Senate Floor Speech on the NDAA for FY 2014 - 11/21/2013 3:53 p.m.

Floor Speech

The Presiding Officer: The senator from Michigan.

Mr. Levin: Madam President, we will soon vote on whether to invoke cloture on S. 1197, the National Defense Authorization Act. This bill was reported out of the Armed Services Committee with a strong bipartisan vote of 23-3. We have enacted a national defense authorization act every year for more than 50 years. It is critically important that we do so this year.

We spent all day yesterday debating two amendments, addressing sexual assault in the military, but we have not been allowed to vote on them. There was objection on the other side to voting even on those two amendments, which have now been fully debated. We were told that senators wouldn't let us vote on the sexual assault amendments because they were afraid that those would be the only votes. We offered to lock in additional amendments, six for Democrats, six for Republicans. That got an objection. Staff had built up a clear amendment package of 39 additional amendments on a bipartisan basis, about half for each side, that were all agreed to on the merits. Again, we got thwarted.

So over and over again, we got objections to considering amendments based on the accusation that we were not considering enough amendments. How on earth does blocking the considerations of amendments that we can all agree on advance the cause of considering amendments?

Now, I'm going to continue to work with my friend from Oklahoma, and we are good friends and we work together well. He is right. I am going to continue to work toward an agreement that will enable us to proceed with additional amendments on this bill. This would not be the first time that this kind of a problem has happened on a defense authorization bill.

In 2008, one senator objected to a cleared amendment package and to bringing up amendments. As a result, we were able to have only two roll call votes and adopted only nine amendments, all of which were agreed to before the objection was raised. Then as now, the objection did not result in more amendments being adopted but rather in almost no amendments being adopted at all. In 2008, we invoked cloture and proceeded with the bill with virtually no senate amendments, a result which was less than ideal, but at least it enabled us to enact the defense authorization bill.

Madam President, we must pass a national defense authorization bill. If we fail to do so, we will be letting down our men and women in uniform and failing to perform one of Congress' most basic duties, providing for the national defense. As is the case every year, if we fail to enact this bill, our troops will not get the full amount of compensation to which they are entitled. If we fail to act, the department's authority to pay out combat pay, hardship duty pay, special pay for nuclear qualified service members, enlistment and re-enlistment bonuses, incentive pay for critical specialties, assignment incentive pay and accession and retention bonuses for critical specialties will expire on December 31. After that date, we will have troops in combat who will not get combat pay. We will lose some of our most highly skilled men and women with specialties that we vitally need. Not only will we be shortchanging our soldiers, airmen and Marines, we will be denying our -- and to achieve the force shaping objectives as they draw down their end strengths.

And that is not all. If we fail to enact this bill, Madam President, school districts all over the United States that rely on supplemental impact aid to help them educate military children will no longer receive that money. If we fail to enact this bill, the Department of Defense will not be able to begin construction on any new military construction projects in the coming year. That means our troops won't get the barracks, ranges, hospitals, laboratories and other support facilities that they need to support operational requirements, conduct training and maintain equipment.

It means the military family housing will not receive needed upgrades. If we fail to enact this bill, the existing military land withdrawal will expire at China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, in Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range. That means our military will have to cease operations on those vital test and training ranges, losing critical testing and training capabilities that they relied on for the last 25 years.

If we fail to enact this bill, the Department of Defense will run out of money for the construction of the first ship of the Navy's new class of aircraft carriers, the Gerald Ford. That means the Navy will have to issue a stop work order on the construction of the Ford, requiring them to play off workers and requiring a break in production that will add hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars, not only to the cost of the Ford but also to the cost of follow-on aircraft carriers.

It goes on and on, Madam President. If we fail to enact this bill, we will enact none of the far-reaching reforms that we need to address the problem of sexual assault in the military. We have been -- already we have been blocked in our effort to clear a package of managers' amendments, including Senator Boxer's amendment reforming the Article 32 process. Now, we're not only going to lose important reforms, but there are two dozen measures that are in the bill that address the problem of sexual assault. If we don't adopt this bill, we won't be providing a special victims' counsel for victims of sexual assault. We won't make retaliation for reporting sexual assault a crime under the uniform code of military justice.

If we don't adopt this bill, we won't require commanders to immediately refer all allegations of sexual assault to professional criminal investigators. We won't restrict the authority of senior officers to modify the findings and sentence of court-martial convictions. We won't require higher level review of any decision not to prosecute allegations of sexual assault. I would be happy to yield. I will put the balance of my statement in the record.

The Presiding Officer: All time has expired.

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