National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I congratulate the chairman and ranking
member of the Armed Services Committee for this heroic effort, doing,
as the chairman said, the most important business we can do as part of
the Federal Government; that is, keeping America safe and making sure
we keep our commitments to those who volunteer to serve, many in harm's
way, to protect our liberties.

In a couple hours, we will vote to pass the Defense authorization
bill, and that is an important bipartisan accomplishment. It is just
another step in a new Congress which has acted in a bipartisan way to
deal with a number of challenges confronting the country.

I am more optimistic today than I have been in a long time that the
Senate is finally back to work and Congress is doing what the American
people who elected us sent us here to do, and that is to do their work
and to represent them to the best of our ability, which is one reason
why I have come to the floor to express some of my concerns at what we
have heard from the Democratic leadership about their intentions with
regard to the next piece of legislation we turn to--the Defense
appropriations bill. As we all know, the Democratic leader and some
Democrats in his caucus have threatened not to move forward on this
Defense appropriations bill.

I want to talk about the consequences in the real world of holding up
this Defense appropriations bill and particularly how it will affect my
home State of Texas.

Obviously, the Defense appropriations bill will provide the military
with resources necessary to meet the significant demands they face and
we face as a country around the world but most basically to defend our
country and to keep us safe.

This bill provides for training and readiness funds and makes sure
our troops are well prepared to carry out any mission that might be
assigned to them anywhere in the world.

The appropriations bill provides the money for critical modernization
of our aircraft, ships, ground vehicles, and other equipment so that
our troops can fight with the best cutting-edge weapons systems at our
disposal so they can accomplish their objective.

Perhaps most importantly, this legislation helps make sure our troops
and military families enjoy a good quality of life. We have an all-
volunteer military, and the family members of those who wear the
uniform serve no less than the ones who wear the uniform. So making
sure the families of our military members enjoy a good quality of life
is very important. We will never be able to repay our troops for all
they have given us, but we can at least provide appropriate benefits to
their families to help make their lives a little easier.

This bill also includes funding to actually pay our troops their
salary and provides them a modest, well-deserved raise.

Like the Presiding Officer, I am proud of those who serve our Nation
and our military and our home States. Nearly 120,000 Texans are serving
on Active Duty today, as well as more than 55,000 Guardsmen and
Reservists. We have 15 major military installations in Texas, which
have more than 168,000 Active and Reserve component servicemembers
assigned to them. These world-class bases, posts, air stations, and
depots are critical facilities where our troops train for combat and
learn the skills they need in order to accomplish their mission and
where we maintain essential military equipment. So when I consider the
possibility that for a cynical political reason some might decide to
block this appropriations bill that actually literally pays the salary
of the troops, I am very disappointed. I hope they will reconsider.

These resources we will vote on--starting this afternoon, we will
start that process--go to places such as Fort Bliss and Fort Hood, TX,
homes to the finest heavy ground combat units in the world.

Fort Bliss in El Paso sits on more than 1 million acres. It is an
irreplaceable training range for our troops, and it is the Army's
second largest installation by size. It is the proud home of the Army's
famed 1st Armored Division. And Fort Hood, which serves as home to both
III Corps and the storied 1st Cavalry Division, has more Army brigades
than any Army installation in the country.

When I think about Members of the Senate actually considering the
possibility of blocking pay for our troops and support for our
military, I also think about bases such as Dyess Air Force Base in
Abilene, TX. This key base is home to units that have deployed time and
time again in recent years in support of combat missions in Iraq,
Afghanistan, and elsewhere, including the 317th Airlift Group. Dyess is
also home to the 7th Bomb Wing, one of only two B-1 strategic bomber
wings in the U.S. Air Force. The 7th has been the tip of the spear in
the fight against ISIL, conducting airstrikes against the terrorist
army in Iraq and in Syria.

We are also proud in my State to boast the Corpus Christi Army Depot,
the largest rotary wing repair facility in the world. When our Army
helicopters come back from battle, many of them are pretty beat up and
barely operable. They typically make a pit stop in Corpus Christi to
make sure our battle-tested warfighting equipment is ready for the next
challenge.

Between our naval air stations at Corpus Christi and Kingsville,
Texas provides the proving ground and crucible for more than 1,000 new
Navy and Marine aviators each year. Shortly after they leave Texas,
they find themselves in skies over Iraq or Syria or landing in rough
seas, in near-zero visibility, on aircraft carriers bordering hostile
shores around the globe. But these bases represent only a fraction of
the U.S. military presence in Texas. All of our military installations
are integral to making sure our military is prepared, trained, healthy,
and ready for action.

The Defense appropriations bill that some have threatened to
filibuster in order to extract a negotiation about more government
spending makes sure that the servicemembers assigned to those bases and
countless others across our Nation have what they need.

We ask a lot of our men and women in uniform. The very least we can
do is pass legislation that provides for the training and equipment
they need in order to accomplish their mission and to ensure them the
quality of life they and their families have so richly earned.

I find it very troubling and, indeed, dumbfounding that some of our
colleagues from across the aisle who have already voted overwhelmingly
to move forward on the Defense authorization bill would today talk
about blocking the necessary appropriations bill to actually carry out
that policy that we will pass shortly in the Defense authorization
bill.

I believe that to be consistent after such a big vote, as I
anticipate we will have on the Defense authorization bill, any notion
of blocking the appropriations bill that would actually pay for those
policies to be carried out should simply evaporate.

So I hope our colleagues across the aisle--many of whom have said
they actually support the policies behind this legislation--will defy
their party's leadership and their misguided advice about blocking this
legislation in order to extract a negotiation on more government
spending and will decide instead to move this legislation forward. The
brave men and women in Texas and throughout the country who are
fighting on our behalf deserve nothing less. And I hope our colleagues
who are even considering for a moment the idea of blocking the funding
that would actually help pay our troops will reconsider and cast their
vote in support of the troops and not cast their vote in favor of some
cynical political strategy which will undermine our support for our
troops.

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