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Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, later today, the Senate will vote to begin consideration of this year's National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA is our most significant opportunity to set priorities for competition with adversaries like China and Russia.

It is our chance to keep the Biden administration focused on critical missions, like rebuilding America's defense industrial base, instead of the woke partisan agenda of political appointees. It is our time to lay the groundwork of robust investments in hard power.

For 62 straight years, from the thick of the Cold War through the Global War on Terror, the Senate has used the NDAA to match tailored solutions to evolving national security challenges.

This year is no different. Ranking Member Wicker, Chairman Reed, and our colleagues on the Armed Services Committee considered 445 amendments and adopted 286 of them. Here on the floor, the full Senate should do the same. Senate Republicans are committed to exceeding the President's woefully inadequate defense budget request and delivering the resources our Armed Forces actually require. So I expect the Democratic leader to allow thorough consideration for a range of important amendments as we begin that work with the NDAA.

First and foremost, I would like to remind all of our colleagues that the No. 1 piece of business on the Senate's agenda is actually already overdue. So it is especially important that we begin this process without further delay.

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