June 24, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 106 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages S4469-S4470]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, first of all, I thank my colleagues for 
voting yes on the motion to proceed so we can start our work on what I 
consider to be the most significant bill of the year and we can do 
these things in earnest.
  I think this will be the 59th NDAA for 59 consecutive years. We are 
pretty sure it is going to go ahead and pass. As we start the process 
of considering

[[Page S4470]]

amendments, I hope we can have an open amendment process.
  I know I speak on behalf of myself and Senator Reed. We have been 
wanting to do this for a long period of time.
  While we are debating this bill, I encourage my colleagues to come to 
the floor and share why the NDAA is important to their States and to 
national security.
  Here is one reason why. We are at a really crucial junction in our 
military. Our world keeps growing more unstable and less safe. Our 
military is, frankly, in a crisis. I think we are all aware of that. 
The NDAA is going to set the tone for our defense strategy not just 
this year but well into the future.
  It is a message to our servicemembers, their families, and the world. 
Are we going to show Russia and China that we mean business? Are we 
going to help our military continue to rebuild? Are we going to give 
our All-Volunteer Force the equipment, training, and housing they need 
to do their job? That is why this bill provides a total of $750 billion 
in defense spending. It is what we call the defense top line. It is the 
minimum we need to restore the longstanding military's strength that we 
have seemingly lost.
  That is why this bill provides for it, and that is why the bottom 
line and the top line is the same thing. We have real growth in the 
defense budget each year. We have decided on this, technically, based 
on two sources, from the military before our committees and then, of 
course, the Commission report that says that in order to get our 
military back, we are going to have to have a net increase of 3 to 5 
percent, and that is what this $750 billion will do.
  This is also a direct recommendation from our military leadership; 
that $750 billion is the bare minimum we need to get to that goal. The 
committee has heard the same refrain from every service leader at 
posture hearings this year; that stable, ontime, adequate funding is 
their No. 1 priority.
  So the best thing we can do for our troops, it seems pretty clear to 
me, is that this should be our priority too. An important part of the 
whole equation is that we are spending this money responsibly. This is 
an across-the-board increase. The NDAA makes tough decisions to put 
funding where it was most needed and makes cuts in other places.
  We direct this funding to critical, bipartisan priorities: a pay 
increase for our troops, the largest in a decade; rebuilding a right-
sized force with the newest, most capable aircraft, ships, and 
equipment in the world; and modernizing our nuclear arsenal so it is 
strong and safe.
  During the last 5 years of the Obama administration, the amount of 
money we had to run our military was reduced by almost 25 percent. That 
was extremely harmful to our readiness and to our troop morale.
  Thanks to the Trump administration, that trajectory is changing. In 
fiscal year 2018, we increased funding back up to $700 billion, the 
largest year-over-year increase since the beginning of the War on 
Terror.
  In fiscal year 2019, we increased it again to $716 billion and got 
that funding out the door on time. This was really meaningful for our 
military, and I hope we can do it again this year.
  I commend Majority Leader McConnell and my colleagues who are still 
fighting for a budget deal. We have to raise the defense cap or exempt 
defense from the caps to give the military what they need to fight and 
win. We are on a path to recovery in our readiness rates. We are 
helping the military keep up with China and Russia. It is a different 
situation than we have ever been in before. We have severe competitors 
out there.
  Let me conclude that we are on our way right now. This is a major 
step. I want to also say, in working with Senator Reed, we have been 
together much more than we have been apart. We have been staying on top 
of this thing, and our combined tenacity has resulted in getting a bill 
done.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I commend the chairman for the bipartisan 
and thoughtful way he has approached this entire process of crafting 
the National Defense Authorization Act for this year. We had a very 
successful markup. The result was a strong bipartisan vote of 25 to 2 
on the committee. Subsequently, with our staff, we have done an 
extraordinary job. We have been able to include an additional 100 
amendments, on a bipartisan basis, to the substitute. So we have been 
able, I think, to respond to all of the concerns of our colleagues or 
very many of these concerns of our colleagues.
  The chairman has indicated some of the strengths of the bill. We have 
increased our operations and maintenance funding so our readiness 
stature and posture is increasing. One area, too, that I think is very 
important is the fundamental reform of privatized housing which was a 
real problem that we discovered. Again, the chairman led two very 
thorough hearings in which we had not only the operators but also the 
families who live there. The legislation before us contains significant 
improvements in the privatized family housing at the Department of 
Defense. That is something critically important.
  I, too, like the chairman, would like to see a very open amendment 
process so we can bring to the floor amendments that are important and 
linked to the national defense bill, have votes on these amendments, 
and then move forward.
  Let me just conclude my brief remarks by thanking the chairman for 
his leadership.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. The Senator from Oregon.

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