Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, for several weeks, negotiations have been ongoing on a multitude of controversial provisions relating to the omnibus. While those debates were raging in different parts of the Capitol, work on the Defense appropriations bill continued quietly and efficiently.

I believe many Americans would be surprised to know about the exemplary level of bipartisanship that went into crafting this legislation, which provides the funding to take care of the women and men serving our country in uniform.

This bill provides for the pay and benefits of each member of the Armed Forces, equips them with the tools they need, and develops the next generation of technology to improve our national security.

Neither the chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Cochran, nor I got everything we wanted out of this bill. Tough decisions had to be made.

Chairman Cochran supported a number of my suggestions for the bill, we worked together on others, and we disagreed on a few. The end result is a good bill that meets the needs of our national security.

The Defense appropriations bill provides all the needed resources for ongoing military operations, including the funds requested by the President to carry out anti-ISIL operations in Syria and Iraq.

It adds $1.2 billion to the request to account for maintaining a larger presence in Afghanistan through 2016. And because the situation in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq is so fluid, it includes additional OCO reprogramming authority--a total of $4.5 billion--to respond to unexpected events.

We also maintain robust funding for intelligence collection on traditional and nontraditional threats to this country, so that our Nation can continue to be a step ahead of threats to Americans and our allies.

The DOD has a long history of scientific innovation for the purpose of keeping our troops safe and providing an edge over our adversaries. We also know that millions of Americans who have never served in uniform often benefit from these defense breakthroughs. This bill provides a total of $1.94 billion for DOD medical research programs, which is 5 percent real growth over last year's funding level.

The medical research funding in this bill is directed toward competition, whether it is the $667 million in core research funding, the $278 million in the Peer-Reviewed Medical Research Program, the $120 million for breast cancer research, or the variety of other research programs provided in the legislation.

I have heard criticism that medical research doesn't belong in a defense bill.

Defense medical research is relatively small--NIH research funding is 15 times larger--but DOD has made important breakthroughs that help servicemembers, their families, and all Americans.

As one example, Army researchers have developed E75, a vaccine that cuts in half the chance that breast cancer will return. Women around the country benefited from that breakthrough, including those in uniform and those in military families seeking care at DOD hospitals.

The bill also provides $2.3 billion for nonmedical basic research, a $220 million increase over the President's request. These funds help expand our knowledge of the universe in a variety of disciplines and may eventually lead to the next technology breakthrough that will enrich our lives.

The bill includes $487 million for U.S.-Israeli cooperative missile defense programs, fully funding the request from the Government of Israel.

We provide for a strong stand against Russian aggression in Europe. The European Reassurance Initiative, which increases U.S. troop presence and training in more than a dozen countries, is fully funded. An additional $250 million is provided for lethal and nonlethal aid to the Ukraine security services. The bill also includes $412 million to fully fund upgrades to the Army's Stryker fleet because of the threat from Russia.

However, the agreement takes a more cautious view of DOD's program to train the Syrian opposition. It is one of many programs for which the Department can request funds by reprogramming from the Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund. This process improves congressional oversight as well as places the onus on DOD to justify further expenses for the Syrian training program.

The bill includes a long list of increases to defense programs that were underfunded in the President's request. These programs are essential to maintaining the military advantage against our opponents and also support a strong and stable defense industrial base.

Some of the highlights include: $1 billion for an additional DDG-51 destroyer, 12 additional F-18 aircraft, 11 additional F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, $300 million for the Navy's UCLASS drone, sufficient funding to keep the A-10 operating for another year, and $1 billion for the National Guard and Reserve Equipment Account.

Finally, the bill includes a provision to guarantee competition for the launch of DOD satellites. I have studied the history of DOD's space launch programs, and it is a testament to how poor oversight leads to taxpayers being stuck with an expensive bill.

In the mid-2000s, United Launch Alliance gained a monopoly on satellite launches. Over a few short years, the cost of its rockets escalated by 65 percent. Just this year, SpaceX was certified to compete against ULA. These competitions have barely begun, and already we are seeing large savings in launch costs. But provisions in the Defense Authorization Act are threatening to create a new launch monopoly, this time with SpaceX in charge.

The issue is that ULA uses a Russian rocket engine, and a new American-made engine will not be ready to compete until 2022. During that time, DOD wants to compete 37 launches, but under Defense authorization bills, ULA is only allowed to win four of those contracts.

We all want to eliminate reliance on Russian engines. This bill adds $144 million to make a new U.S.-built rocket a reality as soon as possible.

I must remind Senators that NASA and NOAA are not restricted from using Russian engines for its satellites. Why should we agree to a double standard--a looming monopoly for national security space launches but full and open competition for scientific missions?

The provision in this bill simply guarantees that the Air Force for the next year will live under the same rules as NASA and NOAA, while a new American-made rocket is developed and will hopefully be ready in 2022.

This large and complex bill amounts to half of the discretionary budget of the United States. It is essential to our national security, and this bill improves on DOD's budget proposals in many ways.

Once again, I would like to thank my friend, Chairman Cochran, for his steady hand in moving this legislation forward in a constructive and bipartisan manner. The Defense Subcommittee has a long history of strong partnerships, and I am pleased that this tradition carries on today.

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