National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. TILLIS. I thank Senator Daines for all the work he does in supporting our troops, and Lieutenant Colonels Sullivan and Ernst, I thank them for their service to the Nation--their continued service. I thank Senator Sullivan for continuing to pound on this. It is important.

Yesterday, or earlier this week, I talked about how this is approaching personal with me. I am going to try and not get as loud as I got a couple of days ago, but I want to talk about what this means. I want to talk about the process, an appropriations process where all 30 members of the Appropriations Committee, including 14 Democrats, voted for this bill.

What we are trying to do now is have the broader membership vote for it and send it out of the Chamber. All Democrats--and I would not be surprised, if you went on their social media presences or if you took a look at press releases, that they rightfully announced to their constituents how they voted to support a bipartisan appropriations bill coming out of committee.

Now, I want them to follow up with a press statement that says Harry Reid tells me I have to vote no now. I have to say no to troops. I am not going to support providing critical funding for training and readiness and overseas contingency operations. I don't know about you all--in the Gallery or people watching on C-SPAN--I don't feel particularly comfortable with the situation around the globe. I don't like what Russia is doing.

So we have to put resources in portions of Europe to make sure we can counter the potential threat there. I don't like what China is doing in the South China Sea. So we are having to pay more attention to that and have resources looking at it to protect that region. I generally don't like what Iran is doing. I mean, they have welched on commitments they made in the Iran nuclear deal. They are funding Hezbollah and Hamas and the Iran terror network across the world, including this hemisphere. I don't like what is going on in Syria. I think Iraq has problems, much of it created as a result of the President's withdrawal. Well, good news. He recognizes that maybe we need to increase our presence there. How are we going to pay for those extra 564 soldiers that are going to secure the airstrip that was won over by the Iraqi forces? Where does it come from?

That is a commitment he has made so it is going to come from somewhere else. It is certainly not going to come from the increased funding we are trying to get through this appropriations bill. I don't know about you all, but I believe the generals and the intelligence community that come before our committee and say we are in some of the most dangerous times in their lives. The threats are everywhere. America has to lead because when America doesn't lead, the world is a less safe place. America leads. The tip of the spear is our armed services, our presence across the globe to protect the freedom of other nations and to protect our own freedom. Failing to vote for this bill is failing to make sure they are trained, equipped, and capable of defending freedom.

I want to talk about the personal side of things for the folks down at Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune and Seymour Johnson and New River and Cherry Point--marines, airmen, people in the 82nd Airborne, the 18th Airborne Corps, and the conversations I bet they are having with their husbands or wives.

When they come home from training and they hear the commanders down at Fort Bragg say: We are just not getting enough repetition in. We are trying to teach these men and women how to jump out of planes in hostile situations with 100 pounds of equipment connected to them and do that safely.

I don't know about many people, but I don't think I would want to do that if I weren't trained and ready and had the muscle memory to make sure I was going to do that safely. The Global Response Force down at Fort Bragg takes it to another level. They not only have to drop 1,000 or so men and women out of planes, they also have to drop entire cities out of planes: earth movers, weather stations, medical hospitals, all the things you need to provide relief in the event of a disaster or that you need to support a combat operation. We are sapping the resources to be able to do that.

So here is how the discussion, I think, goes with the men or women who go home before they get deployed:

Honey, I am about to be deployed somewhere.

Maybe it is Iraq, maybe it is Afghanistan, some other part of the world.

I am a little bit nervous because I only got about 80 percent of the training I really needed, that the Army or the Air Force or the Marines deem necessary for me to be able to do that job safely and be certain I can complete the mission. I am sorry, Hon, I have sworn to defend this country. So I am going to do it, but I know I am not at the level of training and capability I should be.

Then they say goodbye and that spouse, hopefully, sees that person come home again. So, you know, guys, politics is an interesting thing. Debate is an interesting thing. We have heard the theater on the floor today that has nothing to do with the vote we have before us. We have heard global warming. We have heard all of these other things. What we have not heard is from the Democrats who voted for this precise bill.

Some people lead you to believe it has changed since they voted for it. It has not changed. It is precisely the same bill, but they have a minority leader who says: Don't vote for it. Play my game. Let us then come down here and say: Do your job.

We are doing our job right now. Joni Ernst is doing her job. Dan Sullivan is doing his job. Steve Daines is doing his job. I am doing my job by saying: You guys went into a committee and you voted for this bill. You went home and told everybody you are supporting our troops. Now you have a minority leader who is telling you: Don't do your job and let's go on the floor and pretend those of us who want to support our troops are not doing our job.

It is disingenuous, at best, and it is dishonest, at worst. My colleagues here, we need to pound this issue. I need to go home and be able to tell the story and say: We support you, Fort Bragg. We support you. We are going to do everything we can to get this bill passed.

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