Click here or on the photo above to view Senator Fischer’s full remarks.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), the chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, today delivered remarks on the Senate floor focused on the importance of passing the FY 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This annual legislation sets the policy and priorities for the U.S. military.
The full text of Senator Fischer’s remarks as prepared for delivery is below.
M. President, I rise today to speak on the defense authorization bill.
Congress has passed this bipartisan legislation every year for the past 55 years.
Once again this year, the U.S. Senate is debating this critical legislation to provide our men and women in uniform with the resources they need to keep Americans safe.
This is a bipartisan bill. It represents the combined efforts of members from both sides of the aisle. It was approved unanimously by the Senate Armed Services Committee: all 27 of our members voted for it. That’s more than a quarter of this body.
The distinguished chairman – the senior senator from Arizona – spoke on the Senate floor on Monday about the geopolitical challenges we are facing and the need for this legislation. He’s absolutely right.
The number and complexity of threats we face today are unprecedented.
North Korea is relentlessly pursuing long-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to our shores.
Americans are informed about the sobering threat from the Kim regime because it has dominated much of the recent news, but it is by no means the only significant challenge we face.
We remain a nation at war, with thousands of men and women in uniform still deployed to the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Russia and China continue to undermine rules-based international order by developing advanced military capabilities designed specifically to counter U.S. defense systems.
Iran continues to pursue regional dominance and regularly harasses U.S. ships and planes operating in the region.
These are needlessly provocative acts that carry risks of an accident or miscalculation that could spiral into a serious confrontation.
Additional low-intensity conflicts continue to smolder across the globe, particularly in southeast Asia, Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula. Each one has the potential to impact U.S. national security.
The global turmoil of today highlights why the bill before us is so important.
It will provide the resources necessary to defend our nation in the face of these challenges.
But, the NDAA is more than just answering these threats.
It’s about helping us here at home, too.
Last Friday, I visited Naval Station Norfolk and had an opportunity to meet with some of our nation’s best: the sailors and officers of the U.S. Navy.
As we stood on the pier, we watched the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier depart and head out into the Atlantic to join other U.S. Navy ships responding to the damage caused by Hurricane Irma.
Fighting and winning wars is the primary mission of our military, but the American people depend on it for so much more.
The destruction and devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma have brought this point home.
This bill authorizes the resources our men and women in uniform need to respond to these crises and do the job the nation asks of them.
It also begins to address the readiness gaps that have emerged in recent years as the Department has been asked to do more with less.
Upon returning to the Department of Defense four years after retiring from military service, Secretary Mattis testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee about this very issue. He said: “I have been shocked by what I have seen about our readiness to fight.” Additional testimony from other military leaders has born this assessment out, as well.
Only three of the Army’s fifty-eight brigade combat teams are ready to “fight tonight.”
Sixty-two percent of the Navy’s F-18 fighters cannot fly.
Approximately 80% of our Marine aviation units lack the minimum number of ready basic aircraft for training, and flight-hour averages are below the minimum standards required to achieve and maintain adequate levels of readiness.
Following direction by President Trump to rebuild the military and prioritization by Secretary Mattis’s to improve readiness and lethality, this bill authorizes some $30 billion to address unmet requirements identified by the military services and our combatant commanders, and provides additional resources to address emerging threats.
In the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, which I chair, we provided over $500 million in additional funding for cooperative missile defense programs with Israel to fully meet the needs of our ally.
We also authorized an additional $200 million to improve the Ground-based Midcourse Defense – or GMD – system.
These increases include funds for the development of more capable boosters and funds to improve what our military calls “discrimination,” or the ability of the system to distinguish between hostile warheads and decoys or other debris in space.
The GMD is our only missile defense system capable of defending the homeland from intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the smart, targeted increases made by the subcommittee have only become more necessary as North Korea continues to demonstrate increased capabilities.
The subcommittee’s mark also fully supports the modernization of our nuclear forces and the Department of Energy’s nuclear enterprise and sustainment activities.
As part of this effort, the subcommittee added almost $200 million to help address the backlog of deferred maintenance activities at our nuclear facilities.
More than half of these facilities are over 40 years old, and roughly 30% date back to the era of the Manhattan Project.
Dilapidated structures at these facilities pose safety risks to our workers and jeopardize essential operations.
This additional funding will enhance the administration’s efforts to address the highest priority requirements and begin reducing the immense maintenance backlog, but more work will be required in future years to resolve this longstanding issue.
The jurisdiction of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee also includes outer space. In the subcommittee’s mark, we added over $700 million to address unfunded needs for space operations.
These include over $100 million to expand the development and testing of advanced prototypes in response to the urgent operational needs of our warfighters and an additional $35 million to expedite the development of advanced, jam-resistant, GPS receivers.
Our forces rely heavily on the capabilities provided by our satellites and our adversaries know it. They are developing capabilities to target our space assets, and these investments are critical if we want to ensure our forces never have to face a day without space.
I’m proud of the strong provisions the Strategic Forces subcommittee contributed to the bill before us today.
In addition to the steps taken in this bill to address current threats, it makes important investments in advanced technologies to stay ahead of challenges we might face tomorrow.
For example, the bill authorizes over $500 million in additional funding to support the Department’s Third Offset Strategy and improve U.S. military technological superiority.
It also prioritizes cybersecurity, an area of growing risk and opportunity as technology becomes more ubiquitous and more sophisticated.
I serve on the Cybersecurity subcommittee and last Congress, I served as the chairman of the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, which then had jurisdiction over our cyber capabilities.
In this year’s bill we are adding to efforts I worked on in past years to improve how we man, train, and equip our military’s cyberforces.
The committee added over $700 million for cyber-related requirements and included a number of policy provisions in this area, such as a requirement for the Department of Defense to undertake the first-ever Cyber Posture Review, which will evaluate the military’s policy and capabilities in the cyber domain.
Before concluding my remarks, M. President, I would like to reply to an argument that was made earlier today by the Senator from Massachusetts against a provision in this bill responding to Russia’s violation of the INF Treaty.
The bill before us today authorizes $65 million for researching a ground-launched cruise-missile system.
The committee’s report on the bill explains this in greater detail, but I would like to make a few quick points.
First, the senior senator from Massachusetts described this provision as a “knee-jerk reaction.”
I would like to remind my colleagues that Russia’s violation of the INF Treaty reportedly began in 2008 – almost a decade ago.
The United States formally raised it with Russian officials in May of 2013 – 4 and a half years ago.
This issue has been with us for some time and the provisions of this bill are anything but a “knee-jerk reaction,” which leads to my second point.
The Senator argues that further study is needed, and has proposed an amendment preventing any action from being taken before a report is complete.
M. President, in the last three defense authorization bills, Congress has required some sort of study of this issue.
The solution to this problem is not to require further studies. Costs must be imposed on Russia for violation, and that is what this provision does.
Finally, there was some discussion of the views of our military leaders, and the Senator quoted heavily from General Paul Selva, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He and I discussed this issue when he appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee in July, and he specifically identified using research and development programs – within the limits of the treaty – increase pressure on the Russians.
That is exactly what this provision does.
It does not violate the INF Treaty; it takes the first step to impose costs on Russia for its violation of the agreement.
M. President, years have gone by, no action has been taken, and Russia has only increased its violation of the treaty.
Waiting for more studies to be complete only ensures that Russia’s actions will continue to go unanswered.
Failing to hold Russia accountable risks undermining this agreement and our broader non-proliferation agenda.
In the words of President Obama: “Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something.”
In closing, M. President, I want to express my thanks to the bill’s managers for their hard work.
I appreciate all they have done to bring this bill to the floor.
This legislation upholds the bipartisan tradition that has characterized the National Defense Authorization Act, which has enabled it to pass 55 years in a row.
This is a strong bill that will strengthen our military.
It will help ensure the military can protect our nation in a world full of challenges.
From North Korea’s belligerence to severe storms damaging our coasts, our military has a tough job to do.
They must be prepared to do it.
I hope my colleagues will join me in swiftly passing this bill.
Thank you, M. President, I yield the floor.
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