Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2016 -- Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, at 11 o'clock the Senate is going to vote on the Defense appropriations bill. This is a bill I have worked on with Senator Cochran of Mississippi. He not only chairs the Appropriations Committee but the Subcommittee on Defense, which I serve as ranking member on as well.

The effort in this bill is extraordinary because it comprises virtually 60 percent of the domestic discretionary spending of our government. It, of course, deals with the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies. I just want to say we have worked on this on a bipartisan basis from the start. It has been a real pleasure to work with Senator Cochran. I commend him for his leadership and his gentility and thank him for all of the good work he has put into this bill.

It is going to be a procedural vote that we anticipate is not going to allow this bill to go forward. It is not a reflection on the substance of the bill at all. Though we may disagree with one or two provisions in the bill--and even as one of the authors I can say that--the fact is that what we are trying to do now is position ourselves to complete the work of last week's budget agreement.

I think there is an understanding, at least at this moment, of how we will move forward, but I say to my colleagues that we can stand behind the substance of this bill. Procedurally, we may be delaying it today, but ultimately it will pass and I look forward to supporting it at that time.

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