Conference Report on S. 2943, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to bring to the House the conference report for the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. Once the President signs this measure into law, it will be the 55th consecutive year in which Congresses of both parties and Presidents of both parties have enacted a defense authorization bill.

I want to start by thanking the distinguished gentleman from Washington, Ranking Member Smith. Not only has he focused on what is good for the troops and good for the country in this bill, that has been his focus throughout this Congress. It has certainly been my pleasure to work with him toward that end. We do not always agree on what is good for the troops and what is good for the country, but we always agree that that comes first. Our work together has certainly been productive, and I appreciate that opportunity.

Ranking Member Smith and I have a terrific team on the Armed Services Committee; 63 outstanding members, all of whom have contributed to this product. I certainly appreciate the contributions they have made that have made such a large bill possible.

Mr. Speaker, this bill does good things for the men and women who serve our Nation in the military, and it supports our country's national security. I want to just touch on a few of the highlights, starting with the fact that this bill authorizes spending of $3.2 billion more than the President has requested. Now, that is not nearly enough, and my great hope is that the new incoming administration will submit to Congress a supplemental request that can really get about the job of rebuilding the military, which is so essential.

The $3.2 billion, in addition to what the President has requested, is focused on people; and that is exactly what the primary focus of this bill is. So, for example, it provides the full pay raise to which the troops are statutorily entitled for the first time in 6 years; that is in this bill. It stops the layoffs of military personnel, which have been going on, and, at least, prevents it from getting any worse.

It starts to stabilize the readiness problems that are making it more and more difficult for our troops to accomplish their mission and increasingly represents a danger to their lives.

It improves the military healthcare system for the benefit of our troops and their families so that they will have a more consistent experience, that they will get better care, more convenient hours, and a number of things that are in this bill.

In addition to the reforms related to military health care, there are a number of very significant reforms in other areas. For example, in acquisition, we try to make sure that not only we get more value for the taxpayer dollars but that we are more agile in being able to get new technology into the hands of the warfighters faster.
We have commissary reform, which maintains the benefit but reduces the burden on the taxpayers.
We have the first comprehensive rewrite of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in 30 years, and that is a big part of the reason that this bill is the size that it is.

We have organizational reform that streamlines the bureaucracy and helps reduce the overhead so more resources can go to the front lines.

There are many items in this bill, Mr. Speaker, from replenishing munitions of which we have shortages to dealing with the California National Guard repayment issue that has come up in recent weeks.
Other speakers will give more detail about many of those provisions.

I just want to take this moment, first, to thank the staff on both sides of the aisle for their work in producing this product. We have a unified staff on the Armed Services Committee. We work together to solve problems. And through the ups and downs of the political calendar and all of the other issues that impact our bill, they have done a terrific job in getting us to this point and have served the Nation by doing so. I want to express my appreciation to staff on both sides for that work.

Finally, I also want to pay tribute to the members of our committee who will not be with us in the next Congress for a variety of reasons.

They include the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Forbes), the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller), the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kline), the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Fleming), the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gibson), the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Heck), the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Nugent), the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Loretta Sanchez), the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Duckworth), the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Graham), and the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Ashford).

I particularly want to thank Subcommittee Chairman Randy Forbes, Subcommittee Chairman Joe Heck, and Ranking Member Loretta Sanchez for their leadership and years of contributions to the military of our country. We will miss them.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I want to reiterate the importance of this issue to House majority conferees. For many years, organizations of faith have been able to both contract with the Federal Government and hire according to their faith practices. That has been especially true with religious universities, chaplain services, and refugee service providers; yet executive action under the current administration has created a direct conflict between the White House policy and these longstanding legal protections for these organizations' religious tenets.

While the NDAA was always an imperfect vehicle for this discussion, majority conferees believe that these executive orders must be reviewed; and we look forward to working directly with the incoming administration to address the concerns, not just for DOD, but for the government nationwide.
I certainly appreciate the leadership of the gentlewoman from Missouri on these very issues.

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Mr. THORNBERRY. First, I want to thank the distinguished ranking member of the Readiness Subcommittee for her hospitality. I learned a lot about the issue that she raises during my recent visit to Guam. I understand the workforce issues there much better, as well as the unacceptable impacts it is already having on our military activity on Guam.

Our strategic presence there, Mr. Speaker, and the U.S. Marine realignment are critical national security interests, and this issue must be addressed soon. We need to ensure an adequate workforce is available to support the current military presence, as well as the activity associated with the increase to come; and I look forward to continuing to work with the gentlewoman from Guam and with the Members on the other side of the Capitol to find an acceptable solution in the coming year.

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Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with the distinguished ranking member that to produce this bill requires a great deal of effort by a number of people, starting with him, other members of the committee, and other Members of the House. It is also essential that our staff, who support our work, be thanked, and he has done a great job of doing that.

I agree with him also about the leadership of Senator John McCain, a man who, I think, is unique in the country's military history at this point. His leadership, along with the ranking member, Senator Jack Reed, has been obviously essential, not only in this bill but in Congress being able to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities.

I know there are disappointments with this bill, Mr. Speaker. There are things that people would like to see in here, a lot of them not really core defense issues, but those matters had to be dropped to get this bill to this point.

I am confident that the new administration will review the executive orders that the ranking member was talking about and that those unconstitutional restrictions on the First Amendment will be reviewed, modified, or repealed. All of that facilitated getting this bill before us today.

I am also hopeful that the new administration will send us a supplemental request, because there are desperately needed modernization items from ships, airplanes, munitions, and other things that are not authorized in this bill but are needed desperately by our troops. So I hope--and I expect--that we will do better in the coming year to, again, fulfill our responsibilities under the Constitution.

Mr. Speaker, I would just end with this: I believe the first job of the Federal Government is to defend the country. The Constitution puts specific responsibilities on our shoulders to raise, support, provide, and maintain the military forces of the United States. The most important part of that responsibility deals with the people, and this bill, if it is nothing else, supports the men and women who volunteer to risk their lives to defend us and protect our freedoms. For that reason alone, it deserves the support of every Member of the House. I hope it will receive that support.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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