Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Today’s Senate Vote On Passage Of The National Defense Authorization Act

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on today’s vote to pass the National Defense Authorization Act. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Later this morning, the Senate will hold a vote to pass the annual defense authorization bill, the NDAA. Congress has passed the NDAA on a bipartisan basis for over six straight decades, and this year will be no different. Many feared that it wouldn’t pass, given the polarization, given the late date. But no, we're passing the NDAA, and that's a very good thing.

This NDAA isn’t perfect, but it still includes some very good things that Democrats fought for. Just like in the CR, it has strong provisions to stand up against the Chinese Communist Party here on a national security basis. It boost our use of AI for national defense – this is one of the things our forums on AI talked about early on, and it is now in the bill. And it expands tech innovation here at home by expanding money to tech hubs.

I’m particularly glad this year’s NDAA expands the Tech Hubs Program that I created with Senators Young, Cantwell, and others in the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act. These funds will transform communities in Upstate New York, the Midwest, and across the country that hadn't been focused on tech, are now going to become the epicenters of innovation and of manufacturing, high-end manufacturing. This is something these rural areas and these smaller cities across Upstate New York and the Midwest needed, and they're getting some more dollars in this regard, so there will be more tech hubs.

Again, I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for the good work on the NDAA, especially Chairman Reed and Ranking Member Wicker.

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