National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Klobuchar) are necessarily absent.

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Mr. DURBIN. Klobuchar) are necessarily absent.

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, the motion offered by Senator Sullivan to instruct conferees to the Defense authorization bill includes several important proposals.

First, it urges conferees to fully fund the cost of overseas military operations, including our commitment to Afghanistan. This stands in sharp contrast to the irresponsible House proposal to cut off war funding on April 30, 2017. This provision is reckless and short-sighted and is the subject of a veto threat by the administration.

Second, it endorses full funding of the European Reassurance Initiative. This is the administration's most important response to Russia's aggression in the Ukraine and threatening behavior towards our European friends and allies.

The President's budget request quadrupled spending on this effort, from $789 million this year to $3.4 billion next year. In light of the recent NATO conference, full support for the European Reassurance Initiative is critical to demonstrating the American commitment for the security of the people of Poland, the Baltics, and many other countries who are worried about Vladimir Putin.

Third, the motion endorses statements made by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter that highlight the U.S. commitment to maintaining the strongest, most capable Armed Forces in the world.

The commitment calls to mind the testimony of Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Paul Selva, earlier this year, before the Senate Armed Services Committee: ``I will take umbrage with the notion that our military has been gutted. So I stand here today a person that's worn this uniform for 35 years. At no time in my career have I been more confident than this in saying we have the most powerful military on the face of the planet.''

Finally, the motion endorses all the necessary military tools to meet the President's commitment to destroy ISIL in Iraq and Syria. So far, our campaign against ISIL has resulted in their loss of nearly half their territory in Iraq, and nearly a quarter in Syria.

The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency warned that ISIL remains very dangerous and is likely plotting or inspiring more terrorist attacks. We must keep up the pressure on ISIL, using not only our military but all of our intelligence, law enforcement, diplomatic, and financial enforcement tools that our Nation has.

I have concerns that our government can do more to stop the ISIL threat that is not limited to our military campaign. For example, after the tragic shooting in Orlando, the American people heard stories of the labor-intensive effort that is required for the FBI to track the many tips relating to domestic terrorism sent in by the public.

Defeating ISIL will require the use of every tool at the disposal of our government, not just our Armed Forces. We should ask ourselves: if ISIL is squeezed out of Syria and Iraq, where are they going to go? And are we doing enough intelligence, law enforcement, and diplomatic work to catch ISIL terrorists as they cross international borders?

It is my hope that Congress will be able to negotiate an omnibus appropriations bill this fall, and we should reject one-sided solutions that only address one part of the ISIL threat. I hope we can address that issue in the same bipartisan way that I expect the Senate to support these motions made by the Senator from Alaska.

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