Ndaa

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, we shouldn't be here giving speeches about the National Defense Authorization Act. We should be here on the Senate floor voting on the National Defense Authorization Act.

Once again, as he has done year after year since I have been here, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is refusing to advance this critical bill to set the policy and funding levels for America's Armed Forces.

Washington's failure to move legislation forward is always frustrating, but the majority leader's refusal to act on the NDAA, a bill which passed with strong bipartisan support out of the Armed Services Committee more than a month ago, is more than frustrating; it is actually dangerous.

Every single day, our enemies--communist China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea--are actively working with one single goal in mind: to dominate the world stage by destroying the American way of life.

And without some of the good policy in the NDAA we passed out of committee a month ago becoming law, communist China has tools at its disposal to do great harm to our country.

Our country has fallen into a trap of dependence on our enemies--like communist China--for everything from drugs to food, and we have got to stop that today.

When the Senate fails to quickly advance the NDAA, as Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has done year after year, it sends a strong message to our enemies that military strength and cutting dependence on our enemies is not a priority for the U.S. Congress. It is dangerous and unacceptable to allow that message to go out to the world, especially as we watch war after war erupt around the globe thanks to the weakness and appeasement of the Biden-Harris administration.

I hope we can all come together and recognize that we cannot be depending on communist China for our medicine, technology, or food, especially if we are at war. The time is now to get serious about securing U.S. interests and decoupling our supply chains from communist China. As a body, we must demand action today.

I am a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, along with my colleague who is presiding, and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Personnel. So I know firsthand how much hard work has gone into crafting a good bill that is essential to maintaining America's military as the most lethal fighting force on the planet.

But this bill does so much more than that. The NDAA isn't simply a reauthorization of our military and support programs. This bill sets the policy that ensures America's Armed Forces are on the cutting edge of innovation to not just win wars but to deter threats from our enemies because they know they stand no chance of victory in a conflict with the United States.

Try as they might to project weakness, President Biden and Vice President Harris, thankfully, do not have a hand in crafting this legislation. Thank God that is the case.

Through the NDAA, we can ensure that the woke vision for the U.S. military that Biden and Harris wish for does not become reality. Nothing could be more important to protecting our Nation and our men and women in uniform than that. Unfortunately, I fear that is the exact reason why the majority leader continues to stall and refuses to bring this legislation to a vote on the Senate floor.

The NDAA also ensures our military families are taken care of as they make sacrifices each and every day to support our warfighters and keep America safe.

Much of that work is reflected in the big wins we have in this NDAA for my home State of Florida. The U.S. military is incredibly important to Florida. We are home to 21 military bases and 3 unified combatant commands, over 64,000 Active-Duty military, 38,000 reservists, and more than 1.5 million veterans.

For our servicemembers and their families, I fought aggressively in this NDAA to secure a 4.5 percent pay raise, along with many of my colleagues. We have continued our work to support military families and expand access to affordable, on-base childcare by securing $3 million for child development center construction in the Florida Panhandle.

We have also included language in the bill to eliminate disgusting Chinese garlic from our on-base grocery stores, so no family feeding their family through our on-base commissaries is forced to buy Chinese sewer garlic. Remember, Chinese-grown garlic is widely reported to be grown in human sewage, then bleached and harvested in abhorrent conditions, often with slave labor.

And with Russian warships recently 90 miles off our shores, communist China building a spy base in Cuba, and growing partnership between communist China, Russia, and Iran with Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, we made sure that Homestead Air Reserve Base in South Florida will continue to serve a critical mission for years to come and protect our Nation from the growing threats posed by our enemies in Latin America.

I am also proud to have personally fought for and secured big wins for the United States against communist China, including making sure the Department of Defense buys generic drugs made in the United States of America to cut dependence on our enemies for these essential medicines. We cannot continue to rely on enemies like communist China for essential medicines.

Through this NDAA, I am also fighting to stop the Department of Defense purchase of Chinese computers and printers, which pose a threat to our national security when connected to secure networks.

Passing this bill will prevent the DOD from procuring LiDAR technology for manned or unmanned systems from companies based in communist China unless granted explicit congressional approval.

It also supports research and development efforts to enhance the U.S. commercial, space-based LiDAR capabilities.

We will authorize a report on the operational value of the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, given the concerning relationship the Government of Qatar has with Hamas and other terrorist organizations, as well as its continuing hostility to the State of Israel and other U.S. interests.

And, thank God, one of the leaders of Hamas is not alive today.

And we will provide support for Israel, America's great ally and the only democracy in the Middle East, with U.S.-Israel counter-tunneling cooperation and an increase of $47.5 million for U.S.-Israel cooperation on emerging technology.

Madam President, the United States is at a critical moment where military strength is essential to preserving our national security and fending off the threats of tyranny and terrorism that are rising around the globe. This NDAA reflects what must be done to combat the threats posed by our enemies in communist China, Iran, and Russia; protect our allies and partners in Israel, the Philippines, and across Europe; and protect and grow our military strength in Florida, where we have massive defense assets that are critical to our national security.

A strong defense is key to protecting the freedoms that make America great. I will never lose sight of one of the most important roles I have as a U.S. Senator: to protect and serve the families of our great Nation. I look forward to working closely with my colleagues to make sure we are protecting our national security and investing in America's greatest asset: the men and women of our Armed Forces.

I want to thank Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Wicker, and all of my colleagues on the Armed Services Committee for their leadership on these important issues. I am proud of the work we have done and again call for Majority Leader Schumer to stop stalling now and put this bill on the floor today.

We cannot afford to send any signal of weakness at this time of growing threats and instability around the globe.

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