[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 18, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S7147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   National Defense Authorization Act

  Mr. President, Jim Inhofe, who is the chairman of the Armed Services 
Committee, has led this Senate and has led, quite frankly, all of 
Congress through a process on what is called the NDAA, the National 
Defense Authorization Act. That got passed this week. That is an 
incredibly important bill, not just to us in Oklahoma but to us across 
the Nation and for our national security. It included things like a pay 
raise for all of our servicemembers. It included additional benefits of 
things going to our family members as they move from place to place, 
living with their servicemember, and helping them in their transition.
  It addressed the issue of housing, which is so important to Oklahoma, 
as we have had problems with private contractors at some of our bases 
in Oklahoma not living up to the standards of their contract. Jim 
Inhofe has been the one actually fighting to get that fixed. He has 
been the one who has taken the lead on that.
  This is incredibly important to us in Oklahoma for our five bases and 
posts, as well as our National Guard and our reservists. Just in 
Oklahoma, there will be $2.2 billion for the KC-46A refueling tankers. 
They will be trained in Altus, and they will be repaired and serviced 
at Tinker Air Force Base. The authorization for the T-X Program, which 
positively impacts Vance Air Force Base, is incredibly important.
  The improvements to military family housing, which I have already 
talked about, included an amendment in the bill which dealt with 
reservists, in what is called the DD-214 Act of 2019. If you are not in 
the military, you have no idea what that is. If you are in the 
military, you know exactly what that is. There was a problem that 
guards and reservists didn't have the same kind of records in the DD-
214 that Active Duty does. We are fixing that now so that when 
guards and reservists get close to retirement, their records are all in 
place.

  We have a continuation of the Paladin Integrated Management System, 
which is at Fort Sill. We have the authorization of the Fort Sill 
barracks that are so incredibly important to be able to have better 
living facilities there as well.
  The fuels storage complex at the Tulsa International Airport is very 
important for the 138th Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard.
  Language to enhance our direct higher authority, which is so 
incredibly important--we expand that again to make sure civilians who 
are being hired in places like McAlester and Tinker continue to be able 
to serve there. Those civilian service folks are so incredibly 
important to our national security.