[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 206 (Thursday, December 19, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7198-S7200]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT
Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020.
The National Defense Authorization Act conference agreement provides
crucial resources to our Armed Forces and our national defense,
including a pay increase for our men and women in uniform. I am proud
that the Congress was able to come together on a bipartisan basis to
pass this legislation to support our servicemembers, strengthen our
national security, and invest in critical projects in my home State of
Maryland.
While I have serious reservations about a number of items included in
this legislation and am particularly disappointed by the exclusion of
important priorities like the DETER Act to prevent Russian interference
in our elections, I believe that, on balance, this NDAA will strengthen
our national security. For that reason, I voted in favor of it.
With this bill, the Federal Government will now provide 12 weeks of
paid parental leave to its workforce. We have been fighting for years
to provide paid family and medical leave to workers throughout the
country. Now the Federal Government will finally start to lead by
example. Paid leave will reduce employee turnover costs for the Federal
Government and help agencies continue to recruit and retain top-notch
talent into the civil service. I was proud to help secure this, and we
need to keep fighting until all workers around the Nation receive paid
family and medical leave benefits.
The NDAA also repeals the military widow's tax. Currently, military
widows and widowers who qualify for the VA's dependency and indemnity
compensation are forced to take a dollar-for-dollar offset from the DOD
Survivors Benefits Plan benefit, even though their retired spouses
elected to pay into the program. No other Federal surviving spouse is
required to forfeit his or her Federal annuity because military service
caused his or her sponsor's death. This is fundamentally unjust. In
September, I met with a constituent and military widow who was
subjected to this offset after the loss of her husband. Hearing her
story hardened my resolve to ensure that we got this done this year,
and I am proud of the Congress for coming together to repeal this
offset.
Critically, this legislation also includes the Otto Warmbier North
Korea Nuclear Sanctions and Enforcement Act, which I introduced with
Senator Toomey. This legislation offers foreign banks and firms a stark
choice: continue business with North Korea or maintain access to the
U.S. financial system. Within 120 days of enactment of the law, this
legislation mandates sanctions on the foreign banks and companies that
facilitate illicit financial transactions for the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea. North Korea continues to perfect its ballistic
missile capabilities and produce more fissile material for nuclear
weapons. Our aim is to cut off North Korea's remaining access to the
international financial system and create the leverage necessary for
serious nuclear negotiations to achieve the goal of the
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The NDAA also includes bipartisan legislation that tracks the
provision Senator Graham and I included in Senate Foreign Operations
appropriations bills over the years to prohibit the transfer of the F-
35 Joint Strike Fighter to Turkey until President Erdogan relinquishes
the Russian S-400 air and missile defense system. Turkey has recently
started testing the S-400 missile system, and they have said the system
will be operational early next year. The administration must not only
continue blocking the transfer of the F-
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35s, but--as Senator Graham and I indicated in a recent letter to
Secretary Pompeo--it has a legal duty to impose economic sanctions on
Turkey.
The NDAA also includes a version of a bill Senator Cotton and I
introduced to prevent the President from removing Chinese
telecommunications giant Huawei from the Commerce Department's Entity
List without certifying to Congress that it is complying with U.S. laws
and the administration has mitigated the threat Huawei poses to our
national security. While I was disappointed that our original bill was
watered down, the final version is still better than the status quo.
This bill also includes a number of measures I introduced to ensure
that we give proper recognition to Americans who have bravely served
our country in combat. One of them is Col. Charles McGee. Colonel
McGee, a distinguished Tuskegee Airman who recently celebrated his
100th birthday, is a living aviation legend and an American hero. From
World War II to Korea, Colonel McGee flew more combat missions than any
other pilot in the service of his country. The first African American
to command a stateside Air Force wing and base, this Marylander's
service to our Nation is truly remarkable. That is why I worked with
the Air Force and introduced legislation to authorize the honorary
promotion of Colonel McGee to brigadier general. And today, on a
bipartisan basis, the Congress has authorized this honor. Colonel McGee
makes all Marylanders proud and reminds us all of what it means to
serve.
The conference report also includes the bipartisan World War I Valor
Medals Review Act, which I introduced with Senator Blunt. This
legislation directs the Department of Defense to review the service
records of minority service members who fought during World War I and
who may have been passed over for the Medal of Honor because of their
race or ethnicity. Many of these individuals have never received proper
recognition for their acts of valor.
Take, for example, William Butler of Salisbury, MD. In 1916 he was
living in Harlem, where he enlisted in the New York National Guard. His
regiment landed in France on Jan. 1, 1918. Sargent Butler received the
Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre for his
bravery in rescuing several members of his regiment from their German
captors. Sargent Butler killed 10 Germans, took a German prisoner,
freed all the American prisoners, and brought them back to safety. He
returned home to a hero's welcome. The Baltimore Afro-American called
him ``Maryland's Greatest Hero.'' The New York Tribune called him a
``hero among heroes.'' He and the rest of the Harlem Hellfighters
marched through New York City. Upon his return to Maryland, his small
community gave him a gold watch as a token of their respect and
appreciation. But despite a recommendation for the Medal of Honor, he
never received it. In 1947, after losing the ability to work, he took
his own life. He was buried at Arlington--with a typo on his tombstone.
The living descendants of these veterans deserve to know that their
government, despite its past failings, recognizes their heroism. I am
very proud of the Congress for coming together to honor those who chose
to serve their country, even at a time when their country did not treat
them as equal citizens. In doing so we demonstrate that it is never too
late to right a historical wrong.
I would also like to commend the Valor Medals Review Task Force,
jointly established by the United States Foundation for the
Commemoration of the World Wars and the George S. Robb Centre for the
Study of the Great War, which has worked tirelessly to identify World
War I veteran service records for this review. I applaud the NDAA
conferees for encouraging the Secretaries of the military departments
to consult with the Valor Medals Review Task Force to identify those
service records that warrant further review to determine whether such
veteran should be recommended for an upgrade to the Medal of Honor for
valor.
The NDAA also addresses serious concerns with the oversight of
privatized military housing. Over the past year, I have engaged with
leaders at Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground as they have
addressed woefully inadequate maintenance by private housing
contractors. The NDAA includes key provisions of the Ensuring Safe
Housing for Our Military Act, of which I am a cosponsor. This includes
withholding payment of the basic allowance for housing under certain
circumstances, the creation of a Tenant Bill of Rights and the position
of Chief Housing Officer, a uniform code of basic standards for
privatized military housing, and access for tenants to an online work
order system, among other improvements.
Lastly, I am pleased that the bill includes language requiring
congressional notification and a 120-day waiting period before the
President gives notice of his intent to withdraw from the New START and
Open Skies treaties.
While I am pleased with many of the provisions included in this bill
and voted for its passage, I do have significant reservations.
First, the unchecked growth in the defense budget is unsustainable,
and the continued use of the overseas contingency operations budget to
fund elements of the Pentagon's regular base budget activities with war
funds is a blatant abuse of the budget process. We have a duty to
ensure the readiness of our forces, and I support efforts to rebuild
our Armed Forces after years of costly overseas engagements. But
massive spending increases without clear strategic direction do not
make us safer, and the use of off-budget accounts to boost Pentagon
spending is a disservice to our children and grandchildren, who will
pay for these spending increases regardless of whether or not they are
properly accounted for today. Especially in a post-Budget Control Act
environment, where we are not constrained by artificial caps, we need
to be thoughtful about our spending choices, recognize that every
dollar spent on defense is a dollar not spent on health care,
education, workforce training, and other critical areas of need. And we
need to use OCO in a responsible manner consistent with its original
purpose, and not as an off-budget slush fund.
Second, I am extremely disappointed by the Congress's failure to act
to prohibit U.S. military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. This
brutal war has raged for more than 4 years. Thousands have lost their
lives in this conflict. Millions are displaced from their homes. The
cycle of desperation, destruction, and death continues unabated.
Earlier this year, Congress voted to end U.S. support for the war in
Yemen--legislation that President Trump vetoed. The refusal of
Republicans to address this issue as part of the NDAA is shameful.
Third, this legislation supports the President's effort to spend $1.3
trillion dollars on nuclear weapons. It contains no prohibition on
fielding low-yield nuclear warheads on submarine-launched ballistic
missiles, near-full funding for research and development on INF-range
missiles, near-full funding to build new ICBMs and associated warheads,
and full funding to retain the B83 megaton gravity bomb, which the
Obama administration had intended to retire as part of its
modernization efforts. And while it affirms the benefits of legally-
binding verifiable limits on Russian strategic nuclear forces, it does
not explicitly endorse the extension of New START. This, like so much
else in this bill, is a missed opportunity. Senator Young and I have
introduced bipartisan legislation urging a 5 year extension of the New
START agreement, and the Senate should pass it expeditiously.
Fourth, Republicans blocked a provision in the House NDAA that
prevented the President from waging a war with Iran without an explicit
authorization from the Congress. President Trump's Iran strategy has
been blind unilateral escalation with no end goal. That is why his
actions have produced exactly the opposite result of what his so-called
``maximum pressure'' campaign intended. President Trump has dismembered
the multilateral coalition that forged the Iran deal. He has frayed our
alliances in Europe and empowered our adversaries. All the while, the
administration has raised the specter of a possible military
intervention with Iran. By blocking this provision, Republicans are
enabling the President to subvert Congress's constitutional prerogative
with respect to decisions of war.
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Finally, Majority Leader McConnell blocked the inclusion the
bipartisan DETER Act, which I introduced with Senator Rubio to deter
future Russian interference in U.S. Federal elections. The DETER Act
sends a clear message to Russian President Putin or any other foreign
adversary: If you attack American elections, you will face severe
consequences. Leader McConnell blocked this measure from the NDAA, even
though the Senate unanimously passed a resolution in the fall
instructing the NDAA conferees to support its inclusion. In addition,
Republican leadership removed a related provision in the House-passed
NDAA imposing sanctions on Russian sovereign debt in response to
interference in U.S. elections.
Leader McConnell's decision to block the DETER Act and the House
sanctions on Russian sovereign debt effectively green-lights Russian
interference in future U.S. elections. It is a gift to Russian
President Vladimir Putin and a subversion of the clear desire expressed
by both Chambers of Congress to hold Russia accountable for future
interference. It reinforces Putin's belief that the costs of attacking
our democracy are low and the rewards are great. It is a dereliction of
his duty, as a representative of the people, to protect our Nation from
foreign adversaries. I will continue fighting for the passage of the
DETER Act. The next national election is less than a year away, and we
must make clear to Putin that Russia will pay a steep price if they
interfere in another election.
While I am strongly opposed to some of the provisions in this bill
and disappointed by the omission of others, I believe that, on balance,
the NDAA will strengthen our national security and advance other
important national priorities. For that reason, I voted in support of
final passage.
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