William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. TURNER. Mr. Speaker, I want to join Ranking Member Thornberry in noting the passing of John Lewis. His heroism and his eloquence challenged us all, and he will be sorely missed.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to begin by thanking Chairman Adam Smith. Our chairman reached out to the other side and said that he wanted to do a bipartisan bill. That sounds easy, but in this environment, it is not. It is highly substantive. It takes negotiation. It takes a lot more work than a partisan bill does. And he achieved that with a unanimous vote coming out of committee. That takes compromise, but this bill does not compromise at all for national security.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize our ranking member, who will be retiring. I have served with him for 18 years. I have appreciated his mentorship, and I am very glad that this bill bears his name, in honor of his time here.

This bill also authorizes the administration's full request for the National Nuclear Security Administration. These funds are critical to ensuring our nuclear weapons enterprise remains safe, secure, and effective. We have put off this investment too long; we do not have any additional time.

Our nuclear forces are at work every day. They stand as a silent testament to deter our adversaries and to support our allies. Without our nuclear forces as a credible and silent deterrent, the world would be less safe.

This bill fully funds the ground-based strategic deterrent, the replacement for the Minuteman III. It is critical that Congress support this effort with this funding.

The bill also provides progress for Space Force, provides stability for the National Security Space Launch program, and makes investments in missile defense by funding two of the Missile Defense Agency's highest priorities, including the 10 SM-3 Block IIA and the eighth THAAD battery.

The NDAA will provide support to the people who defend our country. Our troops are receiving a 3 percent pay raise for the second year in a row. This bill expands the rights of men and women in uniform and their families residing in military housing and provides more oversight over the private companies responsible for maintaining the health and safety of these homes.

This bill also provides remarkable strides in military justice. Over the last decade, we made great strides in military justice.

This bill also provides protection for sexual assault victims. They are gaining more rights on appeal, greater access to court records, and additional protection from retaliatory punishment.

I also want to thank Congressman Anthony Brown for his work on advancing diversity and equality in our servicemember ranks. I was very proud to work with Congressman Brown to advance concrete steps to promote diversity. This year's NDAA creates the position of chief diversity officer for DOD and establishes a diversity and inclusion advisory council. It creates more scholarship opportunities in historically Black colleges.

The NDAA enhances our national security and improves the lives of our servicemembers. I urge all of my colleagues to support it. Any cuts in funding to this bill would severely weaken our Nation at a time when we are facing some of our clearest threats.

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Mr. TURNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this amendment because this is another one of these unilateral disarmament movement provisions that come before this body every year.

Mr. Speaker, I would love to take a vote in this body to restrain China, to restrain Russia, to restrain North Korea, to actually restrain our adversaries. But instead of restraining our adversaries or enter into negotiations where we come to agreement, we give things up.

Mr. Speaker, in this, we are giving something up. There is a Presidential directive. This isn't even trying to undo law. There is a Presidential directive that President Clinton signed, and every President since him, that said that we will do very limited testing because we do testing of our stockpiles and experimental work to ensure the reliability and the fact that our nuclear weapon system is reliable and safe. We do so because our adversaries see that deterrent as a means to restrain them from their adventuresomeness across the globe.

But the other aspect--again, back to, ``I would like to restrain our adversaries''--right now, China and Russia are developing brand-new nuclear weapons. They are deploying hypersonic weapons. Russia has a new nuclear-powered cruise missile that can circle the globe and then come in.

But every year, when we bring the National Defense Authorization Act back, we are more focused on how we can restrain ourselves than restrain our adversaries. And that makes us less safe.

The way that this amendment is drafted actually doesn't allow us to continue to do what we are doing. It says zero-yield standard. We actually have subcritical testing that would exceed what you have in here that we do right now that is essential for what we do.

This is an amendment that is trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

Lisa Gordon-Hagerty just issued a letter, as you said, in June. We are not even going to do this, I mean, not the way you are worried about us doing it. We are not headed toward testing.

But if we pass your amendment, it is going to stop us from being able to do what we are currently doing. We are going to restrain ourselves in a way that our adversaries aren't, and we are going to be less safe.

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Mr. TURNER. Mr. Speaker, let's just be honest. This amendment does not do anything for funding for COVID or funding for healthcare. This is, straight and simple, defund DOD, and that is it.

We have just come off of sequestration where we saw our planes falling out of the sky during training, where we saw our men and women in uniform working in buildings that we couldn't even repair. At my own base, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, they didn't even have enough money to turn the lights on in buildings that people were working in.

This is not sequestration. This is like sequestration on steroids. This would be the biggest cut, much more than sequestration ever had.

It actually works out to about a 16 percent cut, not 10 percent, because of the things that are exempted. So the money doesn't go where the author says it is going to go to.

It does hurt our national security, and it does hurt our men and women in uniform. It cuts military housing; it cuts education; it cuts military family programs; it cuts research and development; but, most importantly, it cuts training. It goes right to the heart of making it unsafe once again for our men and women in uniform just to keep our country safe.

This isn't money down the drain. This is money every day that keeps us at peace.

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