[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 138 (Monday, August 20, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S5717]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





 THE JOHN S. McCAIN NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 
                                  2019

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, the John S. McCain National Defense 
Authorization Act of 2019, NDAA, provides crucial resources to our 
Armed Forces and our national defense. Although I have serious concerns 
with this law, many of its provisions play a vital role in 
strengthening our national security.
  I championed numerous initiatives in this law that directly benefit 
the people of Maryland and our nation as a whole. The NDAA increases 
pay for our brave men and women in uniform by 2.6 percent. It 
authorizes essential funding for Federal agencies in Maryland, 
including the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command. It 
includes resources for important infrastructure projects in Maryland, 
such as cleanup efforts in Edgewood and Aberdeen Proving Ground and 
road improvements at Fort Meade. It also ensures that the mission of 
the Defense Information Systems Agency and those working on it at Fort 
Meade will continue and protects thousands of jobs from potential loss.
  I also support the NDAA's reforms to the Committee on Foreign 
Investment in the United States. These reforms, which I debated and 
supported in the Senate Banking Committee, balance our ability to 
maintain an open environment for foreign direct investment and to 
protect our national security. The reforms are essential in responding 
to foreign nations that strive to gain a strategic advantage over the 
United States through the acquisition of our advanced technologies.
  However, I find several elements of this law detrimental to our 
national security. For instance, the law eliminates the requirement for 
congressional authorization for the development of low-yield nuclear 
weapons. It also authorizes $65 million in funding for a new low-yield 
submarine-launched ballistic missile, an unnecessary new weapon that 
increases the risk of miscalculation and unintended escalation.
  In addition, the NDAA authorizes over $716 billion in defense funding 
for fiscal year 2019, a $133 billion increase in the defense budget 
since President Trump assumed office. I look forward to working with 
the Defense Department to ensure additional funds are prioritized to 
improve readiness, enhance training, and focus our procurements on 
tomorrow's challenges--particularly those in the information space--but 
this steep expansion in military spending may reduce the Pentagon's 
incentives to address cost overruns of weapons systems. This dramatic 
increase in defense spending follows massive tax cuts for the wealthy 
and proposals from the administration to slash healthcare and other 
basic needs for middle-class families, which sets a fiscal course that 
weakens the Nation's long-term prosperity and security.
  Furthermore, in his fiscal year 2019 budget request for the Defense 
Department, President Trump elevated the possibility of great power 
conflict with China. Secretary of Defense Mattis reiterated this in the 
2019 National Defense Strategy, asserting that China was a 
``revisionist power'' and ``strategic competitor using predatory 
economics'' to its advantage. Despite this, Republican conferees 
stripped a bipartisan provision that imposed tough sanctions on ZTE--a 
Chinese telecommunications company that has stolen U.S. technology, 
repeatedly violated our laws, and poses an espionage threat. 
Republicans removed this critical provision at the request of President 
Trump, who tweeted his intention to provide ZTE with sanctions relief 
because ``Too many jobs in China lost.'' I remain deeply disappointed 
that Republican conferees caved to White House pressure and ZTE's 
lobbying efforts at the expense of the American people and our national 
security. I will continue to work with like-minded colleagues in the 
Senate to hold ZTE accountable.
  Ultimately, however, the benefits of this law--for our country, for 
our security, and for the American people--outweigh my concerns; 
therefore, I voted in support of the fiscal year 2019 NDAA.

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