Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Senate Moving Forward With Consideration Of The Bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act

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

Last night, the Senate formally began the process for floor consideration of the annual defense bill, on a bipartisan vote, 72-25.

This morning, we locked in an agreement to begin consideration of amendments on the floor. We’ll begin voting this afternoon, and we want this process to be open and fair without being dilatory.

We want both sides to have input, but neither side should derail the bill. We should avoid the chaos we saw last week in the House that greatly hindered their NDAA process.

So far, we’ve avoided that. The process in the Senate has been constructive and has moved along at a good pace. I’m pleased to say the manager’s package has 51 amendments, 21 from Republicans, 21 from Democrats, and 9 bipartisan. And I hope there will be a second manager’s package with even more priorities for both sides. 

The Senate’s NDAA process is an example of how, even with all our disagreements, this chamber is able to come together to provide for our nation’s defense, take care of our service members, take care of our civilian DOD workforce, and invest in modernizing our defense and intelligence capabilities.

If both sides keep working together, I hope we can finish passing the defense authorization bill before August. I think most of us would like to see that happen; there’s no justification for letting this spill into the fall.

We have a lot of work to do before we get there, but we’re on track to get it done.

And we have every reason in the world to finish the NDAA bill quickly, because there’s a lot both sides can celebrate in this year’s bill. Many of the NDAA’s provisions might typically fly under the radar because they seem incremental, but in their totality, they make a huge difference in our country.

We’ll make much needed progress on additional new areas, like outcompeting the Chinese government. We’ll take our first steps of the year on AI legislation. We’ll boost resources in a major way to tackle the fentanyl crisis. And we’ll strengthen the bonds with our allies around the world, especially the UK and Australia. I hope we’ll have a vote on the full AUKUS package soon.

On competing against the Chinese government, I am pleased that this year’s NDAA will have over a dozen amendments in the managers package.

On the fentanyl crisis, an amendment by Tim Scott and Sherrod Brown will enhance the federal government’s ability to disrupt illicit opioid supply chains, and punish those who facilitate fentanyl trafficking. This is a major piece of legislation that’s going to give the President more powers to stop any country – China, Mexico – from sending the precursor materials that are made into fentanyl and kill our children.

Here’s what it does: declares the international trafficking of fentanyl a national emergency, requires the President to sanction criminal organizations and cartel members who traffic this drug, enhance the Administration’s ability to enforce sanctions violations, allow the Treasury to take special measures to combat money laundering connected to fentanyl, and much, much more.

Approving our FEND Off Fentanyl Act will be a huge win in the battle against opioids – one of the worst public health crises in the country – and I thank Chairman Brown, Ranking Member Scott for championing this measure.

Finally, this year’s NDAA will take important steps on artificial intelligence. My amendment, which I worked on with Senators Rounds, Young, and Heinrich, will increase data sharing with DOD, increase reporting on AI’s use in the financial services industry, create a “bug bounty program” where ethical hackers help us find vulnerabilities in our defenses, and much, much more.

The Senate process on the NDAA stands in sharp contrast with what we saw in the House. In the Senate, Democrats and Republicans have worked together, mindful of the importance to preserve our national security, while the process in the House, unfortunately, was sadly delayed and at times derailed by wildly partisan and irrelevant hard right amendments that have nothing to do with defense. We have not seen that so far in the Senate we should keep it that way.

So for all these great reasons, we hope we can get the NDAA done as soon as possible. We’ll begin voting today on amendments, and I hope we can keep this process moving along.

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