National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, while he is still on the floor, I want to thank the Senator from New Jersey for his remarks. He is clearly one of the institution's experts on Cuba and the Castro regime, and I think we need to pay attention to what he is saying.

Unfortunately, we seem to be dealing with other countries and other regimes as we hope they will be, not as they are in reality. That was an important set of remarks, so I thank the Senator.

Mr. President, yesterday the United States Senate voted to advance the National Defense Authorization Act--what we call the NDAA. I worry sometimes we talk in Senate-speak, and we don't actually communicate what legislation is, so I want to talk a little about what this defense--or national security--legislation is and why it is so important that it passes.

After passing both the House and the Senate earlier this summer, colleagues worked in a conference committee led by Mac Thornberry from Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services, and Senator John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services. I know they had a tough job in reconciling those two different versions of the legislation, but now they have come forward with strong bipartisan legislation that supports our military and our families.

My dad served for 31 years in the United States Air Force. He flew B-17s in World War II in the Army Air Corps. I proudly grew up as an Air Force brat, so this is personal to me, as I know it is to the Presiding Officer, who has served in the Marine Corps for a long time and for whom this is a very personal issue as well.

In my State of Texas we are very proud of our connection with the military. We claim--I am not sure it is exactly true but we make this claim--that one out of every ten persons in uniform calls Texas home. I think that is probably roughly correct, but we want to make sure that through this legislation we do our job to make sure our military gets the equipment and the training they need in order to perform the dangerous missions we ask them to perform here in the United States and around the world. That is what this legislation does.

For example, the bill authorizes funding for the Corpus Christi Army Depot. This installation is a true national treasure because what it does is to refurbish the rotary-wing aircraft that come from overseas. After they are battered and beaten up, they come back and make them like new. So when these army helicopters serve overseas, they come back for a pit stop in Corpus Christi at the depot, and they make sure they are ready for the next challenge our military faces. This legislation we will be voting on at 2 p.m. this afternoon authorizes funding for the construction of a new facility at the depot where helicopter engines and transmissions can continue to be repaired, and we can continue to equip, as we should, our military.

This Defense authorization bill also authorizes critical military construction, such as the barracks at the Air Force basic training program at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, where thousands of airmen start their service to this Nation every year.

That was the first assignment for my dad, at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX, when I was a freshman in high school. I have had the privilege of attending some of the graduation ceremonies there, and they are really an inspiration. You see this whole football field full of trainees learning, through their basic training, how to become airmen and to serve our country in the U.S. Air Force.

The real people and real installations are dependent upon this authorization bill becoming law. This defense legislation is integral to ensuring our military is well resourced, well trained, and ready for action when called upon. Importantly, this legislation also helps clarify the United States' long-term defense priorities and authorizes funds to equip our military to handle the multiple evolving conflicts around the world.

I am reminded that in August I visited the Pacific Command with some of our colleagues here in the Senate, where we asked Admiral Harris, the four-star commander of the Pacific Command, what keeps him up at night. What are you most concerned about? At the top of his list was North Korea, governed by a volatile dictator with nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles. I know General Dunford, the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the former Commandant of the Marine Corps, had a little different ordering. He put Russia at the top, I think, then China, North Korea, and then ISIL, if I am not mistaken. But regardless of the exact order, we know there are numerous threats to world peace and regional security.
We learned the lesson on 9/11 that what happens overseas doesn't stay overseas. It directly affects our security right here at home too. That is why this legislation is so critical.

This Defense authorization bill also includes provisions that fund efforts to counter Russian aggression in Eastern Europe, where Vladimir Putin is trying to intimidate and coerce countries that are part of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and threatening them with the kind of aggression we have seen in Crimea and Ukraine.

This bill helps counter that aggression. It also provides resources to help train and assist our partner nations in the Asia-Pacific, it provides help for Israeli missile defense and anti-tunneling defense, and it supports our partners in Afghanistan and throughout the Middle East to combat rampant terrorist activity.

So what we do here in the Senate and in this Congress and here in Washington, DC, is important to our national security and the safety of our Nation. That is why for over 50 years Congress has made passing the Defense authorization bill--what we sometimes refer to as the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act--that is why we have always made that a priority. All of us, regardless of political affiliation or ideology, believe it is fundamentally important to make sure our men and women in uniform, who are fighting on our behalf or standing ready to fight when called upon, faced with unprecedented threats around the world--we need to make sure, as a moral obligation, that they have what they need and that they know we are solidly behind them. That is what signal this legislation sends.

Now we have a chance to send this to the President--after we vote on this legislation--send it to him for his signature. But here is where I am troubled. President Obama has indicated he may well veto this legislation. And what, we might ask, would be his reason? Is there some provision of the legislation that he finds so repugnant or difficult that he wants to veto the legislation? Frankly, what the President and the White House have said is--they claim the funding levels outlined in the Defense authorization bill are ``irresponsible.'' But get this: These same funding levels are reflected in the President's own budget request. So we gave the President what he asked for, and he calls them ``irresponsible.'' What kind of hypocrisy is that?

I hope the President and his counselors at the White House will reconsider playing fast and loose with support for our troops and this important piece of legislation. This bill is bipartisan. We can have our fights over all sorts of things--and Heaven knows we will--in this polarized political environment, but if there is one thing on which we all ought to agree on a bipartisan basis, it is that this legislation needs to pass.

This support for our troops in an ever-dangerous world should be a priority. Fortunately, many of our Democratic friends understand this, and they have worked with us, and that is the way it should be. So I hope they aren't tempted to block this legislation in order to give cover to the President and to prevent him from being held accountable for his own decisions. This is not a time to play games, particularly with our national security and our men and women in uniform at stake.

Today our Armed Forces face a world with growing challenges in almost every corner of the world. As a matter of fact, I think the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, said he doesn't remember a time in his long career in the Air Force and now in the intelligence community where the world has faced more diverse threats and challenges. And, like it or not, the United States is the point of the spear in addressing those challenges. If the United States doesn't step up and lead, there is a vacuum created which does nothing but encourage these tyrants, these thugs, the dictators and other people who will take advantage of that void.

We can't tie our own hands behind our backs while asking our troops to fly into harm's way to support efforts against ISIS and Syria and Iraq or sail to the edges of the Pacific to keep Chinese ambitions in check or to accompany Afghan soldiers in deadly firefights against a resurgent Taliban. Right now, as I stand in this Chamber, we have Americans--soldiers, sailors, and marines--who are putting their lives at risk to defend this Nation. By definition, when they are deployed overseas, they are far away from home, separated from their loved ones and their families. We ought to always remember that for every man or woman who wears the uniform, there is a family back home who is serving our Nation as well who deserves our gratitude and our support. The last thing our military needs is a reason to question the strength of our convictions, and they need Congress to support them.

Our adversaries watch this sort of thing, too, because what they read into political dysfunction--particularly when it comes to something as important as our national security--is they see encouraging signs that maybe they can push the envelope a little further. Maybe they can challenge the United States and our allies a little more. Maybe they can grab a little more property, real estate. Maybe they can plant a flag someplace they otherwise would not because they see in our actions--particularly on something as important as this--a certain reticence, perhaps not a willingness to lead but, rather, an America retreating from our international responsibilities, and that is dangerous. That is dangerous.

I encourage all of our colleagues to simply vote once more in support of this legislation so we can send it to the President's desk. What he does is his responsibility. This legislation passed last June with more than 70 votes. If we can send this bill to the President with that same sort of overwhelming bipartisan support, the President won't be able to veto this legislation because he knows his veto can be overridden by a two-thirds vote in the House and the Senate.

So let's do our part together to show our men and women in uniform that our support for them will never ever waiver.

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