National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 -- Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, as we saw yesterday, Mother Nature once again has crippled part of our Nation. Hurricane Irma made landfall on Sunday, hitting the Lower Keys of Florida and then moving up the State's western coastline. Like Hurricane Harvey in my home State of Texas, the devastation in places like Marco Island and Orange County means tough days and long nights ahead for the residents there.

My prayers, like those of so many others, go out to those who have been impacted by this devastating storm, including those who evacuated safely but will soon travel back to Florida, finding that everything they had is gone as a result of the storm.

As Irma continues to affect Florida and the southeastern United States, we stand ready to support the people in those States just like so many did for us in Texas with Hurricane Harvey.

Remembering September 11

Mr. President, on another separate note, as we all have seen and recall, today is the solemn anniversary of a day that has had an even more profound impact on our country than the recent storms. September 11 will always be remembered as the day that never quite goes away, the day that remains a reminder of what can be taken from us in the blink of an eye.

I have always said that it is etched in my memory like only one other event in my lifetime, and that was in 1963 with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I remember where I was and what I was doing at that time when I first heard about it. Of course, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I learned of the

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terrible events of 9/11. I was on the telephone talking to a colleague of mine when my wife said: You need to see what is happening on the television. I turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane hit the towers in Manhattan.

Yes, it was 16 years ago that 19 Islamic terrorists snuck into our country in defiance of our laws and attended flight schools in defiance of all propriety. Sixteen years ago today, they hijacked four commercial planes full of innocent passengers and, at 8:46 a.m. on Tuesday morning, flew the first one directly into one of the tallest buildings in our largest city in the United States.

Seventeen minutes later--the event, which my wife directed my attention to on the TV set--the second plane hit, and shortly thereafter, flight 77 slammed into the western wall of the Pentagon, and Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania. Thanks to the heroic actions of passengers on Flight 93, that plane could have very well headed here to Washington and crashed into the Capitol, taking who knows how many lives along with it.

As it was, 3,000 people were killed that day, and afterward almost 300 million U.S. citizens saw the world anew through fresh eyes. The terrorists must have thought they could bring our Nation down, topple it as they did the twin towers, but they badly miscalculated. They were wrong. An America shocked was an America strengthened. America is sometimes called the slumbering giant which, once awakened, is a fearsome thing to behold, and that is exactly what happened after 9/11.

After we all took many deep breaths and thanked God for what was left, we stood up and we fought back, united.

We primarily did that through our military--the core of our national defense--those who took the fight to al-Qaida in places like Afghanistan but also all the rest who surrounded and supported our Armed Forces and intelligence personnel every step of the way.

Sixteen years later, we continue to confront new terrorist threats and adjust to new geopolitical realities. I recall the statement of the former Director of National Intelligence, who said, after 50 years in the intelligence community, he had never seen a more diverse array of threats confronting America than he did at that time, and nothing has changed in that respect, which is why today America must maintain a sense of vigilance, a sense of purpose, and a sense of moral clarity regarding evil in all of its novel forms.

We must also ask if we are still standing behind our Armed Forces the way we committed to do following the terrible events of 9/11. We must make sure our military servicemembers have everything they need because to do otherwise is to shirk our duty and to forget how our national security is ultimately achieved.

One way we uphold that responsibility is through the National Defense Authorization Act. If passed, this would mark the 55th year it is signed into law. Later today, we will vote to take up this legislation, and I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting that vote.

The Defense authorization bill ensures that crucial Department of Defense programs are continued and establishes how our military funds will be spent. The version of the bill which has been reported out of committee helps reverse the readiness crisis created by the previous administration. In the words of my friend, our colleague from Texas, Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, ``We have too few planes that can fly, too few ships that can sail and too few soldiers who can deploy.'' That sums up the situation exactly.

The Defense authorization bill exemplifies our commitment to reverse this downward trend. I don't know why it is that America tries to cash the peace dividend at every turn when we have no peace, but that is what has happened. Although the hole the previous administration placed us in is deep, this bill authorizes the funds necessary to begin restoring readiness, rebuilding capacity, and modernizing military infrastructure.

I was recently at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, TX, the base which trains half of all Air Force pilots in the country. They told me one of the biggest problems they have is recruiting and retaining pilots for the U.S. Air Force. While people will accept lower wages for military service because they believe in serving the country, if, because of cuts in funding for the Air Force and for the military, they simply can't fly like they need to in order to be ready for the next fight, many of them get discouraged and are tempted to go to work in the private sector where they can earn more money. So we need to make sure our troops--all of our Armed Forces--have the readiness capability, and we need to fund that appropriately.

This bill will authorize appropriations for personnel and equipment, including aircraft made in my home State--the Osprey, made in Amarillo, TX, and the F-35 made in Fort Worth.

Finally, the Senate version will also authorize critical funding to increase maritime capacity as well. Back in the 1980s, the Navy had about 600 ships; today, we have 277, less than half. It is crucial that we procure ships, aircraft, and munitions, continue to develop our new military technology on our existing platforms and in the evolving cyber domain, and reduce our shortfall in end strength--that we do all of those things. These steps will provide our servicemembers with the training and equipment necessary to defeat ISIS, al-Qaida, and terrorist and state actors that threaten the United States and our way of life.

Perhaps even more significant, in terms of the threat to the United States and world peace, sending a message to Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation that America is no longer in retreat, but America can be relied upon as a strong partner, and America's leadership role in world affairs will be reestablished, will send a very important message of deterrence to the bullies, the tyrants, and the authoritarians around the world; to China, another major threat to international security and peace that is being so aggressive in not only developing arms that allow it to project power to different parts of the Pacific and beyond but threatens maritime transit and safe travel through places like the Strait of Malacca, where so much international trade and national security travel occur.

Our colleagues in the House have passed their version of the Defense authorization, and now it is our job to get it done. By passing a strong defense bill and authorizing the sort of resources our military needs in order for America to maintain its leadership role in the world and provide a credible threat to deter aggression on the part of our adversaries, we will leave our Nation and the world a safer place and better off. It is one small way today that we can honor the memory of those we lost 16 years ago.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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