National Defense Authorization Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, now, in the meantime, yesterday, we began moving the conference report on the National Defense Authorization Act toward the floor.

For the information of all Senators, we should expect the potential for a late night tonight and the possibility of votes tomorrow.

Back in July, the Senate passed our version of this crucial annual bill. Now our colleagues on the conference committee have done their tough job and reconciled two different approaches so we do not leave our military in the lurch.

On Tuesday, the House passed the conference report with overwhelming bipartisan support. Now it is the Senate's turn to make it an unbroken 60-year streak of passing this legislation to keep our military strong and our homeland safe.

This NDAA will unlock more than $740 billion for the training, tools, and cutting-edge equipment that our servicemembers and civilian employees need to defend American lives and American interests. It will give our troops the 3 percent pay raise they richly deserve. It will keep our forces ready to deter China and stand strong in the Indo- Pacific, and it will secure President Trump's major progress at modernizing our capabilities, our technologies, and our strategic nuclear deterrent.

This legislation will secure wins on priorities that all of us share. It does not contain every policy that either side would like to pass, but a huge number of crucial policies are included, and a lot of bad ideas were kept out. So I would encourage all our colleagues to vote to advance this must-pass bill.

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