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

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOEVEN. Madam President, I rise to discuss the legislation before this body, the National Defense Authorization Act. Before doing so, I want to take a minute and address the DRIVE Act. I strongly support the DRIVE Act. It is very important that we have a 6-year highway bill for our country and that we get it in place. It was passed in a bipartisan basis. I think there are many provisions in it that will be very helpful, not only to our country but to each and every one of our States. We have worked on that legislation; we have passed it through regular order. It is vitally important.

When I go home and talk to my constituents in North Dakota, as I know is the case for all Members of this body, they express how important it is that we get not only a highway bill passed but a 6-year highway bill, a long-term highway bill passed so that these multiyear projects can go forward. We do need to get that done and get it done now so that we don't have an interruption in the Federal highway program.

To my esteemed colleague, I want to express my support as well for this important legislation. I appreciate both the work of the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee and of the ranking member--my colleague who is the ranking member on EPW. This is important legislation. We need to continue to work in a bipartisan way in both Houses--the Senate and House--and get this legislation done.

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Mr. HOEVEN. Madam President, again, I thank the Senator from California. This is important bipartisan legislation, and we need to continue to work to get it done.

I rise today to discuss the NDAA--the National Defense Authorization Act. It is likewise incredibly important legislation, in this case for our military--for our military and for the defense of this great Nation. I want to begin by commending the members of the Armed Services Committee, and especially Chairman McCain, but all of them for their diligence. That means Members of both the Senate and the House, working together in conference committee after both Houses passed this legislation, passed the legislation through regular order. I emphasize that because it is so important that we follow regular order in this body and in the House, where we bring forward the legislation from the committees, bring it to the floor, have the debate, have the opportunity to offer amendments, debate those amendments, vote on those amendments, and then vote on the legislation. Let these bodies work their will. Send the legislation to the President. He makes his decision and we move forward.

I emphasize this right at the outset because it is so important that we work in this way through regular order so that we get to the important work of this country. I use this legislation as a great example--the National Defense Authorization Act, the defense of our Nation. We are moving forward because we are following regular order. We are working in the way I just described in both the Senate and the House, and that is what we need to do.

It is hard to overstate the importance of this legislation for our men and women in uniform and for the security of our Nation. I am pleased that we are now debating this conference agreement, and I look forward to moving to final passage. In just a few hours, at 2 p.m. eastern time today, we will be voting on final passage on this legislation.

There are several features of this bill that I want to highlight, and I am going to talk about a few of them. There are many important provisions, but I do want to highlight some of them here over the next few minutes. The first is in the area of personnel and benefits, taking care of those who put on the uniform--men and women who wear the uniform and put it all on the line for us and for our country.

This bill represents a continuing commitment to the well-being of our service men and women. It makes significant improvements to the benefits we offer to those who serve, particularly, by allowing military participation in the Thrift Savings Plan, as recommended by the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission.

We recognize that we need to reward those who stay in the military for 20 years with a strong retirement package. We also recognize through this legislation that those who serve less than 20 years deserve something in retirement as well. The Thrift Savings Plan provides a great mechanism to do that. I am very glad that we are able to include that in this legislation.

Let me touch for a minute on international security assistance. We face an incredible array of threats to our security and to the security of our allies. Those threats require immediate and careful attention, and this legislation points us in that direction and provides important tools. Because of the serious concerns many of us have about the efforts to fight ISIL, the National Defense Authorization Act increases congressional oversight of the effort to support the fight against ISIL in Syria.

We should not wait to pass this legislation. There is too much at stake in critical regions of the world, and we need to move forward. We should pass this legislation immediately, and the President should sign it right away so that our military has all of the authorities it needs to address threats such as ISIL as soon as possible.

I will talk for a minute about some of the critical defense programs. Of course the military needs the best tools available in order to meet the security threats of today and tomorrow.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 provides authorization for a number of key weapon systems, including the Air Force's new long-range strike bomber and the aerial refueling tanker programs, missile defense, and a wide range of other procurement priorities. Delaying these programs now will harm our national security in the future, so it is important to keep them on track by passing this legislation and getting it signed into law.

I am also very pleased that the fiscal year 2016 legislation provides full authority for the Air Force's nuclear forces, including the B-52 bomber and the Minuteman III ICBM as well as the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft. Our Global Hawks provide incredible intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. In North Dakota, we are proud to host the capabilities that make such vital contributions to the defense of our Nation--two of the legs of the nuclear triad--the intercontinental ballistic missiles and the B-52 bombers, as well as the unmanned Global Hawk.

I also want to say another word about remotely piloted aircraft, RPAs. The Air Force has been squeezed by the demand for the capabilities we have in the Predator and the Reaper, and it has been difficult to meet those demands and still have the capacity to train new pilots for these RPAs, remotely piloted aircraft.

I wish to commend the members of the conference committee for a very strong section in this legislation that requires the Air Force to consider all of its options to train additional RPA pilots. I have been advocating using the private sector to increase our capability to train those pilots. That is a step that can be done in the short term without drawing down our ability to support commanders in theater.

Right now the commanders in theater want those remotely piloted aircraft for the mission. That is a very high operations tempo. That doesn't leave pilots available here at home to train new pilots to fly these aircraft. That is why a private sector solution can be so helpful to our Air Force, and that is the language I worked so hard to include in this legislation.

I also have language in the report that goes along with the fiscal year 2016 Defense appropriations bill. The companion bill to the authorization bill is the appropriations bill. I included language in the appropriations bill that instructs the Air Force to look at private sector-led training. My hope is that between that language and what we are passing in this authorization bill, the Air Force will find a way to leverage the private sector to enhance what the Air Force can do with its RPA fleet, meaning a higher ops tempo, and at the same time train new pilots and bring them into the system to fly unmanned aircraft.

Finally, I will highlight a couple of items that are important to North Dakota specifically. One is an amendment I offered during floor consideration of the NDAA in the Senate. This language directs the Air Force to determine the feasibility of partnering the Air National Guard with the Active-Duty Air Force to operate and maintain the Global Hawk. Similar to what it does in support of the Predator and Reaper missions, I believe the Air National Guard can provide a valuable contribution to the Global Hawk missions. I am very grateful that the conferees retained this amendment in the bill, and I hope that it will prove to be valuable not only in North Dakota but will set an example that can be followed with other aircraft and the Air National Guard units in other States across the country.

I also wish to thank the conferees for including a $7.3 million authorization to construct a new Intelligence Targeting Facility at Hector Field in Fargo. Our Air National Guard is taking on an exciting new targeting mission and this much needed facility will give them the space required and the capability--the facilities and resources necessary--to do that job right. They are already doing an outstanding job, but they need this secure facility as part of this highly specialized and highly important mission.

I worked on this project through the military construction appropriations subcommittee, and I look forward to completing the authorizing and appropriating legislation so we can get construction started on this new facility in Fargo.

The bottom line is that this legislation includes many provisions that are important for our men and women in uniform, that are critical to our national security, and that are vital to each of our States. The bill is well crafted, and it has received bipartisan support. It is absolutely necessary that we move forward and pass it and that it becomes law, so I will touch on that aspect of the legislation for just a minute as well.

The President has indicated that he intends to veto this legislation. So he intends to veto legislation that is passing through this body with very strong bipartisan support. The irony is that he is vetoing this legislation because we included additional funding in the legislation for our military that is incredibly important and is very much needed. But he is saying, nope, that is not what he wants done and has indicated that he will veto the legislation.

It is very important today that we have strong bipartisan support to send a clear message that if this legislation is vetoed, this body and the House will override that veto. We have to stand strong on a bipartisan basis. We have to make sure that we get this legislation passed, not just for our men and women in uniform but for the good and for the security of our country.

This is vitally important legislation. This is about making sure that we join together in a bipartisan way and get it done for our men and women in uniform, and then there is still more to do.

This is the authorizing legislation. Then we have to pass the appropriating bill that goes with this legislation so that we fund the authorizations provided in this legislation, and not until all three things are done have we stepped up and got the job done for our military. We need to pass this authorization. We need to make sure that we override any veto--should the President decide to veto this very important legislation--and then we need to stand strong, come together, and make sure we do not have a filibuster of the companion bill, the Defense appropriations bill, which goes with this authorization. Then, and only then, will we have the job done that we need to do for our men and women in uniform. That is the task before us, and that is what we need to get done. We need to keep our eye on that ball very clearly, and we need to make sure the American people understand that we have to pass this legislation, override any veto, and then pass the companion Defense appropriations bill. Only then have we got the job done for our men and women in uniform who put it all on the line for us.

With that, I yield the floor.

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