Fy2021 National Defense Authorization Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to express my support for the National Defense Authorization Act, which passed the Senate today with strong bipartisan support, and to highlight a number of its important provisions, as well as amendments that I have authored to support robust shipbuilding and to ensure the Navy is prepared for future pandemics.

The NDAA represents one of Congress's most important responsibilities. For the past 59 consecutive years, Congress has come together in a bipartisan manner to craft this annual legislation. The NDAA authorizes funding to support our brave military members serving overseas, including a 3 percent pay raise for our troops in this year's bill, and sets policy for our Nation's military and critical national defense priorities. I commend Chairman Inhofe and Ranking Member Reed for their leadership and bipartisan work on this important legislation, which contains many provisions important to Maine and the Nation. Let me emphasize how proud I am of Maine's many contributions to our national defense.

I am pleased that the NDAA includes authorization for two Arleigh- Burke destroyers, one of which will be built by the highly skilled men and women at Bath Iron Works. In Maine, we are very proud of the vital role that Bath Iron Works plays in contributing to our national security. BIW is known throughout the fleet for the high-quality of its ships, proving time and again that ``Bath Built is Best Built.''

To ensure we have the ships we need to provide for a strong national defense, the bill also contains an amendment I authored with Senator King as my cosponsor, which would prohibit the Navy from reducing the current 104-ship destroyer requirement unless the Secretary submits a formal certification and report to Congress justifying such a change. This process would require the Secretary of the Navy to certify that any proposed reductions in the number of ships would not jeopardize our national security and that the Navy would be able to mitigate any reduction in anti-air and ballistic missile defense capabilities if the number of DDG-51 destroyers were in fact reduced from current plans. My intention is to ensure that we continue to maintain a strong Navy capable of projecting power and maintaining presence anywhere across the globe.

In January, when news began to leak that the Department's budget request would dramatically reduce procurement of DDG-51's in the 5-year budget plan, I sent a letter to Defense Secretary Esper expressing my strong objections. To date, the Navy has still not adequately justified such deep cuts in ship procurement, which would have devastating effects on our defense industrial base, including our private shipyards. This amendment and this bill will help to protect our shipbuilding industrial base, which will be essential to reach the goal of a 355-ship Navy.

This bill also includes important provisions for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery. The NDAA authorizes $160 million for the first phase of funding for PNSY's Multi-Mission Dry Dock No. 1 extension military construction project, which will be authorized and funded over 3 years due to its large size. This project will ensure our Nation's submarines stay well maintained and at sea for years to come.

In addition, the NDAA contains provisions I championed along with Senator Shaheen, which will help our PNSY firefighters develop alternative work schedules and exempt public shipyard workers from DOD's government lodging program when it would adversely affect their mission.

In further support of both our public and private shipyards, the bill also includes an amendment I authored that directs the Navy to report on its plans to prevent and mitigate the impacts of future pandemics, including at private and public shipyards, by focusing on the health and safety of the shipyard workers. Amidst the current COVID-19 pandemic, I led a number of bipartisan letters from the Maine delegation and spoke with the Secretary of the Navy to encourage the Department to do more to protect our shipyard workers' health and safety. My amendment continues that effort, and I again thank Chairman Inhofe and Ranking Member Reed for adopting it as part of their substitute amendment.

This NDAA also makes continued investments in America's air power, authorizing 95 fifth-generation Joint Strike Fighter aircraft and seven CH-53K King Stallion helicopters. The workers at Pratt & Whitney's North Berwick factory are proud of their contributions in making the F- 35's top-of-line engine the best in the sky, and Hunting Dearborn in Fryberg has been making important contributions to both the F-35 and CH-53K programs for years.

The NDAA also provides important authorizations for the Maine National Guard, including a provision ensuring that Maine Guard members who were activated to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic can receive transitional health benefits. The Maine National Guard has done a phenomenal job supporting our State during the health crisis, taking on tasks such as fit-testing healthcare workers for N95 masks, helping the Maine CDC inventory its supplies and deliver PPE and ventilators across the State, and setting up an external triage tent outside of the Togus VA Medical Center.

This bill also provides authorization for an important perimeter security construction project at the Navy's detachment in Cutler, Maine, which will ensure the security of an important installation that allows Navy commanders to communicate with U.S. and NATO ships, planes, and submarines operating in the Atlantic. This project was the Navy's No. 1 unfunded military construction priority.

There are so many other provisions of this bill that I am proud to support. Just to identify a few, the United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2020, which I cosponsored, was incorporated into the bill and would authorize important security assistance, energy and agricultural cooperation, and provide other authorities to support our steadfast ally Israel.

Another amendment I offered which was incorporated into the bill would require DOD to study its military requirements for negative air pressure room containment systems which are used to isolate patients with contagious illnesses, necessary equipment I believe is essential for DOD to successfully combat and contain future pandemics.

The bill also authorizes the creation of a new Pacific Deterrence Initiative to provide increased security assistance and engagement throughout the Indo-Pacific region in response to an increasingly aggressive Chinese Communist Party.

Enactment of this NDAA is vitally important for the security of our Nation, our servicemembers and their families. I look forward to the Senate's conference with the House and quickly sending the final fiscal year 2021 NDAA to the President's desk.

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