[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15882-15883]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the 
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013. Congress has 
passed the Defense Authorization every year for the past 5 decades and 
it remains one of the most bipartisan pieces of legislation we produce 
in this body. I believe strongly that there is no more important 
responsibility that we have than providing for our common defense. The 
NDAA is a crucial part of that responsibility and I am glad to have the 
opportunity to speak in favor of it today. As Senators, it is one of 
our most important duties, and one of our greatest privileges, to 
debate and pass this bill every year.
  I would like to thank Chairman Levin and Ranking Member McCain for

[[Page 15883]]

their leadership of the Armed Services Committee and their 
determination in getting the NDAA to the floor.
  I have had the honor to serve as Chairman of the AirLand 
Subcommittee, of which I have been a member of since its inception in 
1995 and been either Chairman or Ranking Member since 1999. I would 
like to recognize Ranking Member Scott Brown and thank him. We have 
worked together very well once again this year. Ours has been a 
bipartisan effort through our hearings, our markup, and now on the 
floor. I would also like to thank the Subcommittee staff, Bill Sutey 
and Creighton Greene of the majority and Church Hutton and Pablo 
Carrillo of the minority, for their hard work that helped make this 
bill possible.
  This year, the portion of the budget request falling under the 
Airland Subcommittee's jurisdiction total over $50 billion, including 
$37.4 billion in procurement, and $12.9 billion in research and 
development. The portion of the bill under the AirLand Subcommittee's 
jurisdiction supports the Defense Department's requests for several 
major weapons programs, including:
  $639.9 million for the Army's new Ground Combat Vehicle that will 
replace some of the M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles in the 
current force;
  $2.7 billion for procurement of UH-60 Blackhawk and CH-47 Chinook 
helicopters so critically important to operations in Afghanistan and 
around the world;
  $6.9 billion in the base request for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air 
Force's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program;
  $60.0 million for F/A-18E/F advance procurement to preserve the 
Navy's option to produce additional aircraft in fiscal year 2014.
  $91.0 million for M1 Abrams tank upgrades and $123.0 million for 
M88A2 advanced recovery vehicles. These recommended increases will 
extend armored vehicle production through fiscal year 2013 and allow 
tank production through 2014, thus preserving important combat vehicle 
industrial capability.
  Perhaps of greatest interest to many of our colleagues, the bill 
addresses concerns that the Air Force proposed disproportionate cuts to 
the Air National Guard in its FY13 budget submission by establishing an 
independent commission to study the appropriate force structure of the 
Air Force, including the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve, 
and providing $1.4 billion to freeze Air Force force structure pending 
the commission's review.
  The NDAA also provides an opportunity to address policy concerns 
important to military families, defense, and National security at 
large. There are a number of worthwhile amendments that have been filed 
and that I support, including my amendment with Senator Gillibrand 
providing TRICARE coverage for important autism treatments and my 
amendment with Senator Collins mandating a prescription drug take-back 
program to help reduce the scourge of military suicide. I would like to 
briefly highlight a pair of issues I hope we address through floor 
amendments.
  Finally and most importantly, I hope this bill will include a new 
package of Iran sanctions that Senator Menendez, Senator Kirk, and I 
plan to introduce. The fact is, Iran is continuing to make progress 
towards a nuclear weapons capability, and time is running out to stop 
them, short of the military option that none of us desire. That is why 
we need to do everything in our power to ratchet up the pressure on the 
Iranian government, as quickly as possible. The NDAA provides the last, 
best chance that we will have in this Congress to impose tougher 
sanctions on Iran, and we must seize it.
  In conclusion, I urge all my colleagues to support the NDAA for FY13. 
It is a strong bill that provides critical funding and authorities to 
our military, and it has always been passed on a broad bipartisan 
basis. As I approach the end of my career in the Senate, I look back 
gratefully upon the annual floor debates on the NDAA as examples of the 
way this body should operate.

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