National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009--Continued

Floor Speech

NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009--Continued -- (Senate - September 16, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. REED. Mr. President, I commend the work of my colleagues on the Armed Services Committee on this important legislation which I hope President Bush will sign into law prior to the start of the fiscal year. In this tremendous time of transition for our military, we owe them a law that will enable the DOD to execute this year's budget efficiently and effectively.

This bill provides a budget that allows the DOD to plan for future threats, combat current threats, and provide for the welfare of our brave veterans both past and future.

It should also be noted that this year's bill and the authorization bills from the preceding 28 years could not have been completed without the statesmanship and the strong bipartisan leadership provided by Senator JOHN WARNER. This will be Senator Warner's final authorization bill during his nearly 30 years on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on which he also served as chairman and ranking member. In his nearly 60 years of serving our country both in and out of uniform, he has always upheld his commitment to our brave service men and women with the highest standards of honor and integrity

I would first like to point out a few of the highlights of the National Defense Authorization Act currently being considered:

Authorizes a much needed 3.9 percent across-the-board pay raise for the brave men and women of our armed forces. This pay raise is a half percent higher than that requested by President Bush;

Fully funds Army readiness and depot maintenance programs to ensure that forces preparing to deploy are properly trained and equipped;

Authorizes $26.1 billion for the Defense Health Program, which includes
the $1.2 billion necessary to cover the rejection of the administration proposal to raise TRICARE fees;

Requires the Secretaries of Defense and VA to continue the operations of the Senior Oversight Committee to oversee implementation of Wounded Warrior initiatives; and

Fully funds the eight ships requested in the President's budget, including full funding for the third ZUMWALT class destroyer. This ship is critical to maintaining the technical superiority that our Navy has enjoyed on the oceans throughout the world. The future maritime fleet must be adaptable, affordable, survivable, flexible and responsive. The ZUMWALT class provides all of these characteristics as a multimission surface combatant, tailored for land attack and littoral dominance. It will provide independent forward presence, allow for precision naval gun fire support of Joint forces ashore, and through its advanced sensors ensure absolute control of the combat air space. All of this capability is based on today's proven and demonstrated technologies. We cannot build the same ships that we did 20 years ago and hope to defeat tomorrow's emerging threats.

This year I once again had the honor of serving as the chairman of the Emerging Threats Subcommittee. Senator Dole served as the ranking member of the subcommittee and working together, our subcommittee produced good results in the bill now before the Senate. The Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee is responsible for looking at new and emerging threats to our security, and considering appropriate steps we should take to develop new capabilities to face these threats.

In preparation for our markup, Senator Levin, the distinguished chairman of the committee, provided guidelines for the work of the committee, including the following two items:

Improve the ability of the armed forces to counter nontraditional threats, including terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and

Promote the transformation of the armed forces to deal with the threats of the 21st century.

In response, our subcommittee recommended initiatives in a number of areas within our jurisdiction. These areas include:

Supporting crucial nonproliferation programs and other efforts to combat Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD);

Supporting advances in medical research and technology to treat such conditions as traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder;

Increasing investments in new energy technologies such as fuel cells, hybrid engines, and alternate fuels to increase military performance and reduce costs;

Increasing investments in advanced manufacturing technologies to strengthen our defense industrial base so that it can rapidly and efficiently produce the materiel needed by our Nation's warfighters; and

Increasing investments in research at our Nation's small businesses, Government labs, and universities so that we have the most innovative minds in our country working to enhance our national security.

Specifically, some notable initiatives in this bill that originated in the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee include:

Authorizing more than $120 million in the area of nonproliferation and combating weapons of mass destruction, including $50 million for denuclearization activities in North Korea; $20 million for the Cooperative Threat Reduction program; and more than $50 million for chemical and biological defense programs.

Consolidating funding for the Mixed Oxide, MOX, program in the National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, as a nonproliferation activity, rather than as part of the nuclear energy budget as the budget requested.

Clarifying that excess fissile material disposition is an NNSA nonproliferation responsibility.

Establishing a nonproliferation scholarship fund to deal with shortages in technical and other fields such as radiochemistry and nuclear forensics.

Adding $25 million to nonproliferation research & development, R&D, for nuclear forensics and other R&D activities.

Authorizing the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program and providing an additional $10 million for new initiatives outside of the former Soviet Union, $1 million for Russian chemical weapons demilitarization, and $9 million for nuclear weapons storage security in Russia to complete the work under the Bratislava agreement.

The bill also includes a number of legislative provisions that will enhance the Department's ability to procure and use critical defense technologies, such as:

Legislation that would implement recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences to help ensure that the DOD develops and procures printed circuit boards that are trustworthy and reliable for use in defense systems;

Legislation that would implement the recommendations of the Defense Science Board seeking to enhance the Department's ability to ensure that microelectronics procured from commercial sources, including foreign sources, and embedded throughout defense systems are reliable and trustworthy; and

Legislation requiring the development of a joint government-industry battery technology roadmap to ensure that a healthy and innovative defense industrial base for batteries exists in the United States, to support a variety of requirements in military vehicles, computers, and other equipment.

Relative to science and technology funding levels, the bill would increase the Department's investments in innovative science and technology programs by nearly $400 million to over $11.8 billion; and fully support the Secretary of Defense's initiative to increase university defense basic research funding and increase the level by nearly $50 million over the President's request.

In the area of force protection, the bill includes a provision that would increase the amount and quality of testing performed on force protection equipment, such as body armor, helmets, and vehicle armor, before it is deployed to the field, to ensure that our soldiers and marines have the best available equipment and protection.

In order to enhance our ability to combat international terrorist groups, the bill would fully fund the $5.7 billion budget request, and add over $20 million for items to help find and track terrorists, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance packages; extend authorization to the Special Operations Command to train and equip forces supporting or facilitating special operations forces in ongoing military operations, and increase the funding available for this activity; and increase funding for DOD's Regional Defense Combating Terrorism Fellowship.

Concerning counterdrug programs, the bill includes a provision that would extend the authority to use counterdrug funds to support the Government of Colombia's unified campaign against narcotics cultivation and trafficking, and against terrorist organizations involved in such activities. It also includes a provision that would extend the Department's authority to use counterdrug funds to support law enforcement agencies conducting counterterrorist activities.

This is a good bill. The members of the committee and the committee staff have worked many hours to get this bill to the floor. We are a nation at war and the military needs this bill. I urge my colleagues to work together to pass it so that we can conference with the House and send it on to the President for his signature.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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