Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, this week, we will be taking up the National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress has passed for 57 consecutive years to support and guide our country's military. Earlier this month, the Armed Services Committee voted overwhelmingly--25 to 2--to advance this important legislation to the Senate floor, so when I hear people say that there is no bipartisan consensus for anything in Washington these days, I think that is belied by the facts and certainly in this case by our bipartisan commitment to provide that support and guidance for our Nation's military.

According to the Department of Defense, there are 1.8 million Americans around the world on Active Duty in the U.S. military. The United States has 737 installations overseas, and the DOD--the Department of Defense--is the world's largest employer. Supporting all these people and the facilities they occupy is a Herculean task, and the Defense authorization bill is one very significant way that we do just that. It is how we make sure that all of our American servicemembers are trained, equipped, and paid and that our alliances are strengthened and our military facilities are properly modernized and maintained. We have an All-Volunteer military, and it is important for us to do all of these things in terms of quality of life, in addition to the basics, to prepare our warriors for hopefully an avoidable fight, but when it is unavoidable, to prepare them for that conflict.

In Texas, there are roughly 200,000 military men and women stationed in places like Fort Hood, Joint Base San Antonio, the Red River Army Depot, and Ellington Field. These are the people I think about as we take up this Defense authorization bill. They rely on us to deliver what we have asked them to do, to give them the tools, the equipment, and the training to do what we have asked them to do. That goal is increasingly difficult because the world is a very complex and dangerous place. The array of national security threats facing the United States is more complex and diverse than at any time since World War II. Our leadership at the Pentagon says that the strategic environment has not been this competitive since the Cold War. Simply put, America no longer enjoys the competitive edge it once had over our competitors and adversaries.

Secretary Mattis and the Department of Defense have admirably crafted the national defense strategy that was delivered to Congress earlier this year laying out its strategic goal. This was a critical first step, but now the strategy must be implemented. The Defense authorization bill will align that strategy with the resources necessary to implement it--the investments, the policies, the authorizations--with the new orientation articulated in that strategy.

The Secretary of Defense will reevaluate the highest priority missions for the Department of Defense, the roles of the joint force, as well as the capabilities required to complete these missions.

All told, in its current form, the Defense authorization will support $716 billion for our national defense. To those who would think that the price is too high, I would say there is no option. There is no nation in the world that is as capable of keeping the peace and deterring aggressors around the world. In fact, the No. 1 responsibility of the Federal Government is to provide for our common defense.

All of the rights that we enjoy in this great country of ours flow from the freedoms that are protected by our men and women in uniform. We have seen what has happened in the last few years when America has receded and retreated from its leadership role.

We don't have to fight all of these fights on our own. As General Mattis says, it is appropriate for Americans to fight by, with, and through our allies, which is the strategy we are using now rather than placing boots on the ground in many of these locations.

One important piece of the bill is bolstering recruitment, retention, and effectiveness of our Armed Forces.

A second important piece that was included in the committee markup of the NDAA is legislation I introduced called the Children of the Military Protection Act. This will close a jurisdictional loophole affecting military installations when minors commit criminal offenses on base. Because it is a military base, the Federal Government has the jurisdiction, but frequently Federal prosecutors don't have the time or the resources to prosecute the cases, so they fall through the cracks. This legislation will allow Federal prosecutors to relinquish jurisdiction to the State in these instances, allowing State-level authorities to take up the case when the Federal Government's other responsibilities and finite resources prevent it from being able to do so.

I am proud to join with Senator King, the junior Senator from Maine, in this effort. This is a bipartisan priority that Members on both sides of the aisle should rally behind. Our children on our military bases must be protected at all costs. When they are assaulted, their assailant should not escape justice because of loopholes in the law.

Although the Federal Government maintains jurisdiction over military bases, as I have said, unfortunately, it does not always assert its prosecutorial authority. Historically, Federal prosecutors have pursued roughly 15 percent of juvenile sex offense cases, and that is clearly not enough. We have to address this black hole for juvenile justice. We have to give local prosecutors the authority they need to go after these cases on our bases with the agreement of the Federal authorities.

I look forward to my legislation being a part of the NDAA when we vote on it perhaps as soon as next week.

There is one final aspect of the Defense authorization bill I would like to touch on, and it involves how we address future threats to our national security.

I have spoken quite a bit on the floor about the threat China poses to the United States, and they are not even coy about it. They have told us what their plan is. Their plan is to grow their economy and to grow their military in a way that dwarfs the power and economy of the United States.

Let me talk a little bit about the threat. I have spoken about that threat, but let me quote the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who recently said that it is ``in the Indo-Pacific region [where] the United States faces a near-term belligerent threat armed with nuclear weapons and also a longer-term strategic competitor.'' Of course, my friend Congressman Mac Thornberry is talking about China, ``the competitor,'' and the ``belligerent threat'' he identified was North Korea.

That is why this year's Defense authorization bill, among other goals, prioritizes military readiness in the region and strengthens our key partnerships there. It promotes security and stability in the Indo- Pacific through exercises with our allies and supports improving Taiwan's defense capabilities.

Even more important, the Defense authorization bill will include legislation I coauthored, along with the senior Senator from California Mrs. Feinstein, known as the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, or FIRRMA.

This legislation will allow us to better intercept threats to our national security posed by China when its companies masquerade as normal corporate actors, but, in fact, they are an arm of the Communist Party and the leadership in that country.

As has been well documented, China is intent upon, No. 1, stealing our intellectual property, and when they can't do that, strategically investing to get access to both the intellectual property and the know- how to be able to take advantage of all the research and development expenditures we have made in our country and to short circuit that in developing their equivalent. Our legislation will modernize the review process of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and ensure that we are better protected from these sophisticated threats and help us maintain our technological edge in the national defense realm, but, as I said earlier, the Defense authorization bill is important for reasons that hit much closer to home.

In years past, this bill has authorized needed improvements at our military facilities. It has given our troops a much needed and much deserved pay raise and updated advanced aircraft, ships, and ground vehicles. These, too, have implications in all of our States, and Texas is no exception.

So when I vote on the Defense authorization bill, I will be thinking about servicemembers back in my State in addition to all those who serve in remote locations overseas. We need to get the Defense authorization bill across the finish line for them and for our country.

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Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Flake), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain), and the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young).

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