[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 119 (Wednesday, July 12, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2343-S2344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 China

  Mrs. FISCHER. Madam President, last week, we celebrated the birth of 
our Nation. The first Americans took long, dangerous journeys across 
the Atlantic Ocean in search of better lives, far away from a regime 
that stripped away their God-given rights and their freedoms all too 
often.
  Our Founders fought a revolution against absolute power. They chafed 
against the control of the British Empire. Americans united against 
encroachments on liberty and emerged victorious, just as we have done 
many times since then from Great Britain to the Soviet Union.
  As we look back on our history, we should consider our future as 
well. The United States faces a threat environment growing more 
dangerous by the day. Authoritarian adversaries, including China, 
Russia, Iran, and North Korea, are accelerating their efforts to chip 
away at global stability and undermine America's national security.
  A couple of weeks ago, a radio host asked me an important question: 
What is the point of modernizing our nuclear deterrents? Don't we 
already have the capabilities we need to defend ourselves? And, if we 
build up a stronger arsenal of nuclear weapons, doesn't that just 
increase the risk of nuclear war?
  My answer was related to the history I have just discussed: From the 
Revolutionary War to the world wars to the Cold War, Americans have 
prioritized a strong national defense and the tools we need to achieve 
that when we are faced with existential threats. The character of war 
changed after the advent of nuclear weapons. And during the Cold War, 
the United States recognized that we needed to have a strong nuclear 
deterrent to preserve the hard-fought peace that we had won. We worked 
overtime to ensure that our Commander in Chief had every option to 
deter and, if necessary, to fight back against threats.

  We were successful. We deterred the Soviet Union from using its 
nuclear weapons destructively because its leaders knew we could hit 
back harder with a push of a button. It is comparable to a game of 
chess: You are never going to make a move that leaves your king 
threatened on all sides. If the Soviet Union had deployed a nuclear 
weapon, it would have quickly been surrounded on all sides by a 
retaliatory strike Moscow knew it might not survive.
  A diverse and effective nuclear deterrent gives our country the 
ability to say: Checkmate. Not today. And it makes other nations think 
hard about what moves they might make. In other words, it deters 
authoritarian regimes from attacking the United States and attacking 
our allies.
  During the Cold War, we prioritized the production of nuclear weapons 
and delivery systems because we recognized their essential role in 
deterring nuclear conflict. We must return to that mindset if we want 
to get ahead of today's looming national security challenges.
  Our adversaries understand this. Earlier this year, the U.S. 
Strategic Command--STRATCOM--publicly confirmed that China possesses 
more intercontinental ballistic missile launchers than we do here in 
the United States. China is on track to triple--to triple--its nuclear 
arsenal by 2035. That is just a decade away. Stated plainly, one of the 
most ominous authoritarian regimes in modern history is building a 
nuclear force that is fundamentally altering global deterrence 
dynamics, and they are doing it at a pace faster than anyone imagined.
  As our adversaries race to expand their nuclear arsenals, what are we 
doing here in our country? Well, since the fall of the Berlin Wall, our 
Nation has sidelined our nuclear enterprise. We have underinvested in 
the modernization of our nuclear triad.
  That word ``triad'' refers to the three military fronts of land, sea, 
and air. The land-based leg of the triad is comprised of our 
intercontinental ballistic missile fleet. The sea-based leg of the 
triad refers to our ballistic missile submarines, and the air-based leg 
of the triad refers to our bomber fleet and certain fighter aircraft.
  A full triad expands the number of options that our Commander in 
Chief has at his disposal. Each leg of that triad presents unique 
advantages. Military planners need diverse capabilities to ensure that 
our Nation can act decisively in any scenario. If we can strike from 
anywhere at any time, our adversaries will hesitate before taking 
aggressive action.
  The problem is that we have been too slow to replace and upgrade 
those systems. As former STRATCOM Commander Admiral Richard testified 
before the Senate Armed Services Committee last year, we have 
``submarines [that were] built in the `80s and `90s, an air-launched 
cruise missile built in the `80s, intercontinental ballistic missiles 
built in the `70s, a bomber built in the `60s--part of our nuclear 
command and control that predates the internet, and a nuclear weapons 
complex that dates back to the Manhattan Project.''
  Our nuclear deterrent only serves to deter our adversaries so that no 
one will ever use a nuclear weapon if that deterrent that we have is 
safe, reliable, and effective. To ensure it remains so in the future, 
it must be modernized. Underinvesting is a huge mistake, and we need to 
tip the scales back in our favor by bringing our systems rapidly into 
the 21st century. The good news is that there is big bipartisan support 
for modernization.
  I am the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee's 
Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, and

[[Page S2344]]

our subcommittee overseas STRATCOM, which is headquartered in my home 
State of Nebraska. STRATCOM does indispensable work at the helm of our 
Nation's strategic nuclear deterrence.
  Over the last 10 years, I have worked with my colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle so that we can get key modernization provisions into 
the annual National Defense Authorization Act. We have continued this 
vital support in the fiscal year 2024 NDAA, which the Senate will 
consider this month.
  This year, I have also fought to keep the Sea-Launched Cruise Missile 
Program--or SLCM--fully funded by the NDAA.
  In the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, where we have held multiple 
hearings and briefings, classified and unclassified, with senior 
military and civilian leaders as well as a number of outside experts, 
we concluded--again, on a bipartisan basis--that the Biden 
administration's attempts to cancel the SLCM Program would make our 
nuclear deterrent less effective in the 2030s and beyond. So we have 
included a provision in the bill to create a program of record for 
SLCM. This will prevent the premature cancelation of the program 
without future congressional consent.

  I also fought to secure provisions that would support the Sentinel 
Program, which will replace our aging ICBMs across the country. This 
program is the most significant and complex weapons system in recent 
U.S. history, and it will cover an aggregated land area almost as large 
as the State of South Carolina.
  Both Chambers of Congress are considering their versions of the NDAA 
this month. I am proud of the work that my colleagues and I have 
accomplished with this legislative package that is coming to the floor. 
I urge my fellow lawmakers as well as the President to support the 
vital measures that we have included in this bill. I will continue to 
support modernization efforts, and I am confident that we will produce 
a strong final NDAA to send to President Biden's desk.
  But our work in the Senate isn't done when the NDAA passes. We still 
have to back our defense priorities up with real dollars through the 
appropriations process. I am a member of the Appropriations Committee, 
as is the Presiding Officer, and I know that we are committed to 
working together to be able to allocate all the funds that are 
necessary so that we can maintain a strong national defense.
  The world has changed since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and we are 
now, for the first time in history, facing two peer adversaries with 
significant nuclear arsenals. Now is not the time to shortchange our 
national security. It is a time for us to work together to strengthen 
our national security. This means that President Biden needs to 
cooperate with Congress so that we can get our NDAA passed.
  America was born by uniting in defiance of outside threats, and we 
have done it many times since then. I am hopeful that we will live up 
to our history as new challenges loom.
  As a Member of Congress, I will continue working with colleagues from 
across the aisle to strengthen our national security. For the sake of 
our safety, our legacy, and our freedom, I urge my fellow Members and 
the President himself to do the same.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from Louisiana.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to use several 
props during my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.