[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16213-16214]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, last night the National Defense 
Authorization Act arrived at the White House and on the desk of the 
President of the United States. President Obama has said he is going to 
veto it or he has threatened to veto it. I rise on the floor of the 
Senate today to beg him to rethink his position and caution him before 
he moves too swiftly to send the message to the rest of the world that 
America is disengaged. If he vetoes the National Defense Authorization 
Act, he is convincing and confirming for Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, 
the Chinese Government, the Ayatollah in Iran, and the rest of the 
world that America is relegating itself to a spectator on the sidelines 
of world affairs rather than a beacon of hope for the oppressed, those 
in search of democracy, and those who are at the feet of dictators.
  It is time that we make sure our military is funded and authorized to 
the levels that are necessary to confront the world's challenges, which 
are more today than I have ever seen. I have just returned from the 
Mediterranean, where I was on the USS Winston Churchill, the destroyer 
that is dealing with some of the problems of the migration of people 
fleeing totalitarian governments in the Middle East. I was at Fort 
Gordon, GA, where the cyber command is now being set up by the U.S. 
Army. Cyber terrorism and cyber threats are the biggest threats we face 
today. I was at Fort Benning, and our Strykers in the brigade are there 
and in need of upgrades and continuation of improvements. I was at Fort 
Moody in Valdosta, GA, where the A-10s are housed, but they are going 
away unless we extend them, and this Defense authorization bill will do 
that.
  While the rest of the world is burning and falling apart, this 
President is looking the other way and saying: No, I am not going to 
agree with the overwhelming majority of Congress. Instead, I am going 
to put America on the sidelines of world affairs.
  We cannot afford for that to happen. We are the greatest country on 
the face of this Earth. We don't find anybody trying to break out of 
the United States of America; they are all trying to break in. But if 
we abandon our role of strength, we will never have the peace and the 
prosperity and the democracy we want to see around the world. Instead, 
we will be a second-string player in the influence of world affairs.
  The National Defense Authorization Act is one thing the Congress--
House and Senate alike--has agreed upon overwhelmingly. The vote in the 
Senate was a veto-proof vote. The vote in the House was a very 
significant vote. The President should read that to understand that the 
representatives of the people are saying to him: We want America to be 
strong. We don't want our military to be reconstituted. We don't want 
the dictators of the world taking advantage of vacuums that we have 
created because we looked the other way and we abandoned ourselves.
  We need to think about something and think about it closely. Right 
now in Greece, for example, half a million people in the last year have 
gone through there, fleeing Syria, trying to find their way to Europe--
half a million. A million and a half will probably go through there 
next year. The world

[[Page 16214]]

is trying to flee oppression and dictators wherever they are, and the 
rest of the free world cannot afford to take care of the rest of the 
world unless we stop what is happening in the Middle East.
  Bashar Al-Assad should be stopped. The Russians should be asked to 
retrench and come back. We should get back to the table, being the 
strongest power in the world and being an effective player in the 
Middle East and being a power that is feared rather than one that is 
looked at and left wondering. America is abandoning the role it has 
always held since the end of World War II, and it would be a shame for 
us to do that.
  So, Mr. President, let me ask you to do this: Think real hard before 
Halloween because that is when the time runs out and you have to either 
sign the bill or veto it. Think real hard about the America that you 
took over running as President of the United States 7 years ago. Think 
about how we got to where we are today. Think about all those who have 
sacrificed and who have lived and died, in some cases, to keep America 
free. Are you going to look them in the face or their memory in the 
face and say to them: I am just not going to reauthorize the National 
Defense Authorization Act. I would rather play politics with those who 
have fought and risked their lives for the United States of America.
  In closing my remarks, I want to tell my colleagues what we did in 
the NDAA because I want the people of Georgia and the people of America 
to understand what the President will be vetoing.
  He will be vetoing the improvements in our cyber command as we move 
our new cyber command of the U.S. Army to Fort Gordon.
  He will be saying to Guantanamo Bay: It is OK, we can move the rest 
of the prisoners from Guantanamo Bay and move them into the United 
States of America and close Guantanamo Bay--because the NDAA bill 
prohibits that from happening.
  He will be able to say to Stryker Brigade units: You will just have 
to wait a little bit longer for modernization.
  He will have to say to our marines on the ground in Iraq and 
Afghanistan and in the Middle East: We are going to do away with the A-
10s, so you won't have the close air support you have to have in the 
infantry and in the military to fight the battles of the 21st century.
  He will be saying to our veterans who come back home from around the 
world: No, we are not going to do job training so that you can easily 
transfer from the military into a meaningful job in the private sector.
  He will say to husbands and wives of military families: We are taking 
away your basic housing allowance because there are two of you in the 
same family getting it and we are cutting it in half. Even though you 
signed up for a program that guaranteed you would get it, we are 
cutting it in half and taking it away.
  I don't want to be part of a country that says that to the men and 
women who volunteered to fight for us.
  Let's send the right message to the rest of the world. Let's sign the 
National Defense Authorization Act. Let's not play politics with those 
who risked their lives. Let's remember we still are America, the 
greatest country on the face of this Earth. God has blessed us, but 
with that blessing comes responsibility. It means the President should 
act, act decisively, act now, and not veto the Defense Authorization 
Act.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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