National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2010 - Conference Report

Floor Speech

National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2010 - Conference Report

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Mr. DODD. Madam President, I rise to speak about the fiscal year 2010 National Defense authorization bill. Although I believe this to be a flawed piece of legislation, I will support it because it provides critical resources, training, and equipment to our troops serving overseas. It adds 30,000 soldiers to our Army, lightening the strain of rigorous deployment cycles. And it provides a 3.4-percent pay raise for our men and women in uniform--not enough, in my view, but welcomed nonetheless. It also authorizes various facility upgrades for our troops, including $9 million to begin construction of an Air Operations Command Center at Bradley International Airport in my State of Connecticut. I commend my colleagues from Michigan and Arizona for their hard work on this bill.

I would also like to take a moment to offer my strong support to the hate crimes prevention amendment. I am also proud to be an original cosponsor of the underlying legislation, the Mathew Sheppard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007, and I only wish that my dear friend, the late Senator Kennedy, could be here with us today to see this topic that was so important to him, finally be considered for final passage. This legislation is truly historic and is long overdue. Hate crimes sow discord and threaten entire communities. They are a particularly virulent form of violence, and that is why a broad consensus supports reacting to crimes motivated by bias with swift investigations and strong penalties. However, the special nature of hate crimes often makes those investigations particularly difficult, especially for small, local police departments. Passage of the bill before us will bring more criminals to justice by making it easier for the federal government to assist the investigations of more crimes. I am extremely proud to support this provision.

Despite my strong support for this important provision and many others in this bill, I also have to note some serious reservations I have with some portions of the bill. First, this bill effectively kills our Nation's most advanced tactical aircraft program, the F-22 Raptor, without any plans for replacing it. Furthermore, it fails to authorize funding for any additional C-17 cargo aircraft, though these planes are critical for transporting troops and equipment. Worse, the bill restricts the Air Force from retiring the aging C-5 cargo fleet, planes that are now some 40 years old. Over the President's objection, this bill forces the Pentagon to maintain aging aircraft, imposing an unnecessary burden on our taxpayers and an unacceptable risk on our troops.

I am also disappointed by the inclusion of $560 million for the continued development of the F-136 Joint Strike Fighter alternate engine. This is wasted money, pure and simple. We are already developing an engine that our military supports--one build by the skilled workers at Pratt & Whitney. The Pratt engine has now accumulated more than 140 hours of flight tests without failure. Developing a second engine wastes billions of taxpayer dollars, money that could be better spent on things our troops actually need.

So this is not a perfect bill. But there will be an opportunity to address these issues in the upcoming Defense appropriations bill, during whose consideration the critical priorities I have outlined attained bipartisan support. I am optimistic that we will soon be considering legislation that invest in strategic airlift platforms like the C-17, as well as other important military needs. And I remain optimistic that my colleagues share my commitment to our critical aerospace priorities. This bill includes $2.5 billion to build 125 Blackhawk helicopters for the Army and Navy, aircraft that have proven invaluable in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, $92 million is authorized for a highly advanced wide area surveillance radar system, which will be built in Norwalk, CT, and which will prove critical for our forces' future ability to have precise and up-to-date intelligence of the battlefield. Similarly, $250 million is authorized to build new Pratt & Whitney engines for the Joint STARS radar aircraft that are widely used in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill also authorizes 18 F/A-18 fighter aircraft and 30 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, which marks the beginning of a long production run of these sophisticated jets.

This is good news for our military and good news for our economy. According to the Department of Labor, ``The aerospace industry is a powerful force within the U.S. economy and one of the nation's most competitive industries in the global marketplace. It contributes over 15 percent to our Gross Domestic Product and supports over 15 million high-quality American jobs.'' And, as I have stated before, my small State of Connecticut, which ranks 29th in the Nation in terms of total population, is 6th in aerospace employment. The workers at companies such as Pratt & Whitney, Hamilton Sundstrand, Sikorsky Aircraft, Goodrich, Norden Systems, Kaman, Aerogear, and hundreds of others work day in and day out to provide our troops with the highest quality equipment in the world. The billions of dollars of funding authorized in this bill is proof of our military's appreciation for their hard work.

Just as important as protecting our troops from the skies is protecting them when they are at sea. That is why funding authorized in this bill for the Virginia class submarine program is so important. The bill includes $4 billion to procure one submarine next year and to prepare to begin building two submarines per year in 2011. This boost in production will better equip our Navy to deliver Special Forces such as the SEALs without detection, launch precision missiles on a moment's notice, and intercept enemy signals unseen and unaffected by weather. This bill also authorizes $495 million to design the Ohio class replacement submarine, our next generation ballistic missile submarine. This bill confirms that submarines have and will continue to stealthily protect our country for decades to come.

There is no higher priority than our national defense. And the brave men and women who serve us overseas must have the resources they need to do their jobs. I will support this legislation because it does that. But I look forward to working with my colleagues to strengthen our approach to defense policy so that we can address some of the shortcomings of this bill as we consider further legislation in the weeks ahead.

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