Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, for months, we have called for Senate Democrats to stand and support our troops and pass the Defense appropriations legislation. In fact, this is the first time--the first time since 2009--that all 12 appropriations bills were reported out of committee, and most with strong bipartisan support.

I serve on the Appropriations Committee. In fact, I serve on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. But today we are once again considering opening debate on the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2016, a bill that passed out of the Appropriations Committee on June 11 with a very strong bipartisan vote of 27 to 3.

As we approach Veterans Day next week, today could mark the third time that Democrats have blocked this critical legislation to fund our troops. This comes at a time when our troops are actively engaged in multiple theaters abroad and they need the critical support of our Nation's growing mission overseas. But rather than passing this vital funding bill, my Democratic colleagues would rather play politics and perpetuate the obstruction that plagues their party. The minority leader's constituents in Nevada deserve more. They deserve better. Montanans deserve more. The American people deserve more.

So here we are debating, for the third time, simply to proceed on Defense appropriations legislation and to open it up for debate. Let's be clear. The way the process works is we have to have first a vote to bring the bill to the floor to begin deliberation. This, the greatest deliberative body in the world, can't even deliberate on the Defense appropriations bill because our friends across the aisle are blocking it.

It is time to open it up for debate, open it up for amendments. This is the process of the Senate. The American people and the troops deserve more.

It appears that the Democratic leader and his Democratic colleagues would rather huddle in back rooms somewhere and concoct yet another deal behind closed doors versus in full daylight in transparency on the Senate floor because they would rather negotiate in private than engage in an open and honest debate in front of the American people.

Unfortunately, today the Senate Democrats will put partisan politics ahead of funding the troops. The senior Senator from New York, the likely next Democratic leader, has already foretold that Democrats would rather throw together another massive spending package than to allow open consideration of each part of the Nation's budget. No wonder we are $19 trillion dollars in debt. Senator Schumer said:

We could pass a defense bill and then they could say, ``Well, we'll do a [continuing resolution] on the rest of it,'' violating the 50-50 deal. We need to negotiate an omnibus all at once and all together.

I reject that. Montanans know firsthand the importance of supporting our men and women in uniform. The passage of this legislation is critical to carrying out our missions in an increasingly dangerous world, and it is important regarding missions we support in Montana. This Defense appropriations bill protects the Montana Air National Guard C-130 mission by moving forward with the Avionics Modernization Program, or AMP Increments 1 and 2, which are improvements from the original costly AMP program. This will ensure the C-130s at the Montana National Guard will be certified to continue flying by 2020 and provide a pathway for a full-scale avionics upgrade that addresses outdated components. It also funds key engine modifications for those C-130s.

The Senate Democrats would prefer to once again obstruct regular order in the same fashion they did during the past few years, which became the hallmark--it became the trademark of a failed Democrat-led Senate majority. So as the Senate heads home for the weekend, I challenge my Democratic colleagues to look at their veterans, to look their active duty troops and military families in the eye and ask themselves: Did I serve these selfless men and women or the Washington establishment? I think we know which one they will choose.

I encourage my Senate Democratic colleagues to change course. We have a chance to change course on this upcoming vote. Vote yes on moving this critical defense legislation forward.

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