[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 187 (Thursday, November 21, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6725-S6726]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on another matter, the USMCA is not 
the only important legislation Democrats are holding up. As if 
neglecting the first major update to North American trade policy in a 
generation were not enough, they are also on track to break a nearly 
60-year tradition of passing a bipartisan Defense authorization bill.
  Passing the NDAA is one of Congress's most basic governing 
responsibilities. It authorizes and assures the ongoing missions of our 
Armed Forces and the resources the Department of Defense needs to carry 
them out.
  Every year since 1961, these goals have been enough to get Members 
across the ideological spectrum to

[[Page S6726]]

come together and deliver a comprehensive, bipartisan piece of 
legislation--but not this year, at least not yet.
  House Democrats are so intent on picking fights with the White House 
that they decided to play partisan games with our Armed Forces. They 
passed a fully party-line NDAA--not one Republican vote--for their 
House version on the floor. I believe it is the first time ever that 
either Chamber has passed a purely partisan NDAA.
  The House, on a partisan basis, also included many provisions that 
aren't even in the jurisdiction of their Armed Services Committee. Even 
in conference, House Democrats are holding germane provisions hostage 
in order to secure partisan, nongermane provisions that literally have 
nothing whatsoever to do with our national security.
  Their demands to treat the NDAA like a gift basket to liberal 
interest groups is imperiling the passage of this important 
legislation. We are talking about demands like a new taxpayer-funded 
benefit for all Federal employees and burdening farmers, ranchers, 
small businesses, local airports, and community water utilities with 
expensive new environmental liabilities--all kinds of domestic policy 
changes that were not in the Senate's bipartisan version and have no 
business bringing this crucial process to a halt.
  The Senate did things the right way. We passed a bipartisan NDAA back 
in June, just as we do every year. That is a credit to Chairman Inhofe, 
Ranking Member Reed, and the rest of the Senate Armed Services 
Committee. It was a thoroughly bipartisan product, debated out in the 
open.
  But House Democrats literally went off the rails. The House Rules 
Committee afforded floor debate only on a single substantive Republican 
amendment while they jammed through their own partisan priorities. They 
passed a totally partisan NDAA with zero Republican votes--none. Now 
they are risking the entire conference committee to insist those 
partisan demands wind up in the end product.
  Enough is enough. The USMCA and NDAA cannot be clearer examples of 
bipartisan legislation that would make our country stronger.
  Our Democratic friends said that they want to do more than just 
impeach. They say they came to Washington to do more than pick fights 
with the President. Well, in the next days and weeks, we will find out 
if they mean it.

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