again, we have been following Senator McCain, and
he took us all the way. Thank you