Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Madam President, our most fundamental responsibility as Members of Congress is to provide for our Nation's defense, and a big part of that is ensuring that our men and women in uniform have the resources they need to defend our country. That means, of course, that we have to ensure that our military receives adequate funding to meet today's priorities and to prepare for the threats of tomorrow. It also means we need to ensure that our military receives timely funding.

Our military doesn't just need sufficient funding to cover defense priorities; it also needs to receive that money on time, on a predictable schedule. That means passing the Defense appropriations bill before the end of each fiscal year instead of forcing the military to rely on temporary funding measures that leave the military in doubt about funding levels and unable to start important new projects.

Right now, we are almost 2 full months into the 2020 fiscal year. We should have passed the Defense appropriations bill by the end of September, but we didn't because, unfortunately, our Democratic colleagues were unable to resist the chance to pick yet another fight with the President. This wasn't supposed to happen. At the end of the summer, the congressional leaders of both parties and the President reached an agreement on funding levels for 2020 and 2021. The leaders also agreed on a number of guidelines for appropriations bills, including a ban on poison pills intended to derail appropriations legislation. The idea behind this agreement was to pave the way for the timely passage of appropriations bills and to prevent the kind of situation we are in right now--almost 2 months behind on passing defense and other funding. Unfortunately, the Democrats chose to renege on this agreement.

The Senate Democrats are currently holding up defense funding by insisting on the type of poison pills they promised to forgo just a few months ago. The leader has attempted to bring up the Defense appropriations bill twice, and both times the Senate Democrats have filibustered the legislation. It is deeply disappointing. I understand that my Democratic colleagues are looking for any opportunity to pick a fight with the President, but funding for our men and women in uniform should not be subjected to the Democrats' partisan whims.

Thanks to the Democrats, right now, our military is operating under a continuing resolution that leaves the military short of the funding it needs for the 2020 fiscal year. That has real consequences. In addition to leaving the military underfunded, a continuing resolution prevents the military from starting key projects that will help to ensure our men and women in uniform will be prepared to meet the threats of the future. The Pentagon can't start new procurement projects. New research and development initiatives that keep us a step ahead of our adversaries are put on hold. All told, under a continuing resolution, the military's purchasing power is reduced by, roughly, $5 billion each quarter.

To put that in perspective, that is the equivalent of losing out on about 56 Joint Strike Fighter planes, depending on the variant, every 3 months. That $5 billion the Pentagon is going without is urgently needed funding for critical military priorities. The longer the Pentagon goes without this funding, the greater the consequences for our military preparedness.

Playing politics with our national defense is unacceptable. We owe our men and women in uniform timely, reliable, and adequate defense funding, and we owe every man, woman, and child in the United States the same thing. The safety of every person in this country depends on the strength of our military. I hope that at least some of my Democratic colleagues will see their way to joining the Republicans in getting this year's Defense appropriations bill to the President's desk. It is time to get our men and women in uniform the funding that they need and that they deserve.

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