Providing for Consideration of Conference Report on S. 2943, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017
Floor Speech
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Byrne) for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Thornberry), and the honorable ranking member, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Smith), for their service and for concluding work on this conference report, which authorizes resources for our uniformed men and women, civilian defense workforce, our veterans and their families.
The defense bill is one of the most complex bills that comes each year before Congress for consideration and action, and I know the hours'--and the weeks'--and the months'--worth of work that goes into these negotiations by staff and Members. It is also, in general, a bill that receives broad bipartisan support, which is a reflection of the leadership, character, and abilities of the chairman, of the ranking member, and of their staffs.
Mr. Speaker, there is a great deal to support in this conference report and some provisions that continue to raise concern. Some items that were of grave concern have been dropped from the final conference report, like the fiscal cliff, language that would have authorized discrimination by Federal contractors, and some anti-environment riders.
I am very upset, however, that, for the second year in a row, the House caved to unreasonable Senate demands to drop the House-passed provision to honor our Atomic Veterans with a simple service medal.
These uniformed men and women literally gave their lives in service to our country. In many cases, totally unprotected, they were exposed to extreme levels of radiation during the post-World War II era and the subsequent cold war period. Because they signed secrecy oaths, they could not even inform their doctors that their many illnesses might be related to radiation exposure.
They never complained, and they did their duty. Their heroism and their service have been publicly recognized by Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. All we are seeking is for them to receive a simple service medal. More than three out of every four of these veterans have already passed away unrecognized for their service; yet the Senate--and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain and a handful of Pentagon bureaucrats in particular--seems to think it is a major scandal to provide them with a service medal. My meetings with some at the Pentagon have been particularly troubling because of what I have perceived to be their total lack of sensitivity and their total lack of appreciation for the service that these veterans have provided to our country.
These men and women deserve better from their government. I hope, next year, when the House, once again, includes this bipartisan measure in the defense bill, that it won't be so weak-kneed as to cave for a third time before such unreasonable intransigence.
This conference report, like its most recent predecessors, continues to authorize billions of dollars for our wars against the Islamic State in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere without any debate on an Authorization for Use of Military Force in those countries and elsewhere.
I hope that one of Speaker Ryan's priorities during the first week of January will be to meet with President-elect Trump and work out a timeline for when Mr. Trump will send an AUMF to Congress on these wars and when the House will finally fulfill its constitutional duty to debate and vote on this matter. For over 2\½\ years, this House has failed, time and time again, to take up this serious debate even after President Obama sent an AUMF to Capitol Hill for action.
Enough is enough. With a Republican in the White House, I hope the Republican-controlled Congress will finally do its duty. The cowardice of the 113th and 114th Congresses must not be allowed to extend into and infect the 115th Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I want to say one more thing about the NDAA conference report.
This conference report includes a very important title that incorporates the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. As many of my colleagues know, this is a bipartisan measure, championed and introduced in the House by my friend and colleague, Congressman Chris Smith; me; and by Ben Cardin in the United States Senate.
The Global Magnitsky Act builds on the seminal Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which is legislation that I authored that focused on Russia, which was approved by Congress and signed into law in 2012. That law targets individual Russian officials who are accountable for the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, as well as other Russian officials engaged in corruption, human rights abuses, or who seek to undermine the rule of law. It denies them visas to the United States and freezes their assets in the United States.
The Global Magnitsky Act will extend the use of those same targeted sanctions to all countries, not just to Russia. It will ensure that visiting the United States and having access to our financial system, including to U.S. dollars, are privileges that should not be granted to those officials who violate basic human rights and the rule of law.
Mr. Speaker, as we enter the uncharted territory of a Trump administration, it is critical that Congress maintain its bipartisan leadership and support for human rights. It is critical that Congress continue to hold accountable the Russian Government and government officials around the world who engage in corruption, human rights abuses, and who flout the rule of law.
During the long campaign, two words I never heard Mr. Trump utter were ``human rights.'' Quite frankly, I was disturbed by his public admiration of Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, whose government has jailed and even killed human rights defenders and political opponents.
Mr. Speaker, in past years, I have often voted against the final passage of the NDAA conference report. In general, I can't vote for a bill that provides tens of billions of dollars for wars that Congress refuses to debate and authorize. I can't vote for a bill that ties the hands of a President--any President--to shut down the prison at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay. I can't support a bloated budget that fails to make hard choices, that provides the Pentagon with even more money than it asks for, and that continues to increase in size-- without end--for the foreseeable future.
However, because of the inclusion of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, this year, I will vote in support of the FY 2017 NDAA conference report. The Global Magnitsky Act will give Congress a tool with which to hold accountable human rights abusers even if our new President ends up turning a blind eye. This language in this authorization bill is important because it sends a signal--no matter what our next President believes on the issue of human rights-- that, in this Congress, in a bipartisan way, we believe that, if the United States of America stands for anything, it needs to stand out loud and foursquare for human rights.
I urge all of my colleagues to support the conference report notwithstanding the many reservations we may have.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I am going to urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question. And if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up legislation authored by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Eshoo), who has been a leader on this issue, that would require Presidential nominees to disclose 3 years of their tax returns.
Mr. Speaker, tax returns provide the public with vital information about our Presidential candidates. Have they paid taxes at all? Do they keep money offshore? Or have they taken advantage of tax loopholes? This is important information that voters have a right to know. The American people should expect candidates running for President to be open and transparent about their tax returns, and this legislation would ensure that transparency. It is hard for me to believe that giving the people the right to know about a Presidential candidate's financial dealings is controversial. I hope that this isn't.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment in the Record, along with extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, let me disagree with my distinguished colleague that somehow this has nothing to do with national defense. I strongly disagree with him on that. I think where a Presidential candidate or a soon-to-be President has financial dealings is related directly to our national defense. Does he have investments in Russia? Does he have investments in countries that have been hostile to human rights or to U.S. interests in various parts of the world? That is very relevant.
One of the reasons why we are utilizing this mechanism of defeating the previous question--by the way, if we defeat the previous question, we still get to bring up the defense authorization conference report. But one of the reasons that we do it is because--the way this House operates is that, if you are in the minority, you don't get an opportunity to get any of your amendments made in order or your bills made in order, especially bills of any consequence. So that is why we are utilizing this. This is very relevant to our national defense.
As I said, I normally vote against these authorization bills because I think they are overbloated. I think there are issues concerning the fact that we spend billions of dollars on wars that we never debate or we don't properly authorize here in the Congress.
But I am voting for this one because of the Global Magnitsky legislation because of the human rights provisions. Because I don't know where the head of our next President is going to be when it comes to standing up to abuses by people like Vladimir Putin, against opposition leaders and journalists and anybody he disagrees with.
This bill is named after a guy named Sergei Magnitsky who, by the way, was an accountant in Russia who uncovered the largest corruption scandal in Russia's history. What was his reward for doing that? Putin had him put in jail. He was tortured, and he was beaten to death. You know, that is what happens in places that are run by strongmen like Vladimir Putin.
So, yeah, I would like to know whether or not our next President has investments in Russia. I think that would be very relevant to know. Quite frankly, the reason why this Magnitsky legislation is so important is it gives us a tool to pressure the next administration on the issue of human rights, and it is a signal to people like Putin and other dictators and strongmen around the world that Congress is not going to be silent in the face of human rights abuses. So I think this is all very relevant.
I would urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question so we can do what I would think most people in this country think is noncontroversial, which is to have people running for President release their tax returns so we know. This shouldn't be a big deal. We should do it now, and we have an opportunity to do it now and still vote on this NDAA bill. I hope that we will do that.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from 20 national organizations voicing concern about the $3.2 billion added to the overseas contingency operations account in funds not requested by the Pentagon.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, one of my many concerns about this bill-- and if it wasn't for the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, I would be voting against this bill because of things like that.
Vote ``no'' on the previous question. Let the American people know what the financial dealings of their Presidential candidates and soon- to-be Presidents are, and then we get on to dealing with passing the National Defense Authorization Act.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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