[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 126 (Thursday, August 1, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S5722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                  NDAA

  Mr. President, on a different matter, today, the Appropriations 
Committee is considering defense funding for the coming year. From the 
outset, colleagues who take seriously our obligation to provide for the 
common defense knew that they had their work cut out for them.
  This spring, the President sent down a fourth straight defense 
request that would cut funding for the national defense after 
inflation. The request was grossly insufficient when it went to print; 
it is even more so today.
  Then, this summer brought our closest allies and partners here to 
Washington, underscoring the importance of American leadership by 
example.
  Just a few days ago, a final report of the Commission on the National 
Defense Strategy put an even finer point on the stakes of the growing 
and interconnected threats to our national security. As I discussed 
earlier this week, the bipartisan expert panel behind the report 
delivered a grave warning. Here is more of what they said:

       The U.S. military lacks both the capabilities and the 
     capacity required to be competent it can deter and prevail in 
     combat.

  The American public have been--again, according to the report--
``inadequately informed by government leaders of the threats to U.S. 
interests--including to people's everyday lives--and what will be 
required to restore American global power and leadership.''
  They went on further:

       Very little progress will be possible without Congress, 
     where a relatively small number of elected officials have 
     imposed continual political gamesmanship over a thoughtful 
     and responsible legislating and oversight.

  Goodness.
  It is past time to prioritize our national security. It is totally 
obvious to all of us that this needs to begin. Just take the pacing 
threat from China, for example. Plenty of our colleagues on both sides 
of the aisle like to talk about outcompeting the PRC, but not as many 
seem to recognize that winning this competition, preserving American 
primacy, and protecting America's interest are first and foremost about 
investing in hard power.
  As the Commission put it, China has ``largely negated the U.S. 
military advantage in the Western Pacific through two decades of 
focused military investment. Without significant change by the United 
States, the balance of power will continue to shift in China's favor.''
  But the vast majority of supposed counter-China policies that folks 
in Washington like to talk about won't do much to arrest this shift, 
and neither will pretending that the pacing threat is the only threat 
we face. It is naive to believe we can ignore or assume away threats in 
other regions.
  Anyone who believes our security and prosperity don't require urgent 
investments in hard power, in alliances and partnerships, and in our 
defense industrial base clearly doesn't know what they are talking 
about.
  So I am grateful to my friend Vice Chair Collins and to colleagues on 
the Appropriations Committee, who recognize the urgency of the task in 
front of us, for fighting hard to negate as much of the President's 
real-dollar cut to national defense as they could. The bill in 
committee right now exceeds the President's request by nearly $19 
billion. This is less than the additional $25 billion authorized by the 
Armed Services Committee.
  Senate Democrats refused to spend more on defense without adding 
funding for nondefense discretionary programs. However, thanks to our 
colleagues' efforts, this bill secures crucial steps forward on a 
number of urgent priorities.
  The bill includes the largest ever appropriation for shipbuilding, 
with hundreds of millions in new resources for growing and retaining 
the critical shipbuilding industrial base.
  It tackles maintenance backlogs head-on and invests in enough spare 
components to bring 500 more aircraft to full readiness than the 
President's request accounts for. It goes $3 billion beyond his request 
for overdue investments in expanding the defense industrial base and 
provides for modernizing ammunition and vehicle production facilities, 
from Iowa and Missouri to Ohio and Tennessee.
  It delivers important downpayments on critical munitions, from the 
long-range and precision strike capabilities needed in the Indo-Pacific 
to the naval interceptors required to defend U.S. personnel and global 
commerce from terrorist attacks in the Red Sea.
  But let's be absolutely clear. When it comes to rebuilding our 
stockpiles and preparing our Armed Forces to deter and defeat threats, 
there is much, much more work to be done. There is no serious reading 
of post-World War II history that doesn't trace the preservation of 
Western peace or the growth of American prosperity to an order 
underpinned by American strength.
  The U.S. military is the reason our neighbors back home sleep in 
peace. It is the reason our communities reap the benefits of global 
trade. It is the weight behind our leader's words. We cannot afford to 
shortchange it, and I cannot make the stakes of the task before us any 
more clear.