National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROUNDS. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017, or the NDAA. This bill was reported out of committee 2 weeks ago with 100 percent support from our friends across the aisle and nearly unanimous support from the majority party.

I am thankful for the leadership of Chairman McCain and Ranking Member Reed. I think they have done a marvelous job. These are two veterans who have served their country well before becoming Members of this body. As Members of this body, they have worked very hard to find consensus between Republicans and Democrats with regard to how we work to prepare an authorization bill for funding for our military.

The reason I am here today is I think it is important to share my thoughts about the need to move forward with a discussion of the National Defense Authorization Act on the floor of the Senate in an appropriate timeframe.

For those individuals who wonder how the Senate works, sometimes we find it frustrating because we would like to move on. And as my friend the Senator from Oregon just indicated, they would like to have votes. In this particular case, he was suggesting a vote on the Supreme Court, but on that one there are challenges and there are concerns on the part of Members of the majority party.

But in the case of the National Defense Authorization Act, this is one which has been passed out of the Senate, passed by the House, and signed by the President for 54 years in a row. It is a bipartisan work effort. It is one in which we have agreement; we find consensus. It seems only appropriate that we try to move forward on this particular bill before Memorial Day, the day in which we honor those individuals who have given the ultimate sacrifice.

Let me share with you what we understand has happened. I understand that when the majority leader had asked for a unanimous offer or an agreement that we take up this bill early--take it up and begin to debate it; not pass it, but debate it and accept amendments to this particular bill about how to appropriately direct our military for the coming year--the minority leader objected, which is his right, and said he would not allow us to move forward, even to debate the bill.

In fact, we had to file what they call cloture or a closure of the time with a 30-hour period, which we are in right now, before we can even take up the bill. That seems inappropriate. At least to me, it seems that if we really wanted to show we honor those individuals--and we talk about the memory of those who lost their lives serving our country--the least we could do would be to move forward with this particular one in some sort of a united effort since there does not appear to be anything that is of a challenge in passing the bill.

I think about Memorial Day because I lost an uncle. As a matter of fact, I am named for him. My name is Marion Michael. I go by Mike, but I was named for an uncle who died in World War II on the island of Okinawa in May of 1945. He never had a chance to vote, never had a chance to have a family. My family lost something. He lost his life, but we lost an uncle, a brother.

This is the time period in which we remember what these folks--these soldiers, sailors, and warriors--have given to our country. It seems appropriate that this would have been a great time to make an example of our working together. That sense of sacrifice didn't stop in World War II; it continues on.

I had the opportunity, the privilege, to work as Governor of South Dakota during the time in which we were sending young men and women off to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I remember one time in particular that was an example of the generations supporting our country. It happened to be with a mobilization ceremony in the little town of Redfield. When we send young men and women off in South Dakota, we have a mobilization ceremony that is attended by literally the entire town. In this case it was the 147th Field Artillery, 2nd Battalion. I was working as Governor at the time, and when we came into this town, we went to the high school gymnasium. You couldn't park win three blocks of that gymnasium because it was filled.

When we walked inside, there were people everywhere. They were even sitting on the window sills because there were a little over 105 soldiers who were being deployed, and they were going to Iraq.

I remember it specifically because as we finished the ceremonies for deployment in this packed crowd, we went down the line, and we started thanking each soldier for their service. I walked through the line saying: Thank you. We appreciate your service. Be careful. Come back safely.

I looked at one of the soldiers and looked at his last name. He was gray haired, clearly he was a sergeant, and he was one of the leaders. I said: Thank you for your service. Do your job, but bring these guys home safely.

He said: Yes, sir.

The next man in line--I looked at his name, and it was the same name as the individual ahead of him. I looked at him and I said: Is that your dad?

He said: No, sir, that is my uncle. My dad is behind me.

Three generations, three separate members of the same family were serving in the 147th, three of them offering their own and their families' time to support our country. I don't know whether they were Republican or Democrat. All I know is that they were wearing the uniform of the United States of America.

Sometimes, as we talk about what we do, we have to remind ourselves that when these young men and women deploy, they are not deploying as Republicans or Democrats. They really don't care about how we see the progression of the votes that we take here. What they look at is whether or not we are united as Americans.

This would be a very appropriate time for the minority leader to perhaps consider giving back some of the time that he is holding for debate on this bill to begin. Let's begin the debate on this bill before we leave for Memorial Day. Let's begin the process of letting these families know that this is important to us, too, and that we understand the significance of Memorial Day.

For that particular family I talked about in Redfield, this is especially important this year because that young man came back and carried the Cross of War with him. They lost him earlier this year. This year, Memorial Day means a little bit more.

What I would ask today is that we send a message to all of the men and women who wear the uniform. Politics is gone. We will debate the bill, we will spend time on the bill, we will make it better, but we will not hold it hostage. We will do what they want us to do as Americans protecting our country and honoring the memory of those who have given everything in defense of our country.

This is the time to vote--to vote for those who died before they ever had a chance to vote. This is a chance to share our strong belief that when it comes to the defense of our country, we are Americans first, Republicans and Democrats last.

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