[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16462]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

  (Mr. WILLIAMS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. Speaker, as Commander in Chief, the President of 
the United States is tasked with upholding the safety and security of 
our Nation; but, yesterday, President Obama vetoed the annual defense 
bill that ensures the right policies are in place to protect us.
  The National Defense Authorization Act is actually one of the few 
pieces of legislation up here that regularly gets voted out of the 
House and Senate, regardless of who controls the Chamber.
  This year, the NDAA passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 
270-156, and it passed the Senate 70-27. It is one of the few things 
that gets done like it is supposed to. In fact, the NDAA has been 
enacted into law every year since its inception in 1961.
  President Obama vetoed this bill not because he disagreed with its 
substance, but because he wanted to use it as a bargaining chip to 
force Congress to increase its spending for his non-defense programs.
  Mr. Speaker, the Taliban is reentering Afghanistan. Islamic 
extremists are attempting to conquer Iraq. The U.S. is at odds with 
Russia over Syria's civil war; and China is expanding beyond its 
territorial claims in the Pacific. Frankly, the world is in chaos.
  While he only has one more year in office, there could not be a worse 
time for President Obama to so selfishly--no--so recklessly--push his 
agenda at the cost of U.S. national security.
  In God we trust.

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