[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 8853-8854]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, last fall, Republicans promised that if we 
were elected to the majority in the Senate, we would get the Senate 
working again. A big part of that is getting the appropriations process 
working again. When the Senate is functioning properly, 12 separate 
appropriations bills are considered individually in the Appropriations 
Committee and then brought to the Senate floor for debate and 
amendment.

[[Page 8854]]

  This process is designed to allow Senators to carefully examine 
programs and consider the best and most responsible way to distribute 
funding. But the appropriations process has not worked that way for a 
while. Too often, over the past few years, the majority of the year's 
appropriations bills have been thrown together in one catchall funding 
bill, greatly reducing Senators' ability to take a hard look at 
spending and to ensure that funds are being allocated responsibly.
  Republicans are determined to change that. We started the 
appropriations process by passing a balanced budget resolution for the 
first time in over 10 years. This week, we continue the process with 
the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes funding for 
our Nation's defense and our men and women in uniform. This 
authorization bill is the first step in the appropriations process for 
defense funding under what we call regular order.
  This legislation accomplishes a number of important things. It 
authorizes funding for our military at the President's requested level 
of $612 billion. It also eliminates waste and inefficiencies. 
Specifically, the bill targets $10 billion in wasteful and unnecessary 
spending and redirects those funds to military priorities such as 
funding for aircraft and weapons systems and modernization of Navy 
vessels.
  The bill also focuses heavily on reform. The military's current 
process for acquiring new equipment and technologies is inefficient and 
bureaucratic. It wastes our Nation's resources and, even more 
importantly, it reduces our military readiness by delaying the 
acquisition of essential weapons, equipment, and technology. The 
National Defense Authorization Act introduces broad reforms to 
modernize and streamline the acquisitions process, which will 
significantly improve the military's ability to access technology and 
equipment when it needs it.
  The act also implements a number of reforms to the Pentagon's 
administrative functions. Over the past few years, Army Headquarters 
staff has increased while combat personnel have been cut. Army 
Headquarters staff increased 60 percent over the past decade, yet the 
Army is currently cutting brigade combat teams.
  From 2001 to 2012, the Department of Defense's civilian workforce 
grew at five times the rate of Active-Duty military. Prioritizing 
bureaucracy at the expense of our preparedness and our Active-Duty 
military is not an acceptable use of resources.
  The Defense authorization bill that we are considering changes the 
emphasis at the Department of Defense from administration to 
operations, which will help ensure that our military personnel receive 
the training they need and that our military is ready to meet any 
threats that arise. Finally, this bill overhauls our military 
retirement system. The current military retirement system limits 
retirement benefits to soldiers who served for 20 years or more, which 
eliminates 83 percent of those who have served, including many veterans 
of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  The National Defense Authorization Act replaces this system with a 
modern retirement system that would extend retirement benefits to 75 
percent of our servicemembers. The bill before us today is a strong 
bill. It is the product of bipartisan efforts. It authorizes funding 
for our troops at the level requested by the President and provides key 
reforms that will strengthen our Nation's defense and improve training 
benefits and quality of life for our servicemembers.
  Supporting this legislation should be a no-brainer. Incredibly, 
however, the President has threatened to veto this important 
legislation. His reason is that the President does not want our 
military to receive the increased levels of funding proscribed in this 
bill unless the President's nondefense funding priorities receive an 
increased level of funding.
  That is right. Apparently, President Obama is willing to hold up 
funding for our Nation's military until Congress provides more funding 
for agencies such as the IRS and the EPA. Well, the President can 
certainly make his case to Congress when it comes to funding government 
agencies. Holding troop funding hostage for political purposes is 
reckless and irresponsible. If that were not enough, the White House is 
busy lobbying Senate Democrats to abandon bipartisan efforts that went 
into this bill and back up a Presidential veto.
  The National Defense Authorization Act plays a key role in keeping 
our Nation safe. The President's attempt to hijack this bill for his 
political purposes is wrong. I very much hope that he will consider the 
implications of what he is doing and rethink that threat.

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