National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020

Floor Speech

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Ms. JAYAPAL. Madam Chair, let me start by thanking the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith, my colleague, for his hard work and leadership on this bill.

My amendment requires a series of independent studies to evaluate potential cost savings with respect to our country's nuclear security enterprise and force structure.

This amendment is a measured approach to ensuring that our military spending meets our national security needs while making the best use of every taxpayer dollar. It would require the Government Accountability Office to examine options for reducing service contracts, reducing the nuclear security enterprise, rebalancing force structure, and reducing or realigning our overseas presence.

It would also examine realistic, cost-effective ways to use pre-award audits to negotiate better prices for weapons systems and services.

Additionally, it would require an updated and comprehensive series of studies from Federally-funded research and development centers as well as a nonpartisan, nongovernmental think tank. These would supplement the GAO studies and look at cost savings resulting from alternatives to current force structures and our nuclear posture.

Now, I know the other side is going to say that we have done these studies; there is plenty of information out there. But the reality is we operate in a different world, and we need an updated, comprehensive study that deals with our current situation in the world.

Madam Chair, let me be clear that while I do have strong reservations about the top-line spending level in this bill, my amendment would not cut from the top line at all. Instead, it looks at ways that we can make better policy choices; we can better allocate a limited set of resources down the line.

So, in the long term, I believe our defense spending levels are unsustainable, inefficient, and unnecessary. But we have to figure out how to cut that logically, comprehensively, with our national security in the center of that analysis.

So my amendment is a thoughtful solution to give us some of the data we need. I urge my colleagues to support the amendment.

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Ms. JAYAPAL. Madam Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Smith), the distinguished chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

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Ms. JAYAPAL. Madam Chair, I just want to say that this amendment is a smart, thoughtful way to think about how we reduce military spending over the long term without sacrificing national security.

And, Madam Chair, I don't understand when patriotism got linked to how much money we give to defense contractors. That is not my idea of patriotism.

Patriotism, to me, and protecting the troops means that we make sure that we do not send them into harm's way unless absolutely necessary, which means that we look at the threats of the future, we assess our response to that, and we take care of our troops. This bill does that in many, many, many, many ways.

I have squabbles, as you know, with the top-line spending number because I don't believe that being patriotic means we just continue to raise the amount of money that we give. I think we need to be thoughtful and comprehensive about what our national security looks like internationally.

And, Madam Chair, I also think that national security should mean how we treat people here in this country. If we send troops overseas and yet we cut their healthcare, we take away preexisting conditions for their family members, we refuse to provide public education, that is not helping our troops while they are overseas to worry about their families.

So national security is a big picture conversation. It is not about how much money we give to defense contractors.

This amendment is thoughtful. It says what we know about the future.

If a private corporation lost track of hundreds of millions of dollars, its shareholders would find that completely unacceptable. The reality is that we need to make sure we are thoughtful, and we should pass this amendment.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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