National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020

Floor Speech

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Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.

As chair of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, I believe this bill invests in critical priorities for our Nation in a new era of great power competition.

On seapower, we responsibly scrubbed the portions of the President's budget request under our jurisdiction and identified savings that allow us to smartly provide for the ships, aircraft, and capabilities our Nation needs.

This bill authorizes a $22 billion shipbuilding budget to construct 11 battle force ships, including three Virginia-class submarines, three Arleigh Burke destroyers, one frigate, one LPD amphibious ship, one T- AO oiler, and two salvage and rescue ships.

Also, this bill will statutorily reverse the administration's baffling decision to cancel refueling the carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which would have squandered $538 million of sunk costs already paid for by the American taxpayers.

Additionally, on sealift, we translated the urgent testimony from leaders at MARAD into real action by legislating a long-term reauthorization of the Maritime Security Program, creating a new tanker security program to secure our military's fuel supply, and establishing a new-build domestic sealift vessel program.

This bill also provides strong support for our projection forces, including the KC-46 tanker, the B-21 long-range bomber, and the B-52 re-engining program.

Outside of seapower, the full committee worked hard to improve quality of life for servicemembers and their families. I am pleased that my amendment at committee is included in this bill, which reverses last year's callous DOD order blocking longer term servicemembers' ability to transfer their GI Bill benefits to eligible dependents.

This mark would not have been possible without the work of my friend and ranking member, Rob Wittman; our subcommittee staff, Phil MacNaughton, Dave Sienicki, and Megan Handal; and all our subcommittee members, particularly our new members, and their contributions to this year's bill.

Overall, I am confident that the bill we will vote on later this week, which had significant bipartisan input, will meet the pressing needs of the sea services and protection forces and provide a historic boost of quality of life that our All-Volunteer Force deserves. I strongly encourage my colleagues to support this legislation when it comes to a vote Friday.

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