[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 106 (Monday, June 24, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4469-S4470]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, first of all, I thank my colleagues for
voting yes on the motion to proceed so we can start our work on what I
consider to be the most significant bill of the year and we can do
these things in earnest.
I think this will be the 59th NDAA for 59 consecutive years. We are
pretty sure it is going to go ahead and pass. As we start the process
of considering
[[Page S4470]]
amendments, I hope we can have an open amendment process.
I know I speak on behalf of myself and Senator Reed. We have been
wanting to do this for a long period of time.
While we are debating this bill, I encourage my colleagues to come to
the floor and share why the NDAA is important to their States and to
national security.
Here is one reason why. We are at a really crucial junction in our
military. Our world keeps growing more unstable and less safe. Our
military is, frankly, in a crisis. I think we are all aware of that.
The NDAA is going to set the tone for our defense strategy not just
this year but well into the future.
It is a message to our servicemembers, their families, and the world.
Are we going to show Russia and China that we mean business? Are we
going to help our military continue to rebuild? Are we going to give
our All-Volunteer Force the equipment, training, and housing they need
to do their job? That is why this bill provides a total of $750 billion
in defense spending. It is what we call the defense top line. It is the
minimum we need to restore the longstanding military's strength that we
have seemingly lost.
That is why this bill provides for it, and that is why the bottom
line and the top line is the same thing. We have real growth in the
defense budget each year. We have decided on this, technically, based
on two sources, from the military before our committees and then, of
course, the Commission report that says that in order to get our
military back, we are going to have to have a net increase of 3 to 5
percent, and that is what this $750 billion will do.
This is also a direct recommendation from our military leadership;
that $750 billion is the bare minimum we need to get to that goal. The
committee has heard the same refrain from every service leader at
posture hearings this year; that stable, ontime, adequate funding is
their No. 1 priority.
So the best thing we can do for our troops, it seems pretty clear to
me, is that this should be our priority too. An important part of the
whole equation is that we are spending this money responsibly. This is
an across-the-board increase. The NDAA makes tough decisions to put
funding where it was most needed and makes cuts in other places.
We direct this funding to critical, bipartisan priorities: a pay
increase for our troops, the largest in a decade; rebuilding a right-
sized force with the newest, most capable aircraft, ships, and
equipment in the world; and modernizing our nuclear arsenal so it is
strong and safe.
During the last 5 years of the Obama administration, the amount of
money we had to run our military was reduced by almost 25 percent. That
was extremely harmful to our readiness and to our troop morale.
Thanks to the Trump administration, that trajectory is changing. In
fiscal year 2018, we increased funding back up to $700 billion, the
largest year-over-year increase since the beginning of the War on
Terror.
In fiscal year 2019, we increased it again to $716 billion and got
that funding out the door on time. This was really meaningful for our
military, and I hope we can do it again this year.
I commend Majority Leader McConnell and my colleagues who are still
fighting for a budget deal. We have to raise the defense cap or exempt
defense from the caps to give the military what they need to fight and
win. We are on a path to recovery in our readiness rates. We are
helping the military keep up with China and Russia. It is a different
situation than we have ever been in before. We have severe competitors
out there.
Let me conclude that we are on our way right now. This is a major
step. I want to also say, in working with Senator Reed, we have been
together much more than we have been apart. We have been staying on top
of this thing, and our combined tenacity has resulted in getting a bill
done.
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
Mr. REED. Mr. President, I commend the chairman for the bipartisan
and thoughtful way he has approached this entire process of crafting
the National Defense Authorization Act for this year. We had a very
successful markup. The result was a strong bipartisan vote of 25 to 2
on the committee. Subsequently, with our staff, we have done an
extraordinary job. We have been able to include an additional 100
amendments, on a bipartisan basis, to the substitute. So we have been
able, I think, to respond to all of the concerns of our colleagues or
very many of these concerns of our colleagues.
The chairman has indicated some of the strengths of the bill. We have
increased our operations and maintenance funding so our readiness
stature and posture is increasing. One area, too, that I think is very
important is the fundamental reform of privatized housing which was a
real problem that we discovered. Again, the chairman led two very
thorough hearings in which we had not only the operators but also the
families who live there. The legislation before us contains significant
improvements in the privatized family housing at the Department of
Defense. That is something critically important.
I, too, like the chairman, would like to see a very open amendment
process so we can bring to the floor amendments that are important and
linked to the national defense bill, have votes on these amendments,
and then move forward.
Let me just conclude my brief remarks by thanking the chairman for
his leadership.
I yield the floor.
Mr. BOOZMAN. The Senator from Oregon.
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