Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Senate Passage Of The Bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act Conference Report
Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the Senate passing the NDAA. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks:
For the 62nd year in a row, the Senate is passing our annual defense authorization act, one of the most important bills we work on each year to protect the American people, ensuring our long-term security.
At a time of huge trouble for global security, passing the defense authorization bill is more important than ever. It will ensure America can hold the line against Russia, stand firm against the Chinese Communist Party, and ensures that America’s military remains state of the art at all times, all around the world.
I thank my colleagues on both sides for their great work on the NDAA. I applaud the leadership of Chairman Reed, steady, steadfast, always getting it done, chairman of the committee, as well as the great cooperation he had from Ranking Member Wicker and all the members of the committee. I commend them for their good work.
And thanks to the good work done by both sides, the final version of the NDAA contains many of the most important, bipartisan provisions we had in the Senate’s original bill.
We’ll give our service members the pay raise they deserve. We’ll strengthen our resources in the Indo-Pacific, to deter aggression by the Chinese government, and give resources for the military in Taiwan.
We’ll give DOD more resources to deploy and develop AI, protect against foreign cyber threats, increase the transparency of Unidentified Areal Phenomena, which I was proud to work on with Senator Rounds.
And critically, we’ll approve President Biden’s trilateral U.S., U.K., and Australia nuclear submarine agreement. The AUKUS Agreement is a game changer: it will create a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s threat and influence in the Pacific.
I want to commend all of the staff that made this possible: Liz King, Jody Bennett, Kirk McConnell, Damian Murphy, Andrew Keller, David Weinberg, Chris Mulkins, and so on. I also want to thank the floor staff, the legislative counsel staff that worked so long and hard to get it done.
Of course, everyone knows I love my staff. Yazeed Abdelhaq, Gunnar Haberl, Raymond O’Mara, Mike Kuiken, and Meghan Taira, and so many others. The staff has put in long hours and all 100 senators thank them.
As I have repeatedly said, we began the month of December with three major goals here in the Senate before the end of the year. First, we had to end the blockade of hundreds of military nominees. We have done that.
Second, we needed to pass the NDAA. We’re doing that today.
And finally, and hardest of all, we must reach an agreement on a national security supplemental. We are trying. Democrats’ are still trying to reach an agreement. We’ve had productive talks with our Republican colleagues today, but of course we have a lot of work to do left. We are going to keep working.
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