Jim Inhofe

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, we are here today to pass the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act. It has just passed the procedural vote so we are ready for the vote that is going to take place tomorrow. It is the 59th year in a row that we will be passing the NDAA, and that is because it is the most important bill Congress will be doing all year and one that fulfills our constitutional responsibilities, and that is to defend America. There is a document nobody reads anymore that is called the Constitution. If you read that document, it tells you what we are supposed to be doing here, which is providing for the common defense or, simply put, defending America and all who call it home. This conference report does exactly that. It is a testament to the good work we can accomplish when we work together, and I am talking about Democrats and Republicans of both parties in the House and Senate. The bill has been a long time coming. We started working on it last January, 11 months ago, holding hearings with military leaders about what resources they needed around the world. We started drafting it not long after, and in May we passed the bill out of our committee. We passed the bill out of committee by a 25-to-2 vote. That doesn't happen very often on big bills. In June, we debated on the floor and incorporated more than 90 bipartisan amendments before it passed with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 86 to 8. Then we started the conference where we have been working day in and day out since September. This year, we had twice the number of Big 4 meetings. Now, Big 4 meetings are with a Democrat and Republican from both the House and Senate getting together to iron out some of these problems, and there were a lot of problems with this bill. Anytime we have 90 bipartisan amendments we are considering while putting the bill together, that is a big deal. We had twice the number of Big 4 meetings and more than twice the number of staff-level meetings that we normally have working our way through over 1,500 provisions within the bill. I say this to remind everyone that our committee and staff have been working on this bill tirelessly for nearly a full year, and now we are going to pass it. If I had to break it down, I would say this year's NDAA has two big overarching principles. First, it resources and aligns priorities to implement the blueprint for the National Defense Strategy Commission. This is it, the publication here, and this was put together by Democrats and Republicans a few years ago, laying out exactly what we have to have to adequately defend America. We follow this blueprint. We are still following it today, and it is working. This bipartisan document outlines the challenges we need to be prepared to meet, namely, strategic competition with China and Russia. This is something--and I don't say this critically of the previous administration, but President Obama's priorities were not the same as the priorities we normally had. It was not defending America. There were other projects he was concerned with, and as a result of this, if you take the last 5 years from 2010 to 2015, the amount of money going to the military from President Obama's budget was reduced in that 5- year period by 25 percent. Keep in mind, while that was reduced by 25 percent, China was increasing their spending by 83 percent. That has never happened before. Accordingly, the conference report funds the military at $738 billion, in line with the bipartisan agreement I just described. So we are sticking with that. It is a good thing when you get a chance to get everyone together. There is always partisanship and all that, but when you get an outline like this, it is something that has worked and worked well. In addition, the NDAA authorizes $5.3 billion in emergency disaster recovery to help military installations. Occasionally, we have natural disasters. We had them in Nebraska, Florida, and North Carolina that inflicted great damage on our military bases in those areas. The Space Force is the President's big deal. It will help protect space and ensure America's dominance in this warfighting domain for years to come. It is interesting also. There are those who are criticizing it, and I had some reluctance at first because we are doing a good job in space. We have been doing a pretty good job in space for quite a while, but it is not all in one area. There is a psychological component. Our chief problems out there are China and Russia. China and Russia have their own space dominance in this Space Force, and just the fact that we don't have one is something that made people believe we didn't have an interest in the Space Force, and we are going to dominate Space Force. This is the first time we will have a new branch in government in over 70 years. The Space Force will help us protect space and ensure American dominance in the warfighting domain for years to come. To implement the national defense strategy, the NDAA reframes its priorities. It accelerates investment in efforts to modernize our Armed Forces, including creating hypersonic weapons, 5G, cyber, long-range missiles, and areas where we are at risk. I mention the hypersonic weapons. That is the state of the art and what we are doing right now. Prior to the last administration, we were ahead in hypersonic weapons. At the end of that administration years later, China and Russia were ahead. Now we are catching up. We are going to pass them. This bill is going to be a way to do this. The NDAA has strong support for nuclear modernization, preserving all three legs of the triad to maintain maximum deterrence against our adversaries. Our triad has been controversial for a long time, but it has worked, and there are some who would like to drop it down to just two forces as opposed to three, but we want to make sure we have the best. We want to make sure we can win in a nuclear battle. It also provides needed reforms to the way the Department of Defense does business. An efficient, effective Pentagon will help America retain and, in some cases, regain the competitive edge. We don't have the competitive edge around the world. I talk to people around the country. They always assume that America has the best of everything, and there was a time when we did. I think ever since World War II we were in that situation, but we have lost some of that edge, and this is what we are going to do; we are going to regain it. The legislation also keeps President Trump's promise to continue rebuilding the military. The legislation invests its equipment, resources, and training needed to restore American readiness. These investments mean we will have a larger Army, larger Navy, a more agile Air Force and a more lethal Marine Corps--a force that is ready to deter or, if necessary, defeat any threats that might come our way. That is something a lot of people think is extreme, but we are used to that. We learned our lesson in World War II. We have gone through several conflicts since that time, and we are not going to allow that to happen again. We are going to keep all of these forces strong. That is what the bill does to rebuild our military and realign to be able to compete with Russia and China. You go through and see the changing scenes all around the world. You go to the South China Sea and see China building islands out there. It is as if they are preparing for World War III, and some of our allies in that part of the world are wondering what we are doing. They don't see us out there, but we are. Now this bill puts us back in the running. I said this bill does two main things. The second part is the bill really looks out for our servicemembers and their families. To tell the story of what we do in that area is really to tell the story of two courageous military spouses. Those two military spouses are Janna Driver and Jane Horton. I have had the honor of knowing both of these women who represent hundreds of thousands of military spouses around the country. About 1 year ago, Janna Driver reached out to me because she had housing. This all started with privatizing housing. We privatized housing and everything went right for a few years and things started dropping down. People got greedy. We had 14 contractors that were busy doing this. Janna Driver was from Tinker Air Force Base. I had the honor of knowing her well because she came to me and reached out to me to share the horrible conditions she and her family were facing in their housing at Tinker Air Force Base. Let's back up a little. Privatized housing was something that was working, but things started slipping. Right now, we have done a lot of work with that. She told me about the mold in her unit, and she couldn't get a contractor to fix it. We are talking about 1 of the 14 contractors that got the awards. We started looking into the problem and learned it was bigger than we thought. When Janna Driver came to me, we thought it was just at Tinker Air Force Base, but after that we found other places in Oklahoma. We have five major military establishments in Oklahoma, and we found they were all having some of these problems. Then I found out this was all over the Nation. So this was a serious problem she called to our attention. We got to work, holding hearings and inspecting homes and demanding answers. As a result, the NDAA includes a landmark overhaul of the military privatized housing system. The legislation gives military families the tools to demand accountability, and reengages military leadership. It is only natural that a lot of the military leadership would say: Well, we privatized it. Now it is their problem, not our problem. They kind of stepped aside. Well, they are back in the fight again to make sure contractors live up to their end of the bargain and give military families high-quality housing. That was my experience with Janna Driver. Then there was Jane Horton. I mentioned there were two heroes I learned to love over the years. In an event in Collinsville, OK, a little bit north of Tulsa, we had a townhall meeting over there, and I was getting ready to go to Afghanistan. This happened about 7 years ago. Jane Horton was there, the wife of someone who was in the military. As I was getting ready, and I mentioned I was going to go to Afghanistan, she told me her husband Chris was deployed there. I promised her I would visit with him while I was there in about a week's time. I never got that chance because Oklahoma Army National Guard SPC Chris Horton was killed on September 9, 2011. He was only 26 years old. After everything Jane Horton went through after losing her husband, she was then penalized by what we refer to as the ``widow's tax''--a dollar-for-dollar offset of benefits as a Gold Star spouse. She came to me, and we started working on it together to repeal it. Years after we restarted the process, this year's NDAA repeals the widow's tax in a fiscally responsible way. It does it over a period of time that is going to be doable. That is a fraction of the benefits it has for military families. The conference report provides a 3.1-percent pay raise for all troops. It is the largest pay raise we have had in a decade. The bill also improves access to childcare on military installations. It helps spouses transfer their professional licenses. Here is a problem people don't realize we have, and it is that the military member is going to be moved around every 2 or 3 years. When that happens, the spouse will go with the military member, but that spouse may be a trained professional and working as a second worker in the household. The problem is, there are a lot of States where nurses, for example, if the spouse is a nurse, they have to wait for 1 or 2 years' residency before they can actually practice in the State. Those are little things that nobody really thought of, and it is kind of discriminatory against our military. So that problem is not going to exist anymore. The bill continues critical reforms to fight sexual assault--we hear a lot about sexual assault--and misconduct and works to improve the military healthcare system. This bill does a lot. I have heard people say--there are people around, people who are actually in this body who don't really think we have a real obligation to spend so much time and money on our military. In fact, I have heard people say so many times: Well, wait a minute. The United States spends more money than China and Russia put together. That is true, but you have to realize why that is. We were just talking about housing. You know, China and Russia are communist countries. They don't care about helping people with housing. They don't care about healthcare for their people. All they do is give them an AK-47 to go out and kill people. The vast majority of what we spend on our military is spent on our people; other countries don't do that. They say you recruit a servicemember, but you retain a family by making our NDAA dedicated not only to the warfighter but also to their families. Lastly, there are a few other provisions outside of the jurisdiction of the Armed Services Committee, and they are worth highlighting in this bill. This has been happening now for 59 years. One of the reasons is that this is a bill that everybody knows is going to pass. I had doubts this year that it definitely was going to pass, but it did. A lot of people have difficulty getting something passed during the regular session but wait until the Defense authorization bill comes up, and then they will put it on there as an amendment. We have a lot of examples. There is the MARAD authorization. That is the maritime authorization. Senator Wicker from Mississippi put that in. He is the chairman of the Commerce Committee. Then we had the intelligence reauthorization. Senator Burr is the chairman of that committee. We have that as a part of this bill. Sanctions designed to punish Syria, Russia, North Korea, China, and all those countries, that would really be in the Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Risch is the chairman of that committee. It is in this bill. So the result is this is a good bill, and now we are going to pass it. This is the 59th year in a row we have passed the NDAA. It is one of the few authorization bills that passes year after year, and that is because everyone knows how important it is. It usually doesn't get bogged down in partisan fighting. This year, the process of getting to our final conference report was certainly tougher than most years. The first bill that came out of the House, there wasn't one Republican who voted for it on the floor, and they ended up supporting it. That is the way it happened this year. There were some moments we weren't sure we were going to be able to get one. It took a few months of hard-fought negotiations, but the end result is getting a bill that we are proud of. I thank Congressman Smith and Congressman Thornberry from the House and, most importantly, Senator Reed. Senator Reed is my counterpart. I am the chairman of the committee, and he is the ranking member of the committee. We worked together, and I am talking about hours and hours. My wife and I have been married now 60 years tomorrow. I saw more of Senator Reed during this time than I saw my own wife. We had a lot of time together working on things. We worked together on the controversial things, and they worked. We were successful. I also thank the members of the Armed Services Committee who put in good work to make sure the bill supports the military community and keeps America safe. I want to thank President Trump for his leadership in support of the legislation, especially the Space Force. I look forward to him signing this into law immediately. I would be remiss if I didn't thank the Armed Services Committee staff, especially the staff directors John Bonsell, for the majority; Liz King, for the minority; and my personal staff, who have worked countless hours to bring this bill to the floor today. Also under them, from the majority, we have 33 members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and I think 15 members from the minority. That is a total of 48 members. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record all 48 names of those heroes who participated.

Mr. INHOFE. From my personal staff, we had Luke Holland, Andrew Forbes, Dan Hillenbrand, Jake Hinch, Don Archer, Kyle Stewart, Bryan Brody, Esther Salters, Devin Barrett, Leacy Burke, Wendi Price, Laurie Fitch, Whitney Folluo, Mark Powers, Brandon Ellis, and Charlotte Mitchell. And the floor staff, they are always back there. They work on all the bills, but they dropped everything to make this a reality: Laura Dove, Robert Duncan, Chris Tuck, Megan Mercer, Tony Hanagan, Katherine Foster, Brian Canfield, and Abigail Baker. Now, let's vote on this conference report, and let's have the vote be so overwhelming that there isn't a military family in America who could doubt our commitment to them. Let's use our vote to send a message as well to Russia and China that we are revitalizing American power so we can win the competition for influence that will shape the kind of world our children and grandchildren are going to live in. Kay and I have 20 kids and grandkids. They are the ones I am concerned about, as well as your kids and grandkids. We are not going to win with a strong military alone, but we will lose without one. That is what this NDAA will do: revitalize American military power so we can achieve our vision of a safe, prosperous, and free world. That is what this is all about. That is what we are going to do. Merry Christmas. I yield the floor.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, it is of the utmost importance that we recognize that the Balkan region is critical to U.S. interests in Europe due to the implications in the region surrounding security, counterterrorism, cyber security, and implementation of 5G. It is a strategically significant region and a primary target of Russian malign influence. Each year I have the honor of hosting a Balkan Roundtable Security Forum with leaders from the Balkans and Members of Congress. NATO's role in southeastern Europe is critical for the support of our interests in the region. Integration of the Balkans into NATO, the EU, and other partnerships with our friends in the region has long been an important goal, given the mounting threat posed by Russians continued behavior. In a time where our strategic competitors are seeking to expand their influence, it is critical that our friends in the Balkan region know that the United States is here to support them and work together to counter our common foes. It is clearly stated in the President's National Security Strategy, the National Defense Strategy, and the National Military Strategy that Europe and the Trans-Atlantic NATO Alliance are paramount to our national security, and this includes the integration of our allies on the Balkan Peninsula. We have made significant strides in adapting our capabilities in many areas, including cyber, to meet the growing threats in the region, but we must continue to work with our partners to counter the evolving threats from Russia and China and preserve a Europe that is whole, free, and at peace.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that I be recognized as in morning business for such time as I use.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, I am here today to talk about an important vote that I took 19 years ago, a vote about free trade from China. Now, you might say it is a little out of character, coming down to the floor and talking about free trade and China, because normally I am down here talking about how China is investing in their military at unprecedented rates or how they are passing us up in terms of our military, which we saw in the last administration. The reality is that when it comes to China--which is entirely controlled by a tyrannical Communist party--you cannot separate their trade behavior from their military like you can in a democratic government. China asserts its power both economically and militarily to the detriment of the free world. So 19 years ago, I came down to the Senate floor and took a stand against the tyrannical regime in China. The vote was on whether or not to allow the Chinese Government normalized trade relationships with the United States that would pave the way for China to join the World Trade Organization. At that time, it was not popular--it was not popular for any Member of the Senate who stood in the way of free trade agreements, much less a Republican. But as I saw it then, the vote did much more than open up trade. It granted favors to an authoritarian regime, despite their openly predatory actions, without demanding concessions in return. My colleagues claimed that opening China to free trade would cause China to change their behavior. Clearly, that did not happen, but I will get to that in a minute. Filled with the false hope and empty promises, the trade agreement sailed through the Senate, 83 to 15, and was signed by then-President Clinton. Now, I am the only one of those 15 ``no'' votes still serving in the United States Senate. Today, 19 years later, we have seen the reality of what I thought would happen. At the time, I said--and I am quoting from my speech 19 years ago--``We cannot allow the pursuit of dollars to blind us to certain realities about the ruling communist regime in China, including''--keep in mind, I am going to read all eight of these that I had mentioned 19 years ago--``repeated threats against the United States and Taiwan''--still going on today; ``massive military modernization and buildup''--still going on; ``proliferation of dangerous weapons to rogue states. Theft of U.S. nuclear secrets''-- still going on; ``demonstrated strategy to exploit commercial relationships to acquire advanced military technology,'' that is still going on today; ``attempts to corrupt the U.S. political system. Violation of international agreements. Brutal repression of dissidents.'' We know that is happening. I continued: ``To ignore these actions in the belief that they can be separated from what we do in our trading relationship is dangerously misguided. China's trade surpluses are helping to finance the regime's military buildup and aggressive foreign policy, while strengthening its hold on economic and political power.'' I do not take any pride in being right, because the outcome has been devastating for the American workers. China has stolen our technology and personnel secrets and taken millions of U.S. jobs over the past two decades. The facts today show it. Let's go through quickly a few of what we predicted two decades ago and see where we are today. First, the threats against the United States and Taiwan, that is pretty clear. Just look at China's reaction to the recent routine arms sale to Taiwan of tanks and Stinger missiles. Keep in mind, China has known since 1979 that we sell arms to Taiwan to aid in their self-defense. Everyone knows that. They threatened that they were prepared to go to war to defend their ``unity and territorial integrity''--over a routine arms sale. In the past year alone, Beijing has frequently threatened to use force against any who opposed the Communist Party's designs on Taiwan, so despite free trade, China has not stopped their threatening behavior toward the United States and Taiwan. Secondly, massive military modernization and buildup. We know that is still going on. It is obvious to everyone that China has not changed their behavior on this because of free trade. It has emboldened them. China has become more aggressive as our free trade system has subsidized their economy. Some key facts: Over the last decade, the Chinese Government has grown their military spending--look at the chart when I read this--has grown their military spending by 83 percent. That is over the last decade. Meanwhile, during the last 5 years of the Obama administration, we decreased our military spending by 25 percent. We decreased our military spending while China had increased theirs by 83 percent. That is why, today, China is able to build ships at a faster rate than we are and is on pace to surpass the number of vessels by 2030. That is why China is investing heavily in cyber capabilities, aviation, artillery, and hypersonic weapons--hypersonic weapons, the most sophisticated new weapons they have, the weapons that move at five times the speed of sound. Actually, before the Obama administration, we were ahead of both China and Russia. At the end of that administration, we are behind them, and we are catching up now. Each capability, if not superior to ours, has the potential to do us significant harm. In 2018, I visited our allies in Southeast Asia, where I saw the Chinese military buildup in the South China Sea for myself. You remember the islands they created. This is not taking over territory; it is creating territory because those islands weren't there. They have islands in the South China Sea. The Chinese, at last count, I believe, were at seven islands. When you go in and look at it, you become convinced they are preparing for a world war III. China, prior to that time--this is only 3 years ago--had always done their military in their home territory. It has always been in China until they went in Djibouti--that is the northern part of Africa--and they started their own activity there. Now they are all the way down to Tanzania, in that part of the world. The Department of Defense official expects the Chinese to open more bases, too, in the Middle East, in China, in Southeast Asia, and in the Pacific. They are all strategically important locations. When I talked to our allies in the Pacific, they are concerned, and many are beginning to hedge their bets because they see what China is doing. We are talking about the South China Sea. We are talking about our own allies who have historically been our allies. All of a sudden, they are starting to have second thoughts. They are seeing what China is doing, but they don't see us doing anything. After 8 years of President Obama's weak leadership, it is getting more difficult for us to prove to them that we are actually interested in standing up to China's aggression. Third, the theft of U.S. secrets--we know about that. There is an old saying: What China doesn't have, it steals. That is even more apparent today than it was in 2000. China is still actively pursuing and stealing some of our most valuable military secrets. Just last year, China hacked a Navy contractor and stole massive amounts of classified data. That practice isn't new, but it is still having serious impacts on our ability to get ahead of China's militarily. We are seeing an alarming rise in how China steals industrial secrets. They do it out in the open--for example, by forcing any American business that wants to operate in China to form a partnership with a Chinese business. They have been doing that for a long period of time, and we have been going along with it. Sadly, these partnerships are nothing more than a way for the Chinese Communist Party to access and steal proprietary ideas and technology. They also do it in nefarious ways--through exploiting educational relationships on college campuses or stealing biomedical research during the peer-review process. This is no small thing. One in five American companies has been a victim of Chinese intellectual property theft. That matters because nearly 80 percent of our economy is based on intangibles--the very things the Chinese are stealing. It is safe to say that this is another area where the regime in Beijing has been emboldened by free trade at the expense of American innovation and economic growth. China hasn't changed its position on exploiting commercial relationships either. For the past two decades, China has taken advantage of countries--weaponizing their debt and working to control ports, infrastructure, and other territory, posing a very real threat to U.S. interests. There is no place where this is more apparent than in Africa, where I keep hearing: ``America will tell you what you need; China will build it for you.'' Of course, they don't follow through and talk about how they use all Chinese resources to do this. They use Chinese labor. But it is of no value to Africa. I have been to Africa probably more than any other Member, as I have been very active in that area and have seen some of the threats that face us on that continent, and I have seen the Chinese debt trap hobble more promising governments. But it goes far beyond the developing world and extends right into our own backyard. Just look at the recent issue with the NBA, where the general manager of the Houston Rockets tweeted a message in support of the Hong Kong protesters. The backlash was swift. China stopped airing Rockets games or streaming them online, and their online retailers pulled merchandise from online stores. We have also seen U.S. hotels, aviation companies--even the Gap-- being forced to edit and self-censor to remove any reference that even tangentially refers to Taiwan, Tibet, or Hong Kong not being a part of the People's Republic China, all to appease the Communist Party. The jewelry company Tiffany was pressured to remove an advertisement of a woman covering her eye because images of a protester in Hong Kong with a wounded eye got international attention. We live in a democracy, and we don't dictate to private businesses what they should or should not do. This is not the case in China. Yet, if we continue down the road of self-censorship, the party's demands will escalate, and it will be harder and harder to exercise freedom of expression. Fourth, lastly, brutal repression of dissidents--that was true 19 years ago, and it is true today. More than anything, I would like to say this was an area where free trade had forced the Chinese Communist Party to change its behavior. That is what we were all told would happen, but it didn't happen. We know it is not true. We all know about the atrocities that are going on in Xinjiang Province, where the government is forcing a Muslim minority into concentration camps, although they call them reeducation centers. We all know what is going on in Hong Kong, where Beijing is repressing a democratic demonstration with brutal tactics. I remember being in Hong Kong at the time China reasserted what they call their leadership, their ownership, to Hong Kong. It has been on and off all these years. Right now, that effort--disagreement is still taking place. Outside of the areas that, despite China's best efforts, have attracted international attention, we still know about the atrocities the Chinese Communist Party quietly inflicts on journalists and Christian minorities in house churches and in communities across China every day. I have just painted a very bleak picture of U.S.-China relations and how unrestricted trade didn't force the ruling party in Beijing to change its behavior, but the good news is, help is finally on the way. After the trade deal was enacted--I am talking about President Trump's trade deal--I kept speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party, calling attention to their human rights abuses, their military buildup, their manipulative trade tactics, and their economic bullying. I pushed every President until now to stand up to the economic powerhouse before it was too late and they outmatched us. I tried that with Republicans and Democrats alike, and it didn't work. Now we have the first President since 2000 to take China seriously. President Trump is clear-eyed about the regime in Beijing. He knows that our trade relations have been unfair and imbalanced, and he understands that we need real and permanent fixes in order to have any long-term stability. This is something that has been going on for a long period of time, and he is now changing this. He is getting criticized, obviously. I have to say this: It hurts our farmers in the State of Oklahoma. However, I would say that they are very understanding that someone is finally willing to take on China. He has effectively applied tariffs, both to punish the Chinese Government for its manipulative trade practices and also to support critical industries in the United States. The result: China's economy has slowed to its lowest point since 1992--and that is if you believe their official numbers. These are their numbers. It has slowed down their economy. That has not happened before. The economic pressure brought them to the table, ready to make a real deal--one that is fair and accountable. So far, we have gotten phase 1--a preliminary first deal--and the outcome is good for farmers in Oklahoma and across the country. For the first time, China has agreed to purchase $40 billion to $50 billion worth of American agricultural goods. That would be the highest level since 2012. That is a good start. The fight against China's economic manipulation and influence is not over. It can't just be limited to shrinking the trade deficit through greater purchases of American goods. Future parts of any agreement need to be sure to address the concerns that Presidents of both parties neglected for decades, including theft of intellectual property and industrial secrets, forced technology transfer, reciprocal access to markets, and subsidies to China's state-owned enterprises. All of this needs to be placed into the proper context of the Communist Party's ambitions on the world stage: to rewrite the rules of the international system, to make the world safe for authorities to suppress democracy and abuse human rights, and to achieve global military superiority by midcentury. President Trump's stand against China on trade has provoked a lot of discussion about our competition with China. We have to remember that this is not a competition against China but a competition for influence--the kind of influence that decides what kind of world our kids and grandkids are going to live in. Next week, my wife and I will be celebrating our 60th wedding anniversary. We have 20 kids and grandkids. They are the ones who will be living in that world I just described. In this competition, we can't afford to be naive. The Chinese Communist Party has a very different version of the world it would like to create, so even as we keep talking about the tariffs, we have to remember that our values are still America's most precious commodity. It is our values--free people and truly free markets--that must guide us in the competition ahead. Every part of this speech I gave on the Senate floor 19 years ago has become a reality, and President Trump knows this. Maybe we better listen to him. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I rise to offer a tribute to Nancy J. Fletcher, a long-serving chief executive of a respected national trade association whose leadership has benefited Oklahoma and the Nation. Nancy Fletcher led the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, now known as the Out of Home Advertising Association of America, for nearly 30 years as president and CEO. An attorney, Ms. Fletcher shares my deep respect for property rights, as spelled out in the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment: private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. Ahead of Ms. Fletcher's retirement, I recall some of her important contributions to the Nation and to Oklahoma. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Ms. Fletcher and her colleagues in the industry immediately posted messages of national unity and resolve. During her long leadership, technology changed all types of media, including out of home media. As some billboards were converted to digital electronic displays, Ms. Fletcher pioneered partnerships with law enforcement, emergency managers, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. These partnerships, including with the National Weather Center in Norman, have had positive benefits for communicating emergency services, featuring tip lines to locate fugitives and share information to help missing children return home. Please join me in extending congratulations to Nancy Fletcher for her successful leadership of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America and her contributions to the public good.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 419, submitted earlier today.

Mr. INHOFE. I further ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate's action placing S. 2731 on the Calendar be vitiated and the bill be considered introduced and held at the desk on October 29, 2019, and then indefinitely postponed today.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, I understand there is a bill at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. INHOFE. I now ask for a second reading and in order to place the bill on the Calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Wednesday, November 13; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Wolf nomination, with the postcloture time expiring at 11 a.m.; further, that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; finally, that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2 p.m. to allow for the conference meetings.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order, following the remarks of Senator Menendez.

Mr. INHOFE. 60th.

Mr. INHOFE. Thank you.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 1865, which was received from the House.

Mr. INHOFE. I ask unanimous consent that the Blunt amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Let us pray. Almighty God, Creator of all, as we gather here today, we are grateful for the servicemembers who are deployed in the defense of our great Nation under God. We ask for Your comfort for the families who continue their duties at home with the courage to maintain the homefront in the absence of their loved ones. Protect our service men and women with the shield of Your strength as they discharge their sacred mission, and keep them safe from all evil and harm. May the power of Your love enable them to return home in safety, that with all who love them, they may ever praise You for Your loving care. Assist with Your spirit of counsel and fortitude for the President and other government leaders of these United States. May they always seek the ways of righteousness, justice, and mercy. Grant that they may be enabled by Your powerful protection to lead our country with honesty and integrity. Lord, we know all too well our weak and infallible human nature, and we recognize that the work which lies before us is demanding and complex. Yet, O God, I thank You for calling us to this difficult and rewarding work. Lead our troops and all of us, O Lord, in the way of peace. Unite us in the spirit of service. We pray these things in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to be recognized as in morning business for such time as I may consume.

Mr. INHOFE. You know, we don't hear that very often. I just heard the term from the Senator from Nebraska ``under budget and ahead of schedule.'' You did something right. Good for you.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, today I wish to honor the memory of Gregory E. Pyle, Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, who passed away last week. Chief Pyle was a dedicated servant and leader of the Choctaw Nation for 30 years. After more than 13 years as the Assistant Chief of the Tribe, in 1997, he became Chief of the Choctaw Nation until his retirement in 2014. Chief Pyle was a man of vision and action. He put families first by focusing on health, jobs, and education. Under his thoughtful leadership, the Choctaw Nation focused on economic development, which resulted in new business and job opportunities for Tribal members. One of my fondest memories with Chief Pyle was when we worked together to pass the historic Code Talkers legislation, which awarded Congressional Commemorative Medals to the Code Talkers of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, along with other Tribes, in recognition of their service during World Wars I and II. Not many people remember this, but Chief Pyle and I started on our journey to honor these heroes in 2002, and it wasn't until 2008 that we were able to get it done. This measure along with many others not only speaks to his character, but also to his unwavering dedication to the Choctaw people. The Choctaw Nation and the State of Oklahoma are grateful for his dedication and humble leadership. His legacy will benefit generations to come.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize and honor MSG Matthew Williams who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by the President of the United States of America on October 30, 2019. Throughout his life, MSG Matthew Williams displayed tremendous confidence, competence, and determination. He graduated from Angelo State University with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and completed the hardest training the U.S. Army has to offer: Special Forces Assessment and Selection, the Special Forces Qualification Course, and SERE training. Master Sergeant Williams is a master and expert in his chosen profession--18 Bravo, U.S. Army Special Forces weapons sergeant--and has proven himself to be a consummate professional with service in numerous positions: weapons Sergeant operational Detachment Alpha 3336, senior weapons sergeant Operational Detachment Alpha 332, senior instructor/writer, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group, and operations sergeant, Alpha Company 2nd Battalion, 3rd SFG (A). Master Sergeant Williams has a proven commitment to service and to this Nation by repeatedly answering the call to action with a deployment in support of Operation JUNIPER SHIELD and multiple deployments in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. He displayed conspicuous gallantry on April 6, 2008, as a member of Operational Detachment Alpha 3336, during Operation Commando Wrath, a mission to capture or kill high-value targets of the Hezeb Islami al Gulbadin in the Shok Valley of Afghanistan. With numerous U.S. soldiers and Afghan commandos pinned down by intense enemy fire, Master Sergeant Williams continuously disregarded his own safety and concern, braved rocket- propelled-grenade and heavy machinegun fire in order to lead a group of Afghan commandos on a counterattack across ice-covered boulders and a fast-moving, ice-cold, waist-deep river to help reinforce and evacuate four wounded teammates and set-up a critical firing position to allow his other teammates and Afghan commandos to escape safety. For his actions that day, Master Sergeant Williams was awarded the Medal of Honor, the Nation's highest medal, on 30 October 2019, by the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. Kevin Stitt, Governor of Oklahoma, proclaimed November 6, as Master Sergeant Matthew Williams Day, and I encourage all citizens to recognize the achievements and contributions by Master Sergeant Williams to the U.S. of America and to the United States Army Special Forces.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. With that, I yield the floor.