National Defense Authorization Bill

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. On another matter, Mr. President, last week, Secretary of Defense Mattis met with our NATO allies in Brussels. He offered an important reminder: ``Threats to our collective security have not waned.'' In other words, it remains a challenging time to defend our Nation, our interests, and our values.

Secretary Mattis has been consistent. Our new national defense strategy makes this clear. Though we face a constant threat from international terrorism, our Nation must also enhance our capabilities for a renewed era of international competition among great powers.

He, along with our senior military commanders, have shared this message with Congress time and again. They have detailed our servicemembers' pressing needs and explained the importance of steady resources in the face of evolving threats. We have heard them loud and clear.

Earlier this year, our bipartisan spending agreement eliminated harmful, arbitrary limits on defense spending and delivered the largest year-on-year increase in funding for our military in 15 years. Now it is time to build on this progress and pass our 58th annual Defense authorization bill.

This year's NDAA is rightfully named for our friend and colleague John McCain. It would authorize $716 billion to equip and train America's 21st century forces to meet and overcome today's challenges.

As the Iranian regime continues its aggressive efforts to expand its sphere of influence throughout the Middle East, this bill will empower our forces to support our strategic partnerships in the region.

As China continues testing the boundaries of its power in the Pacific region, the NDAA will extend the authority of the Indo-Pacific maritime security initiative and extend the reach and readiness of naval and air forces within the U.S. Pacific Command.

As Russia persists in its efforts to destabilize western democracies and sow doubt within NATO, the bill before us would enhance multilateral security cooperation throughout the alliance and give U.S. Cyber Command the resources to disrupt, deter, and defeat cyber aggression.

The legislation before us sends a clear message to our men and women in uniform. It tells them that we have their backs. After years of uncertain funding and arbitrary funding limits, we have their backs. In the face of diverse and evolving threats, we have their backs.

When I vote, I will do it to tell the brave Kentuckians serving at home and abroad that we have their backs. I hope that each of our colleagues will do the same.

This bill was crafted in a thorough, bipartisan committee process and was modified to include more than 40 amendments. I look forward to concluding our consideration and passing this NDAA very soon.

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