[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 130 (Wednesday, August 1, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5549-S5551]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL

  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, today the Senate overwhelmingly supported 
the conference report for the 2019 John S. McCain National Defense 
Authorization Act. That bill is now on the way to the President's desk.
  Many Americans have bravely fought to uphold the values that our 
country holds dear. There are many people in the Senate who have been 
stalwart supporters of the military during their time here, but the 
legislation we passed today is named for one of those Senators, our 
colleague from Arizona, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, 
John McCain.
  Senator McCain not only has given much of his life in military 
service, but he has given tirelessly in service to the country in so 
many ways, including service here. He has been an incredibly effective 
advocate for the men and women who serve in uniform and defend us.
  There is no Member of the Senate for whom my admiration and 
appreciation has increased more during the time I have had the 
opportunity to serve with him. As a House Member, I knew Senator 
McCain, but I knew him only in the kind of passing that occurs when the 
House and Senate are trying to work out an issue or deal with a 
specific problem. I didn't really get to know John McCain until I came 
to the Senate. That daily contact with him made a real difference in 
the way I felt about him.
  His courage, his sometimes seemingly short fuse, but always his 
desire to do the right thing as he saw the right thing have continued 
to make him an important advocate here. Even

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in recent days, when he couldn't attend the Senate, he was the first to 
let his views be known.
  Certainly, Senator McCain and I didn't agree on everything. We still 
don't agree on everything. We don't make any particular pretense that 
we agree on everything. There has been more than one occasion when 
he expressed to me his absolute dismay that I voted the way I voted on 
a certain issue, but that is when I began to think that maybe we really 
had a relationship I could treasure--and I do treasure it.

  I am pleased that we named this bill after our friend Senator McCain. 
One of the principal responsibilities we have is to defend the country. 
It is the one job the Federal Government does that almost no American 
will argue that somebody else could do better, either personally or at 
a different level of government. It is the No. 1 priority, I think, of 
the Federal Government. This bill addresses that priority.
  In our State, we have Whiteman Air Force Base, Fort Leonard Wood, 
Rosecrans Air National Guard Base, where people from all over the world 
come to train on how to use the C-130s. We have the AVCRAD facility, a 
National Guard facility in Springfield, MI, that repairs helicopters 
for the armed services and saves a lot of money doing that. We are the 
home of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's western 
headquarters, and we are proud to be.
  Missourians serve in uniform and are proud to serve. Missourians 
serve in many ways, including all of those organizations I just 
mentioned, and they are proud to do that.
  The people who serve in the military and the people who serve in the 
intelligence branch of our government are increasingly challenged. I 
think the missions we have around the world, the challenges we have 
around the world, the national security threats we have around the 
world--as the Presiding Officer knows from his job as Foreign Affairs 
chairman--are as complex and complicated and multifaceted as they have 
ever been. Some have said that there are more threats from more 
directions in more ways than at any other time.
  I think this bill begins to recognize that--tries to recognize that--
and understands that to remain successful, America has to have a 
military that creates a military advantage. It has to be able to 
counter the potential that our adversaries have. We have to be able to 
defend international order and protect ourselves and those who rely on 
us in their defense of freedom.
  To that end, Secretary Mattis and the senior leaders throughout the 
Department of Justice put together the plan and the thought that really 
is the backbone for how this legislation has been crafted. This 
National Defense Authorization Act authorizes the necessary investments 
and establishes the policies to carry out our national defense 
strategy.
  First and foremost, President Trump and his administration have 
prioritized rebuilding the military. This bill, with a total of $716 
billion in authorization, provides the resources, the equipment, and 
the training necessary to do so.
  For 2 years in a row, we authorized a substantial increase in defense 
spending. We will have a chance, when we get back in a week or so, to 
bring the defense appropriating bill to the floor, which hopefully will 
be the second year in a row that our defense spending has matched the 
plan that has been authorized.
  The National Defense Authorization Act provides our servicemembers 
with a pay raise of 2.6 percent, the biggest pay raise in 10 years. Our 
troops and their families make a tremendous sacrifice to serve. They 
move often on a minute's notice, but in the last year's legislation, we 
gave more flexibility to families on that topic. Still, when you are in 
the military, you know you are not likely to be wherever you are for 
very long. That increase in pay is something we should be pleased about 
as a country.
  This bill authorizes critical multiyear procurement authority. Why 
does that matter? That doesn't sound very exciting--multiyear 
procurement authority--but it allows people in the military to plan not 
only what they are getting this year but how that gives them the 
ability to build on that next year.
  We have been using the Super Hornets, for instance, which are made in 
St. Louis, MO, at a high volume with desert warfare. The desert is 
harder on our equipment than other places might be. There is a serious 
shortfall of fighter aircraft in the Navy. All of those things are 
taken into consideration as this bill moves forward. It is a bill that 
recognizes the importance of readiness issues.
  We had more people die in training accidents last year--by a 
substantial number--than were killed in combat. That means we hadn't 
been providing the kind of training or the kind of equipment needed 
because we had budgets that didn't allow for that. These budgets that 
we voted on in the last few months, hopefully, will get us back to 
where we are going to close that readiness gap. We are going to be able 
to say to those who serve and to their families that we are providing 
the best equipment, the best training, and an adequate amount of time 
to fly a helicopter or fly an airplane to try to see what you would do 
in adverse conditions, which, frankly, we just have not been able to 
do.
  This takes into account actions to really address specific threats 
from countries that have actively worked to undermine our economic 
interests and our national security interests.
  According to the national defense strategy, China is using what it 
refers to as an ``all-of-nation long-term strategy''--all of the 
resources of the nation of China, according to that blueprint, in a 
long-term strategy of leveraging military modernization, influencing 
operations, and predatory economic efforts in order to coerce 
neighboring countries to reorder the structure of the Indo-Pacific 
region to its advantage. It is not to our advantage or to the world's 
advantage for China to restructure that part of the world to its 
advantage. It also classifies China as a strategic competitor that 
seeks to shape the world toward its authoritarian model through 
destabilizing activities that threaten the security of the United 
States and its allies.
  To counter China and reassure our allies and partners, this bill 
takes action to prohibit telecom companies with links to the Chinese 
Communist Party's intelligence apparatus from doing business with the 
U.S. Government. Many of us on the Intelligence Committee think we 
could have gone a step further than that, but at least we are now 
prohibiting those organizations from being government contractors. We 
need to continue to be vigilant so as to be sure that their presence in 
our other systems doesn't also jeopardize us.
  This bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, contains 
modernization language for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the 
United States in its effort to look at what national security issue may 
be at risk when a foreign company is able to buy a company or the 
technology of an American company.
  The national defense strategy, in addition to China, also says that 
Russia seeks to ``shatter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and 
change European and Middle East security and economic structures to its 
favor,'' which is also not to our advantage or to the advantage of 
those in the world who would be affected by it.
  Russia has violated key arms control treaties. It has expanded and 
modernized its nuclear arsenal--sometimes outside agreements that have 
been made. It has tested counterspace weapons. It has used emerging 
technologies to undermine our election process. It has infiltrated the 
way that we communicate with each other on social media. It has 
confronted the elections of our NATO allies and others.
  I think this bill shows not only a firm commitment to NATO but a firm 
commitment to article 5, which means that any NATO country, when 
attacked, will have the other NATO countries come to its help and aid.
  Additionally, this bill authorizes important resources and policies 
to counter North Korea, Iran, ISIS, al-Qaida, Syria, and others that we 
should be concerned about as they oppress the people of their countries 
and try to expand their oppressive governments to other places.
  This bill recognizes the critical importance of our allies and our 
partners around the globe so that we can be willing to stand together 
and to advance shared values and goals.

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  The men and women who serve us in uniform, the men and women who 
serve us in the intelligence agencies, and the civilian employees who 
come every day to be part of a defense and intelligence structure work 
hard for America. This bill shows that we appreciate that work. In the 
Senate today, the overwhelming vote on this bill verifies that, and the 
President's signature soon to follow will set a blueprint that will 
allow us to do the No. 1 job of the Federal Government--to defend the 
United States of America.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gardner). The Senator from Minnesota.
  Ms. SMITH. I thank my colleague from Missouri.

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