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Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, today the Senate has the opportunity to begin consideration of an appropriations bill that is vital to our national defense and to the well-being of the brave men and women who serve in our Armed Forces.

The fiscal year 2026 Defense appropriations bill would provide U.S. military services with the funding needed to deter China and Russia, to support our servicemembers and their families, and to strengthen the defense industrial base.

The bill would remove the uncertainty that our American troops face about when they will be paid because of the needless and reckless government shutdown that Leader Schumer has directed.

I would point out that passing a continuing resolution, as we have tried to do 10 times now, would also remove the cloud of uncertainty hanging over military paychecks.

In July, as the Presiding Officer is well aware, the Appropriations Committee advanced the Senate version of the Defense appropriations bill by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 26 to 3.

The Senate version addresses major funding gaps across the board. It would invest in shipbuilding, including providing a critical downpayment toward an additional DDG 51, the workhorse of the U.S. service fleet, along with investments in additional Columbia- and Virginia-class submarines.

It would expand critical munitions production, including air and missile defense interceptors, long-range missiles, and next-generation hypersonic weapons developed by our most innovative firms.

It would fund drone and counterdrone technologies, which are increasingly changing the nature of the battlefield, as we have seen in both Ukraine and Israel. And it would sustain security cooperation with close allies and partners whose growing defense capabilities are force multipliers for the United States and contribute to the deterrence of shared adversaries.

Finally, this bill would invest in our most precious asset: the courageous, dedicated, patriotic men and women of our Armed Forces. It shows our continuing commitment to their readiness, well-being, and mission success.

Let me commend the leadership--the outstanding leadership--of subcommittee chairman Mitch McConnell and ranking member Chris Coons for their hard work on this bill. I also want to thank majority leader John Thune for his commitment to bringing fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills to the Senate floor.

This is such a welcomed change compared to last year when then- majority leader Senator Schumer refused to bring a single one of the 12 annual appropriations bills to the Senate floor for consideration.

I want to note for my colleagues that the Senate version of the Defense bill was put together with input from 94 of our Senate colleagues who submitted more than 5,800 requests to the committee for our careful consideration.

For all of these reasons, I urge my colleagues to allow us to proceed to the consideration of the fiscal year 2026 Defense funding bill. We want this to be an open process, with an opportunity to add additional bipartisan bills that address vital domestic priorities, including biomedical and scientific research and infrastructure, and we want Members to have a voice in the funding decisions that affect all of our States and constituents back home. That is the approach that we took in committee. That is the approach that we want to take on the Senate floor.

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