National Defense Authorization Bill

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the men and women who sign up to defend our Nation don't ask for much, but our Nation certainly asks a lot of them. They sacrifice on our behalf every day. They deserve the kind of support that the National Defense Authorization Act before us can provide. It will honor commitments to veterans, servicemembers, and their families. It will authorize raises, support Wounded Warriors, and improve military benefits and health care. We need to pass it. The Democratic leader needs to stop preventing us from doing so.

Yesterday in his opening remarks, he claimed he was holding up the bill because he hadn't had the chance to read it--then talked about a new book he is reading.

Today in his opening remarks he will surely make more excuses for Democrats not to do their jobs--then head to a press conference titled ``Do Your Job.''

You can't make this stuff up. But it is not funny.

Look, we get it. Democrats want to run TV ads claiming the Senate can't get anything done. They know that is a really tough sell. They know the only chance to make it work is by slow-walking bills they actually support.

Democrats don't actually want to be on record opposing our troops before Memorial Day, so they support the bill in public then bog it down in private and cover with one embarrassing excuse after the next: We haven't read it. It was written in secret. The dog ate it. It is just embarrassing.

As the chairman of the Armed Services Committee said, ``We need to move forward with this legislation. We need to move forward with it now, for the sake of our men and women who are serving and defending this Nation and putting their lives on the line.'' He is right.

So here is an idea. How about Democrats skip talking about doing their jobs at a press conference and actually do their jobs instead? They can follow the lead of this Republican majority--a majority that continues to do its job--and show how important things can be accomplished for the American people as a result. So no more needless delays, no more embarrassing excuses, and no more blocking benefits for the men and women of our military. Let's work together to get this done. We have already seen what is possible in the Republican-led Senate when we do.

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