National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017

Floor Speech

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The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lankford). Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote?

The result was announced--yeas 91, nays 0, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 89 Leg.] YEAS--91 Alexander Ayotte Baldwin Barrasso Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Boozman Boxer Brown Burr Cantwell Capito Cardin Carper Casey Cassidy Cochran Collins Coons Corker Cornyn Cotton Crapo Cruz Daines Donnelly Durbin Enzi Ernst Feinstein Fischer Franken Gardner Gillibrand Graham Grassley Hatch Heinrich Heller Hirono Inhofe Isakson Kaine King Klobuchar Lankford Leahy Lee Manchin Markey McCain McCaskill McConnell Menendez Merkley Mikulski Moran Murphy Murray Nelson Paul Perdue Peters Portman Reed Reid Risch Roberts Rounds Rubio Sasse Schatz Schumer Scott Sessions Shaheen Shelby Stabenow Sullivan Tester Thune Tillis Toomey Udall Vitter Warner Warren Whitehouse Wicker Wyden NOT VOTING--9 Booker Coats Flake Heitkamp Hoeven Johnson Kirk Murkowski Sanders

The amendment (No. 4206) was agreed to.

(At the request of Mr. Reid, the following statement was ordered to be printed in the Record.) vote explanation

Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, today the Senate voted on amendment No. 4206 to S. 2943, the National Defense Authorization Act, NDAA, for fiscal year 2017. This amendment would ensure that beneficiaries affected by changes to military health care designed to maintain critical wartime medical readiness skills and core competencies will be able to access through TRICARE medical services no longer available at military treatment facilities. I support this amendment because it ensures military families and retirees receive the care they deserve while allowing the military to focus on its wartime medical skills and training, and I would have voted in favor of it if I were present for the vote.

Currently, the Military Health System has the dual role of medically supporting wartime deployments while caring for Active Duty members, retirees, and their families in peacetime. However, the core competencies and skills required for wartime and peacetime medical care can, at times, diverge. Great efficiencies can be found through public- private partnerships that can allow military medical professionals to focus on their wartime skills, while allowing the civilian health system to provide more care to military families and retirees. In our fiscally constrained environment, we must ensure that we use our defense dollars for maximum effect.

Amendment No. 4206 specifies how beneficiaries will receive care because of changes to the Military Health System. The amendment also requires the Secretary of Defense to submit a report to Congress on the modifications to medical services, treatment facilities, and personnel in the Military Health System. This ensures appropriate oversight of the Department of Defense's reforms in this area. I will continue to work to ensure that the individuals that protect us every day receive the care and support that we owe them.

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