[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 196 (Wednesday, November 29, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5650-S5652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Government Funding

  Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I come to the floor to urge action on 
the fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills that fund critical programs, 
programs that are so important to America and to American families, 
programs ranging from biomedical research to our national defense.
  On November 1, the Senate passed its first package of three 
appropriations bills: the military construction and veterans affairs 
legislation, the Agriculture and FDA bill, and the Transportation and 
Housing bill. And due to the extraordinary work of the members of the 
Appropriations Committee, they passed by overwhelming bipartisan vote 
of 82 to 15.
  Despite the Appropriations Committee working hard to report all 12 of 
the funding bills by the end of July, additional full-year 
appropriations bills have not been brought to the Senate floor. 
Instead, the Federal Government has been operating under short-term 
funding patches known as continuing resolutions since the start of the 
fiscal year on October 1. These temporary funding patches lead to 
harmful uncertainties, needless inefficiencies, and wasted taxpayer 
dollars.
  One of the bills that I hope will be brought to the floor soon is the 
Department of Defense appropriations bill. This bill would provide 
critical resources for our military at a time when we are facing many 
complex threats from around the globe, including those posed by an 
imperialistic Russia, a hegemonic China, and an increasingly 
belligerent Iran and its proxies.
  Earlier this summer, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its 
version of the defense funding bill by a strong bipartisan vote of 27 
to 1. This bill contains funding for key national security priorities, 
including providing our troops and their families with the pay and 
benefits that they deserve, expanding our naval fleet, and modernizing 
the nuclear triad, strengthening deterrence against China--our pacing 
threat--rebuilding our munitions stockpiles, and addressing military 
readiness and capability gaps.
  Each day that the Department of Defense operates under a temporary 
funding measure rather than its full-year appropriations bill, 
important national security investments remain on hold. For example, 
the Department has identified more than 330 new programs or production 
increases that cannot proceed. This includes more than a dozen high-
priority initiatives identified by the Air Force, 6 billion in Army 
transformation efforts, and multiyear procurement authority for the 
Virginia class submarines.
  In a letter that was sent to the Appropriations Committee just today, 
Chairman C.Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff writes 
that ``We cannot outpace our pacing challenge while under continuing 
resolution.''
  In other words, continuing resolutions give China the upper hand.

[[Page S5651]]

  I ask unanimous consent that the text of General Brown's letter be 
printed in the Record following my remarks.
  Recently, some have called for simply passing a year-long continuing 
resolution for fiscal year 2024, essentially locking in last year's 
priorities, continuing to fund programs that should not be funded or 
should be reduced, and preventing the funding of new programs. I would 
like to take just a few moments to describe just how harmful that would 
be to our national defense. A year-long continuing resolution would 
simply fail to provide the resources needed to protect our Nation. For 
fiscal year 2024, it would reduce defense spending by 26.6 billion 
relative to the President's budget request and the Fiscal 
Responsibility Act and by 34.6 billion compared to the funding levels 
approved by the Appropriations Committee by that wide bipartisan vote.
  So you can see the big difference that having a year-long CR would 
lock in completely inadequate funding levels, given the threats that we 
face. Many of the key national security priorities funded in the 
Defense bill would suffer under a year-long continuing resolution.
  Let me give some specific examples. To respond to military 
recruitment challenges, the Senate committee-approved bill would invest 
in our men and women in uniform. It includes funding for the 5.2 
percent military pay raise. As General Brown points out, a year-long CR 
would create a $5.8 billion shortfall in military personnel funding and 
exacerbate recruiting and retention challenges.
  To offset the cost of the pay raise for the military, DOD would be 
forced to slow recruiting--the last thing we want to see happen--delay 
servicemembers' moves, and take other detrimental actions.
  So this chart compares our committee bill versus a year-long CR. And 
as you can see, there are tremendous differences in quality-of-life 
issues for our servicemembers and the actual funding for the pay raise 
which will go into effect, but the Department would have to take money 
out of other personnel accounts.
  Other quality-of-life initiatives in the bill, such as expanding 
prekindergarten for more than 4,000 children of servicemembers and 
improving living conditions for sailors serving aboard ships would not 
be able to proceed during a year-long CR. Our committee-passed bill 
also invests in the overdue modernization of all three legs of the 
nuclear triad. These efforts would be delayed under the yearlong CR 
because of a nearly $3.4 billion funding shortfall.

  At a time when China's Navy is already at least 80 ships larger than 
our own, the committee-approved bill includes record investments--more 
than $33 billion--in Navy shipbuilding. It includes funding for two 
destroyers and advance procurement for a much needed third.
  In recent days, the capabilities of these ships and the 
professionalism and expertise of the sailors who serve aboard them have 
been on full display as they have downed numerous drones and missiles 
headed toward them and aimed also at Israel.
  Two of these ships, I am proud to say, the USS Carney and the USS 
Thomas Hudner, were built at Bath Iron Works in my State.
  Since October 7, Iranian-backed proxies have launched at least 73 
attacks on U.S. servicemembers and bases. Our fleet is essential to 
protect those servicemembers and bases as well as Israel.
  The Senate committee-approved bill also includes funding for two 
Virginia-class submarines, two frigates, and a downpayment on an 
amphibious ship, which is the Marine Corps' top unfunded priority. In 
addition to contributing to cost increases and delays in the delivery 
of ships to the Navy, a yearlong CR would result in only one Virginia-
class submarine, one frigate, and potentially no funding for the 
amphibious ship or the third destroyer.
  General Brown points out in his letter that 30 percent of the funding 
in the Navy shipbuilding request could not be spent.
  The Defense bill also includes more than $65 billion for capabilities 
or requirements related to the Indo-Pacific, including $857 million to 
meet the highest priorities of the most senior U.S. military commander 
in the region and an additional $981 million for other unfunded 
requirements listed as priorities by our military services focused on 
deterring China.
  Our bill would authorize multiyear procurements for seven munitions 
critical to the region, such as long-range precision missiles, Patriot 
air defense missiles, and anti-ship missiles. Multiyear procurements 
provide stability and predictability to our defense industrial base and 
save taxpayer dollars. Neither the additional funding nor the authority 
to award these contracts would be possible under a yearlong CR.
  Our committee-passed bill would ramp up investments in the U.S. 
defense industrial base. It would increase munitions procurement 
funding by 31 percent compared to the last fiscal year and includes 
$1.8 billion to modernize 23 Army depots, arsenals, and ammo plants 
across 17 States. Under a yearlong CR, both of those initiatives would 
be blocked or delayed.
  Our committee-passed bill also includes readiness investments that 
would be put at risk under a yearlong CR. Up to 75 Navy ship repair 
availabilities would be delayed or canceled, which would degrade the 
Navy's ability to deploy its fleet for operations, even as the Navy is 
maintaining a greater presence and projecting power in the Middle East 
since Hamas's terrorist attack against Israel.
  There was just yesterday a news story talking about the Department of 
Defense ordering an additional aircraft carrier strike group, air 
defenses, fighter jets, and hundreds of troops to the Middle East since 
the surprise terrorist attacks on Israel in an effort to prevent that 
conflict from spiraling into a regional war. But the problem is that 
the military, because it has not received its regular appropriations 
bill, is having to scramble to find the funding for this. Because these 
Middle East troop movements weren't planned, the Pentagon has had to 
pull money from existing operations and maintenance accounts. That 
means less money for training exercises and deployments that the 
military had already planned for this year.
  Our Nation's security and our service men and women deserve better 
than a yearlong continuing resolution. In the letter sent today, 
General Brown writes that besides passing a supplemental, ``the single 
greatest thing that Congress can do to enable the Department to execute 
our strategy is to enact a full-year appropriation.''
  Let's get our work done and pass the full-year funding bills. I urge 
my colleagues to work together. Let's meet the challenges our Nation 
faces.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                             Chairman of the Joint


                                              Chiefs of Staff,

                                                   Washington, DC.
     Hon. Patty Murray,
     Chair, Committee on Appropriations,
     U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
       Dear Madam Chair: Thank you for the opportunity to share my 
     view on the impact that a year-long Continuing Resolution 
     (CR) would have on the Department of Defense (DoD) and the 
     Joint Force. In addition to the critical need for Congress to 
     take action to support our allies and partners by passing the 
     President's national security supplemental funding request, 
     the single greatest thing that Congress can do to enable the 
     Department to execute our strategy is to enact a full-year 
     appropriation.
       DoD has never operated under a year-long CR; it would be 
     historically costly to the Joint Force. In a CR, the DoD's 
     actual buying power is significantly impacted and degraded. 
     Failing to fully fund the DoD would disrupt important 
     progress made in fiscal year 2023. The National Defense 
     Strategy lays out evolving security challenges, which require 
     the Joint Force to modernize quickly or risk losing our 
     strategic advantage. As I have said previously, we cannot 
     outpace our pacing challenge while under a CR.
       A year-long CR would prevent the DoD from executing 
     numerous multi-year procurement contracts that are critical 
     to meeting our requirements in the Indo-Pacific; delay or 
     deny investments in important modernization projects; and 
     create a significant shortfall in personnel funding.
       Thousands of programs will be impacted with the most 
     devastating impacts to our national defense being to 
     personnel, nuclear triad modernization, shipbuilding and ship 
     maintenance, munitions production and replenishment, and U.S. 
     Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) priorities.
       Personnel: A year-long CR would create a $5.8 billion 
     shortfall in military personnel funding and exacerbate 
     recruiting and retention challenges. DoD would be forced to 
     delay service member moves and slow recruiting to offset the 
     costs of the 5.2 percent pay raise for the military.

[[Page S5652]]

       Nuclear triad modernization: A year-long CR would delay 
     nuclear triad modernization, including a delay in the 
     procurement of the B-21 Raider and could prevent the award of 
     the second Columbia class ballistic missile submarine.
       Shipbuilding and ship maintenance: Under a year-long CR, 30 
     percent ($9.7B) of the funding in the Navy shipbuilding 
     budget request could not be spent and only one of two 
     requested Virginia class submarines could be awarded. 
     Additionally, a year-long CR would cancel or delay ship depot 
     maintenance availabilities, impacting readiness.
       Munitions production and replenishment: Under a year-long 
     CR, DoD could not award multi-year procurement contracts to 
     increase production capacity or replenish inventories for 
     munitions critical to INDOPACOM, including long range anti-
     ship missiles, GMLRs (precision rockets), Patriot air defense 
     missiles, the naval strike missile, and a long-range version 
     of the joint air to surface standoff missile.
       Pacific Defense Initiatives: A year-long CR would 
     jeopardize $1.3 billion in investments critical to DoD's 
     INDO-PACIFIC posture including impacts to forward basing, 
     sensor-to-shooter capabilities, long range radars, hypersonic 
     defense, and investments in classified capabilities.
       No new military construction projects: Military 
     construction projects are, by definition, new starts, so a 
     year-long CR could cause a year-long delay in construction 
     projects intended to modernize our installations and improve 
     quality of life.
       Passing a full-year funding bill and the President's 
     national security supplemental request would prevent these 
     devastating impacts. It would also provide funding for 
     critical weapons and equipment for our allies and partners 
     while replenishing depleted DoD stocks and providing for 
     robust investments in the defense industrial base.
       We owe our servicemembers the tools they need to be 
     successful. We have asked them to modernize and accelerate 
     the future capabilities they need to continue to deter and 
     project credible combat power. We need full appropriations to 
     stay ahead of pacing, acute, and unforeseen challenges.
       I appreciate your continued support for our Joint Force and 
     look forward to our future engagements.
           Sincerely,
                                            Charles Q. Brown, Jr.,
                                          General, U.S. Air Force.