Conference Report on S. 2943, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. TURNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017.

Mr. Speaker, consideration of this important bill comes at a critical time for our Nation and for our military. Under the leadership of Chairman Thornberry, this bill, if funded, begins the process of rebuilding our military and restoring readiness back into the force. The bill stops the harmful end-strength reductions in our military service and it begins the process of reversing this damaging trend in reducing our military capacity. I thank Chris Gibson, my colleague, for his efforts in ending those end-strength reductions.

The bill provides an additional $600 million to address shortfalls of critical munitions. I want to repeat that. We had to put in $600 million to address shortfalls in munitions. That is how much we are suffering in our military in spending.

The bill also continues to address the needs of the National Guard and Reserve components by authorizing an additional $250 million for equipment modernization for the Guard and the Reserve. Additionally, this bill calls for continued action to eradicate sexual assault in the military by providing greater transparency in the military criminal justice system. It also acknowledges the need for intensive treatment for male victims and continues to address the critical issues of retaliation.

This bill also includes important provisions on the protection of child custody rights of our members of the Armed Forces. However, it is important to note that the military services submitted over $22 billion of unfunded requirements for fiscal year 2017 alone. I had hoped we would be able to address these modernization shortfalls, as we did in the House-passed bill. This bill falls short of the House-passed bills.
It is also essential that we begin to correct these funding shortfalls in the next Congress. Currently we have a lack of readiness and a heightened level of risk.

I look forward to working with the new Trump administration in regards to an early supplemental request to fully fund these requirements, and I would expect that the House-passed bill would be used as the minimum starting point in order to start the process for rebuilding our military and working with our allies to create conditions for credible U.S. deterrence. It saddens me that we might pass this bill fully funding the military and then pass a CR that underfunds our military.

Before I conclude, I thank our subcommittee's ranking member, Ms. Loretta Sanchez, who has truly been my dear friend. She will be sorely missed. I will miss her guidance and her friendship.

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