National Defense Authorization Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I voted against the motions to proceed and invoke cloture on overriding the President's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 because, at this time of national crisis, the Senate's first order of business should be getting more relief to struggling American families. That means the Senate should have held a clean up-or-down vote on the House-passed measure to increase the amount of the individual stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000. The Senate could have easily passed both the additional payments and completed the business of the NDAA veto override this week had Senator McConnell and the GOP majority been willing to do so. Given the President's purported support of this relief, it could have been signed into law this week. But instead of delivering this additional help to struggling American families, the Republican majority repeatedly blocked requests to pass the additional relief by unanimous consent and refused to schedule an up-or-down vote.

That said, I support the underlying National Defense Authorization Act. The President's veto of this legislation put at risk a number of important measures, including a pay raise for our troops; critical investments for Maryland's military installations; a process to rename those military facilities that bear the names of individuals who fought with the Confederacy to preserve slavery; limits on the transfer of military equipment to local police forces; and support for key national security priorities. While the NDAA bill is not perfect and includes a number of provisions I oppose, on balance it is an important measure for our country. That is why I voted for it in the first place and why I voted in favor of overriding the President's veto.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source