Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, Congress has no greater responsibility than providing for a strong national defense and keeping American citizens safe.

The National Defense Authorization Act is one of the most important pieces of legislation to be considered by the U.S. Senate. It authorizes the weapons systems, programs, and resources that support the men and women who serve our country in the Armed Forces. For decades, it has been approved with strong, bipartisan support.

In my home State of Colorado, our military installations, including Fort Carson, the Air Force Academy, and Buckley, Peterson, and Schriever Air Force Bases, are on the cutting edge of readiness in protecting our national security. This legislation is foundational to their mission, their work, and our show of support for the military.

I thank Chairman Inhofe and Ranking Member Reed for their bipartisan leadership on the Senate Armed Services Committee and on the floor. The tremendous responsibility of providing for national defense cannot be overstated, and they have handled the process with respect and the seriousness that it deserves. The security of the United States should always be more important than any partisan politics, and I appreciate their commitment that they have placed on national defense above all else.

I also thank my colleagues for their bipartisan work on the National Defense Authorization Act. In working with them, I was able to achieve a number of great victories in amendments for Colorado and the Nation as well.

Senator Schatz and I have a bipartisan amendment that will improve the public alert system and allow military communities access to clean and safe drinking water, which was another amendment that we were able to work on.

I was able to work with Senator Toomey and Senator Van Hollen-- Senators from both sides of the aisle--to impose sanctions on the murderous North Korean regime.

We will also vote today to support a bipartisan effort that I authored that will encourage the U.S. Congress to stand with the people of Hong Kong and their democratic values while we urge Hong Kong's authorities to permanently withdraw their flawed extradition bill and support human rights in Hong Kong.

When one family member serves our country in uniform, the entire family serves. This legislation supports military families in Colorado and all over the world. It provides the largest pay increase in a decade for troops, and it continues to support military spouses. The NDAA addresses the challenges that servicemembers and their families face when they live in privatized housing, and it expands resources to address the PFAS water contamination in many of our military communities. This is an issue of life and health, and it matters greatly to the people of Colorado. I was pleased to work with my colleagues to continue addressing PFAS contamination.

Of course, in Colorado, we are proud to play a very key role in defending the United States. These installations that I talked about are critical to national security and supporting our operations in space. I am thrilled that this year's NDAA authorizes the U.S. Space Force so that the United States can remain a global leader in space and not fall behind China or any other foreign competitor.

Almost everything in today's age relies on space technology-- telecommunications, GPS, transportation logistics, precision agriculture, and, of course, the U.S. military. Establishing the U.S. Space Force will better organize the military to handle space operations and will put all military members who work in the space domain under the same organizational umbrella. Colorado is home to the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command, and it is the legacy home of the Air Force Space Command. As we establish the U.S. Space Force, Colorado is uniquely positioned to continue its support of our Nation's military operations in space and the mission set that space involves.

We cannot risk falling behind our foreign competitors in the second space age. In order to guarantee the safety and security of American citizens, we must maintain our leadership in space operations and defense. I urge my colleagues to support the National Defense Authorization Act, which supports defense operations across the globe and the brave women and men who serve in the U.S. military. I will always fight to protect and grow the presence of the U.S. military in Colorado and work to ensure that these bases, which are essential to both national security and Colorado communities, remain strong.

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