National Defense Authorization Act

Floor Speech

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I appreciate the courtesy of the
Presiding Officer in the Chamber in allowing me to speak this late in
the day about issues that are vital to our national defense, which will
be addressed tomorrow and during the course of the week in votes on the
National Defense Authorization Act.

The task before the Senate in the National Defense Authorization Act
is nothing less than to craft a sustainable, long-term strategy to
defend America. In fact, it is to sustain our global leadership in a
time of shifting alliances, significant challenges, and emerging
threats, while bringing a long-term balance and sustainability to our
military.

This defense measure is a solid start, but it must be made stronger
to better meet the needs of our military men and women and our Nation
as we enter this supremely perilous time. The danger to America has
never been greater. Our foes have never been more insidious and
pernicious, and many of the States opposing us have never been more
willing to take measures that fundamentally contravene not only our
security but our sense of moral right and wrong.

I approach the National Defense Authorization Act with this principle
in mind. Neither the United States nor our troops, nor anyone involved
in our national defense should ever face a fair fight. Our men and
women in uniform should never be challenged in the air, on the sea or
on land with a fair fight. It should be one-sided and in our favor.
That is the basic principle. We must be superior in our military Armed
Forces.

I am grateful to the chairman of our committee, Senator McCain of
Arizona, an extraordinarily distinguished veteran and a partner in a
number of amendments to this measure, and to the ranking member Senator
Jack Reed, also a public servant of extraordinary distinction and a
veteran. I am grateful for their leadership in bringing us to this
point on a bill that attracted bipartisan support--overwhelming
support--on the Armed Services Committee, where I am privileged to
serve.

The provisions in this bill will enable us to remain the strongest
country militarily in the world. At the end of the day, our values, our
way of life, and our democracy give us our real strength, but the
military is necessary to defend those values and our quality and way of
life. The military defends our values and traditions and our
fundamental rights and liberties, which we worked hard last week to
uphold in the USA FREEDOM Act.

I have filed a number of amendments that underscore the need for
continuing improvement in this bill. They are forward-looking
amendments. One of them would modernize the National Guard's helicopter
fleet by providing vital capabilities for the military as well as the
sustainability and growth for Connecticut's dedicated defense industry.

To protect our heroes in uniform, I have also proposed an amendment
that would provide stronger legal tools against predatory lending and
other abuses targeting our military men and women nearby the very bases
they are stationed.

Mr. President, I refer my colleagues to these two amendments, Nos.
1820 and 1564.

I also joined Ranking Member Reed in cosponsoring his amendment,
which will set forth a responsible and sustainable budget strategy by
ending sequestration in our military budget and allowing us to ensure
that all of our Nation's key security priorities are addressed.

Tomorrow, this body will vote on that amendment. It is a critical
vote. It allows us to choose sides as to whether we will put close to
$40 billion, in effect, on our national debt rather than in our budget
or on our credit card rather than find a sustainable means to pay for
it. Each of us will have to decide whether we want to end
sequestration, which I am committed to ending, or instead whether we
will continue sequestration-and the very real harm it imposes on our
nation-by putting an extra $40 billion in the overseas contingent
operations account known as OCO. Sequestration cannot be allowed to
become a permanent fixture. We must work together in a bipartisan
manner to end it.

In my time in the U.S. Senate, I have fought for our national defense
funding because I believe our troops in harm's way deserve our full,
uncompromising, unyielding, and unstinting support. We owe them the
best equipment, the best training and supplies, as well as the best
institutional support and health care that the world has to offer
because they are the best fighting force that our world has ever seen.
They fight for a nation that is the best, strongest, and greatest in
the history of the world--not only in its military strength but in its
fundamental values and freedom that allow us to speak as we wish in
this very Chamber, to criticize authority, to speak truth to those in
power, to debate, to come together, as we did this past weekend to
worship and gather together and say whatever we please and think as we
wish.

I hope we will address this vital interest in making sure we provide
a sustainable source of funding by ending sequestration rather than
relying on the overseas contingency operation account, which is a form
of borrowing. It increases the deficit; it doesn't reduce it. It
diminishes stable and sustainable funding; it doesn't enhance it. It
simply provides more uncertainty rather than a long-term strategy.

This measure, which I support, enhances our security by providing for
the construction of Virginia-class submarines--that are necessary. In
fact, the NDAA provides $800 million in additional funding over what
the President requested, and it endorses equipping all future attack
submarines within an enhanced payload capability.

Naval warfare, and particularly undersea warfare, is as relevant and
important now as it ever was, and these submarines will do much to
enhance our readiness, our nuclear deterrence, our special operations,
and our surveillance. They are the stealthiest, strongest weapons
platform under the sea ever known to man. Likewise, the research and
development in the Ohio replacement program will continue to go
forward.

The bill provides for $1 billion for six additional Joint Strike
Fighter aircraft for the Marine Corps--this is profoundly significant--
as well as $17 million in new military construction for the Connecticut
National Guard.

There are other measures, but apart from the hard work is an
important step for fairness and keeping faith and dealing fairly with
our men and women in uniform. This legislation provides for a 1.3
percent pay raise and $85 million to be directed toward improving
financial literacy among our servicemembers. That is really the very
least we can do.

Our military men and women do not do this for the pay or the
financial compensation, but for their families' sake, we need to deal
with them fairly and keep faith with them. In my role as ranking member
of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, I have paid special attention to
ensuring that this bill helps to ease the transition of military
personnel into civilian life by establishing a new ``Record of
Service'' card upon their separation that will help prevent identity
theft and financial fraud. I urge the DOD, as does the Armed Services
Committee, to discontinue its use of Social Security numbers on
military records. It will help prevent identity theft and the kinds of
breaches that put our servicemen and their families at risk
financially, just as they are often at risk physically in combat.

The bill also directs DOD to stem the tide of opioid prescription
drug abuse, and it helps military retirees get smoking cessation
assistance. I would go further and provide for stronger measures to
deal with over-prescription through education programs and drug
formularies that provide alternatives, and that is one of the
amendments I will offer.

Finally, two principal amendments I propose are an amendment to
provide additional helicopters for the Army National Guard, which I
will speak on now and seek to make pending at a later point, and an
amendment improving consumer protections for military personnel and
their families, which is currently pending.

First, we can greatly strengthen this bill by making a commitment to
our National Guard to provide additional helicopters. The UH-60 Black
Hawk helicopter is one of the most versatile and heavily used aviation
capabilities in the Army National Guard, as well as by all the states
in which they serve. The UH-60A is the oldest model Black Hawk in
service and is currently flown almost exclusively by the Army National
Guard.

We can strengthen this bill by fulfilling our commitment to the
National Guard in providing 15 additional UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters
that are the workhorse of our warriors who serve in our National Guard,
warriors who have distinguished themselves not only in combat but also
in emergencies and disasters at home. These helicopters will help them
serve at home and abroad, which is one of the reasons that acquiring
more of these helicopters, M model Black Hawks, are one of the
priorities of the National Guard Association.

I have listened to the National Guard leaders in Connecticut, and I
have listened to distinguished warriors and veterans of the National
Guard from around the country, and I know these UH-60 Black Hawks are
the workhorses. They are important in medium-lift capability to the
National Guard in support of homeland defense and response to
emergencies. The UH-60A models now lack onboard capabilities--modern
capabilities that would enable them to be deployed overseas in hostile
environments without significant upgrades to others parts of their
configuration. They need that upgrade to be configured properly. The
new aircraft would flow to states all across the country and ensure the
National Guard is ready to deploy both at home and abroad.

Under the Army's current budget projections, the Army National Guard
will not replace their aging UH-60A Black Hawk helicopters until 2025.
We need to do better, we need to do it more promptly, and that is why I
am proposing amendment No. 1820.

The amendment is fully paid for by an offset from the Foreign
Currency Fund. The upside of a strengthening American dollar is that
the Army can put more funds towards buying American helicopters and
spend less in foreign currency expenses.

The other principal amendment, which I have made pending to the bill,
improves the consumer protections afforded to our servicemembers and
their families by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. On the
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, penalties, quite bluntly, are too low,
and that is why I wish to thank my colleagues Ranking Member Reed as
well as Senators Durbin, Murray, and Whitehouse, all of whom have been
working tirelessly and have joined me in proposing stronger protections
in the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act by doubling the penalties and
making them as high as $110,000 for a first violation and $220,000 for
a second or subsequent violation. This legislation provides deterrents,
punishment, and a stop to this kind of financial abuse that may take
place, literally, within sight of military bases.

Recently, the Department of Justice used this authority to obtain a
civil penalty against Capital One and Sallie Mae. We have seen
financial abuse by Capital One, when it foreclosed improperly on
servicemembers' homes. These practices can include these kinds of
abuses involving foreclosure and other kinds of exploitation which
Sallie Mae, unfortunately, engaged in. ``Federal
law protects our servicemembers from having to repay loans under terms
that are unaffordable or unfair.'' Student lender Sallie Mae
sidestepped requirements by charging excessive rates to borrowers who
filed documents proving they were members of the U.S. military. For
over a decade Sallie Mae violated SCRA by failing to provide over
60,000 military servicemembers with the 6 percent interest rate cap
they were entitled to on their student loans. This type of conduct is
more than just inappropriate, it is inexcusable, and it will not be
tolerated.

In addition, my colleagues have been working to make other important
improvements to the SCRA. For example, Senator Reed has worked
tirelessly to ensure servicemembers can terminate leases on rental
properties without early termination fees if they are assigned to, or
relocate to, government quarters. Senator Whitehouse has sought to make
permanent a one-year post service protection from foreclosure for
returning servicemembers and Senator Durbin has been fighting to make
sure our servicemembers with student loan debt can take advantage of
the protections of the SCRA. I appreciate my colleagues tireless
advocacy and look forward to working together to advance these
important provisions.

I ask my colleagues to join me in voting for Senator Reed's amendment
tomorrow. We face critical decisions ahead. This measure has
extraordinary merit. We must keep faith with those who serve, and I
hope we will when we vote this week on the National Defense
Authorization Act.

I thank the Presiding Officer.

I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source