National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, later this afternoon, the Senate will move to begin considering the John S. McCain 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.

Our colleagues on the Armed Services Committee have spent months engaged in thorough work and in bipartisan collaboration. Now the whole Senate will take up their legislation and vote on a plan to deliver on the most pressing needs of our Armed Forces.

Congress has passed Defense Authorization Acts for 57 consecutive years--57 consecutive years. In doing so, we have taken steps to fulfill one of our most fundamental constitutional responsibilities: authorizing the funds that our men and women in uniform require to keep us safe.

This year's NDAA arrives as our Nation faces significant challenges-- challenges like an emboldened Iranian regime and its continued support of destabilizing forces in the Middle East and a new era of great power competition as Russia and China expand their capabilities.

Building on a time-honored process, this year's Defense authorization will help our Nation rise to meet these challenges with cutting-edge tools, top-notch training, and revitalized readiness. It is one of our most important jobs here in Congress. The 2019 Defense authorization is the top item on our to-do list, and we will tackle it this week. Appropriations

Meanwhile, other important work is underway at the committee level. Chairman Shelby and our colleagues on the Appropriations Committee are laying the foundation for a productive summer. Last week, they reported out appropriations bills to fund the Departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs, as well as important military construction projects. This week, they will proceed to finalize measures for Interior and Environment, Commerce-Justice- Science, and the legislative branch. I look forward to taking up these appropriations bills right out here on the Senate floor. Tax and Regulatory Reform

Now, on another matter, Mr. President, today marks another important milestone in our efforts to cut back the forest of redtape the Obama administration left behind. Effective today, thanks to the leadership of Chairman Ajit Pai, the FCC has rolled back meddlesome and unnecessary regulations that Democrats imposed on the internet back in 2015.

Let's put this whole effort into perspective. The Federal Register is the government's legal newspaper. Among other documents, it prints the regulations that Federal agencies enforce and the proposed rules on deck. In 2016, under President Obama, it had to print nearly 39,000 pages of rules--an alltime high--and another 21,000 pages of proposed rules. That is 39,000 pages of rules and 21,000 pages of proposed rules in 2016. It is hard to wrap your mind around that--60,000 pages of rules and proposed rules to pile on American workers and job creators.

We slashed those numbers in 2017. In that first year of our Republican government, the total number of Federal Register pages devoted to rules and proposed rules plummeted by more than 50 percent-- 50 percent less in 2017 than in 2016. That is a significant slowdown in the Federal Government's redtape factory just in our first year. This is part of what we were elected to do--get Washington, DC's, foot off the brake and let hard-working Americans and small businesses spend less and less time and energy hurdling obstacles put up by the Federal Government.

The regulatory reform comes on top of the historic tax reform legislation we passed last December. We overhauled our Nation's Tax Code and rewrote it so that businesses can expand, invest, and create jobs more easily and middle-class families can keep more of what they earn. This 180-degree policy turnaround is helping the U.S. economy rise to its highest heights in recent memory.

Today, thanks in large part to tax reform and regulatory reform, more small businesses are saying that it is a better time to expand operations than at any point in the last 44 years--44 years. More businesses are saying that it is a better time to expand operations than at any point in the last 44 years. That represents a 25- percentage-point leap in the number of Americans who say now is a good time to find a quality job. We have 3.8-percent unemployment--the lowest nationwide level in 18 years.

The real roots of this good news aren't here in Washington. The Republicans understand that government does not create prosperity, but public policy plays a big part in determining whether the wind is blowing in the faces of the job creators or whether it is at their backs. On that front, the results of this Republican-opportunity agenda are literally speaking for themselves.

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