National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 -- Conference Report -- Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I wish to speak this afternoon on a very important vote that we took today to move forward on the Defense authorization bill. I thought I would start by backing up a little bit.

Last week we had the opportunity to vote on and talk about funding for our veterans and our troops. In addition to the Defense authorization bill that we voted on today to proceed to that, the votes we took last week were very important. They were very important to the country and certainly very important to my State--the great State of Alaska--which has a huge military presence, but also to our huge veteran population. We have probably the highest number of veterans per capita than any State in the Union.

I am honored to have a good friend of mine, Representative Bob Herron, the majority whip in the Alaska House. He is in the Gallery today. He is also a marine. So he represents not only Alaska in our State Government but Alaska as a veteran, as a fellow marine.

The American people want the Senate to be working again. We all know the country has huge challenges. I wish to speak about some national foreign policy challenges. We have a huge debt: $8 trillion. I think we are close to $19 trillion. We got downgraded in terms of our credit rating for the first time in American history. We can't grow the economy. We have huge challenges.

For years the Senate was not working. It was not moving forward. Some would have called it dysfunctional. No regular order, no amendments, no budget, no appropriations bills; a locked down U.S. Senate not doing its work. I think the American people wanted us to do work. So last fall they said it is time for a change. We need to get to work. We need to start tackling our challenges.

So we are changing that. We are working hard to do things the American people sent us to Washington to do. We passed a budget. It hasn't happened in years. We passed appropriations bills through regular order, Democrats and Republicans, bringing amendments to the floor of the Senate, voting again. One of the things we have been doing--and it happened today--is we are prioritizing where they want us to prioritize. Our national defense, which is probably the most important role we have in this body--our troops, our veterans.

So we are making progress, but progress is halting. It is never a straight line. For some reason--and we saw it over the last couple of weeks--a lot of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle didn't want to fund the government, particularly in terms of these critical issues of our troops, including our national defense and taking care of our veterans--and again we saw that over the last couple of weeks.

Two critical appropriations bills moved to the Senate floor. There was the Defense appropriations bill, which again passed out of the Appropriations Committee by huge bipartisan numbers: 27 to 3. There was huge bipartisan support for that bill. Then we had the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill, which passed out of committee 21 to 9. It had huge bipartisan support. Why? Because the American people want us to focus on these critical issues: national defense, our troops, taking care of our veterans. So we are moving forward.

The budget, appropriations bills that we voted on that haven't been voted on for years--bipartisan, prioritizing what the American people want. But then these appropriations bills, which provide funding for our vets, funding for our troops, came to the floor, and progress stopped. I still don't understand why. When asked by constituents: Why did the other side vote to move these bills out of committee in such a bipartisan way, but then when they got to the floor, they stopped, they filibustered, no spending for our troops or for our vets, I don't know the answer. I have asked. My constituents are asking. Directions from the White House? Who knows. But I do think it is clear to me, I think it is clear to most Americans, and I even think it is clear to all of the Members of this body that when those bills were filibustered over the last 2 weeks, that our troops and our veterans were shortchanged because we are voting to defund them. That is what the filibuster did; it defunded our troops and our veterans.

So I have to admit that when we were getting ready to vote today, I feared a repeat performance on probably one of the most important bills we are going to take up all year--the National Defense Authorization Act. It authorizes spending, pay raises, sets out our military strategy, retirement reform. It is so important to our country. Once again, I wish to commend Chairman McCain and Ranking Member Reed, the two leaders of the Armed Services Committee who did such a good job moving that bill forward. Once again, it started with such great bipartisan promise. It moved out of committee 22 to 4, very bipartisan. Then it came to the Senate floor for a vote a few months ago, the NDAA, the Defense authorization bill; 71 Senators, incredibly bipartisan, moved forward and voted for that bill. Then it went to a conference with the House where it was improved. It all seemed to be on track to bring this bill back to the floor of the Senate and to vote on moving forward on the conference report.

What happened? That is great bipartisan progress. We are changing things. We are making things happen. The President of the United States has since said he is going to veto the bill. He is going to veto the bill--veto the National Defense Authorization Act.

Once again--and I am not sure, taking orders from the White House or not--the minority leader came to the floor and told the American people this morning he would work with the President to sustain that veto, to sustain the veto of our Defense bill. What a disappointment. We have this huge bipartisan progress. When given the clear choice between standing with our troops and our veterans or the President, who says he is going to veto this bill for reasons I still don't understand, the minority leader is choosing the President.

I am honored to sit on the Armed Services Committee of the Senate as well as the Veterans' Affairs Committee. As I said in remarks last week on the Senate floor, these are two of the most bipartisan committees we have. It is clear to me that every member--Democratic, Republican--of these committees cares about our troops, respects our troops, cares deeply about our national security. I believe every Member of this body does. Once again, we saw that today. We saw that today. There was no filibuster. Seventy-three Senators voted to move forward on the Defense appropriations bill. It was 71 before and today it was 73--an important bipartisan victory for our national defense, for our veterans, for our troops, but a Presidential veto still hangs out there. The President's veto threat still is like a cloud hanging over this very important vote today.

I mentioned at the outset that this is very important for my State, the great State of Alaska. This is important for the national security of our Nation, and this is important for all of us. It is important to me.

As a veteran and a marine in the Reserves, I know this is a critically important issue. If he is going to veto this bill, I don't know how the Commander in Chief will explain to the American people and our troops why he is doing this. There have been only four times in the last 53 years that the NDAA has been vetoed.

Providing the common defense of this Nation, the national defense, is probably our most important duty. And that duty increases when you look around the world and see the threats that are emerging in different parts of the world--the Middle East, Ukraine, the Asian Pacific, the Arctic.

Mr. President, to govern is to choose. To govern is to prioritize. The President's administration spent years negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran, and this body spent weeks debating the merits of the President's Iran deal. That deal and what we debated then needs to be put in the context of the President's veto threat to the Defense authorization bill.

Let me give a few examples.

The President's Iran deal will give billions--tens of billions--in the lifting of sanctions to Iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism, but the President threatens to veto a bill that will fund our military.

The President's Iran deal lifts sanctions on Iranian military members such as General Soleimani, who literally is responsible for the maiming and killing of thousands of American troops, but the President's veto--his threatened veto--would stop payment of bonuses and improved military retirement benefits to our troops and veterans.

The President's Iran deal gives access to the Iranians by lifting sanctions on conventional weapons, ballistic missiles, and advanced nuclear centrifuges, but the President threatens to veto in this bill advanced weapons systems for the United States.

The President's Iran deal gives the opportunity for terrorist groups supported by Iran such as Hezbollah and Hamas to have further funding for their terrorist activities, but the President threatens to veto a bill that provides additional funding and resources and capability for our troops to defeat ISIS.

To govern is to choose. To govern is to prioritize. As we move forward on the substance of the national defense authorization bill, we are choosing and prioritizing our troops and our national defense, and that is why this vote was so positive this morning. I hope we can have at least 73 Senators, who voted to move forward today, vote to pass the NDAA and put it on the President's desk for his signature. But if the President chooses to veto this critical piece of legislation, which has enormous bipartisan support, at this moment in time when our country faces serious international threats, I hope that my colleagues--the 73 Senators who voted to move forward on this critical piece of legislation--will also stand strong and vote to override the veto of the President, which is exactly what our troops and the American people would want us to do.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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