Roger Wicker

Mr. WICKER

Mr. WICKER. I know of no further debate on the motion. Vote on Motion to Instruct

Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Hagerty, I call up his motion to instruct the conferees.

Mr. WICKER. I know of no further debate on the motion. Vote on Motion to Instruct

Mr. WICKER

Mr. WICKER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that Caroline Newsom, a valued intern from my office, be granted floor privileges until November 17 of this year.

Mr. WICKER

Mr. WICKER. Madam President, let me say that I associate myself with the remarks that were just made by the previous two speakers--the senior Senator from the State of North Dakota and the distinguished Senator from Alaska. I rise today to follow on with the importance of national defense and, in that regard, to speak specifically about the historic Australia, United Kingdom, United States agreement known as AUKUS. This pact, AUKUS, builds upon a bond forged during the First World War between the United States and Australia and made unshakable in the second. That bond remains strong today as we face the greatest challenge of our lifetime--the Chinese Communist Party. The Senator from Alaska just spoke about the importance of building our defenses in the Indo-Pacific, and that is exactly what the AUKUS agreement is designed to address. Our military leadership has made the stakes clear. The Secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall, recently said: The intelligence couldn't be clearer. . . . China is preparing for a war and specifically for a war with the United States. Now is the time for free nations across the Pacific to prepare for this sobering possibility. The AUKUS deal will help prevent that war from happening. Indeed, the AUKUS agreement is vital, but there is more work to do beyond that. We have yet to take the actions necessary to ensure that our industrial base can support both the United States and Australia. The basic fact is this: Our defense industrial base is not where it needs to be. Workforce shortages, a shrinking base of contractors, and insufficient resources have damaged our military readiness. Year after year, we have deferred maintenance on our surface ships, even as these ships are spending more days deployed and the fleet continues to shrink. Our capabilities are stalling as we hurtle toward a window of maximum danger with the Chinese Communist Party. The story for our submarines is no better. We are not prepared to fulfill our Navy's submarine construction and maintenance needs, let alone fulfill the prospective commitments in the critical AUKUS agreement. Our Navy's requirement is to have 66 attack submarines at 80 percent readiness. We currently have 49 attack submarines at 67 percent readiness. Let me say that again. We need 66 attack submarines. We have only 49. They need to be at 80 percent readiness. They are only at 67 percent. We should be building two attack submarines per year, but we are really building 1.2 attack submarines per year. The demands of the AUKUS agreement would push this requirement higher to above 2.3 attack submarines per year. We should do that, but we can't meet that challenge right now. To meet this challenge, our defense industry will need to handle more demand than ever before. To handle this demand, our defense industry will need to reverse its current trajectory. Since the so-called peace dividend of the 1990s, we have closed two nuclear submarine repair yards and one construction yard. COVID-19 took a sledgehammer to an already declining workforce, and our government is expecting that same inexperienced workforce to meet deadlines not just on our Virginia-class submarines but also the critically important, nuclear-armed Columbia-class. Our submarine fleet, just like our surface fleet, is still living off the Reagan-era defense buildup. Many vessels are in a deteriorating state and will soon need to be retired, but replacements are not waiting in the wings. The remaining ships will face longer deployments and fewer opportunities for maintenance. This is not a blueprint for American command of the seas, nor does it put us in a position to provide our Australian friends the submarines which they need. These cascading problems create what some have called a debt spiral of submarine construction and readiness. This spiral keeps us from hitting our shipbuilding targets. Moreover, today's threats mean the current targets are actually too small. China's navy is now the world's largest navy. Russia is increasing its nuclear submarine activity in the Atlantic. Keeping up with these challenges means raising our shipbuilding goals in the first place, then expanding our industrial capacity to meet them. According to our Acting Chief of Naval Operations, Virginia-class construction needs to nearly double. This is the man whom we have put in charge and confirmed to let us know about the readiness of our Navy. I am grateful for past congressional and executive branch efforts to fund this work; otherwise, we would construct fewer than one Virginia- class submarine each year. But even those funding increases have not matched our need. At the current rate, we will be at least nine submarines short by 2030. Our defense policy cannot continue to hinge upon a hope and a prayer. To make good on AUKUS and stand by our friends in Australia, the administration and Congress need to make the investments necessary to improve submarine construction. Our first step is clear. We must enact into law the nearly $3.4 billion in submarine funding, including in the defense supplemental Congress is considering. We need every bit of this funding increased and more. These funds will be spread throughout our industrial base in the United States--inside the United States, employing American workers. It will modernize our shipyards, accelerate maintenance on our existing submarine fleet, and put capital investments in place for future submarine components to be built in our country. They will put Americans to work, showing that economic development and national security go hand in hand. This additional funding is a welcome first step, but we must do more to show our allies and the U.S. industry and our adversaries that we can meet the obligations of the AUKUS agreement without putting our own submarine fleet in jeopardy. We should sustain investments in our shipbuilders, public shipyards, and the nearly 16,000 suppliers across the Nation, many of them--most of them--small businesses around the Nation. This industry network supports American undersea supremacy and prevents conflicts on the seas, but it needs more long-term investment to stay afloat. We already have some sense of what this investment should look like. I want to emphasize this. The Biden administration commissioned the ``Submarine Industrial Base 2025'' study to examine the best way to execute AUKUS. From what I understand, the study will document what we already know: We need significant additional funding to fulfill Australia's needs alongside those of our fleet. But here is the problem: We commissioned the study. Inexplicably, the Biden administration has yet to let Congress actually see the specifics of the study--not Members of the Democratic leadership, not Members of the Republican leadership. Until the elected Members of the U.S. Senate and the House see this study, Congress cannot make its strongest argument for submarine investment. I led a letter, signed by a bipartisan group of defense leaders, asking the administration to send us the study without delay. This was a bipartisan letter. Friends from both sides of the aisle joined me on that. We are an equal part of the government. We have authorized this study, and, for heaven's sake, the elected Senators and Representatives of the people need to see this. If the President desires the same success for the AUKUS deal that many of us in Congress desire--and I believe he does, given the funding request included in the supplemental--then the administration ought to release the study promptly. They ought to release the study to us today. This study is just one element of strengthening AUKUS. Of course, the most crucial element is increasing overall American sea power. For years, I have cast a vision for restoring American maritime supremacy, following President Reagan's own defense buildup. Again, this is not something that sprung from the brow of Senator Wicker. These are requirements given to us by the top military Navy and Marine leadership, in particular, across the Nation. AUKUS ought to be part of that buildup. This vision will require historic investment to ensure we have the necessary shipbuilding capacity. It is not an easy task, but history suggests it would underwrite and protect American security for decades. It will also include strengthening the U.S.-Australian alliance throughout the 21st century. This alliance is symbolized by Australian Prime Minister Albanese's travel to Washington last week. I was honored to meet with him and his team several times during that visit. The bond between our two nations is deep and abiding. It stood the test of World War II, and it will continue to stand as we confront the challenge of Xi Jinping's communist Chinese fleet. I can think of no action more emblematic of our bond than the AUKUS agreement, which, again, I fully support. I know the Australians do. They told me last week. They show this also by committing $3 billion to our industrial base. The best way to honor our special relationship would be to back AUKUS with funds of our own. Australia's economy is a tenth the size of ours, and the United States should commit a proportional investment. The current plan doesn't get us there. We have never pursued a defense technology partnership at this scale and level of sophistication, but we have moments in our history to draw upon that inform our path forward. Since its invention in the American midcentury, our nuclear Navy has been second to none because we have never accepted anything less. Our adversaries knew this. When Admiral Rickover, the founding father of our nuclear Navy, traveled to discuss nuclear submarines with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and his aides, Admiral Rickover boasted: Although the United States is a democracy, it can act fast. . . . Can't Russia act as fast as the United States? The answer was that Russia could not act as fast as we could. The strength of our free enterprise system, the clarity of our mission set by our Federal leaders, and our collective appreciation of the Soviet threat gave us a focus, a singular focus, and it allowed the American system to unleash our arsenal of democracy, and we prevented war with the Soviet Union by maintaining our naval supremacy. We need to unleash that arsenal again. In the words of Admiral Rickover, ``We shall let nothing deter us from building a nuclear Navy in the shortest possible time.'' Once more, we cannot let anything deter our skilled shipbuilders from cutting the steel and constructing the fleet that will safeguard America for a generation to come. We have submarines to build. Let's get to work. I yield the floor.

Mr. WICKER

Mr. WICKER. Madam President, I join with my overwhelming bipartisan majority of Senators and House colleagues in delivering a message of unwavering support for our friends in Israel. And I want to congratulate my friend, the senior Senator from Oklahoma, for his very fine speech just now and to associate myself with every single remark that he made, and I congratulate him on making it so eloquently. We have all seen the devastation from Hamas's brutal attacks. We need to send this clear signal from both sides of the aisle and both ends of this building: Israel has the right to self-defense, just as we in America deserve a right to self-defense, and Israel is entitled to our full support. The weeks ahead will require decisive action from Congress and decisive action from the White House. We must ensure our allies are armed to the teeth as they enter what amounts to a Hamas fortress across the border in Gaza. They must also receive the tools they need to keep Hezbollah in the north and the Palestinian-Islamic jihad at bay. And we must stand united against Hamas's patron, the Islamic Republic of Iran. Israel needs more Tamir interceptor missiles for the Iron Dome system. They need them immediately. We have several hundred in inventory, and the administration should use its drawdown authority immediately to send these missiles without delay. We need to pass a supplemental appropriations bill to accelerate Tamir production in Israel, even as the United States builds our own Tamir manufacturing capability here in the United States by 2025. Congress should also support the delivery and production of more precision-guided munitions and ammunition for Israeli ground forces, as well as expansive intelligence sharing. And there are many questions about intelligence failures and shortcomings leading up to this terrorist attack. This episode, again, highlights that our national defense is far behind where it should be. Some of us have been raising this point for a long time. I have been making this point long before I was able to become ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. The administration needs to send Congress a funding request that fully resources the U.S. military for a rapidly worsening threat environment in Israel and the Middle East and Ukraine and Europe and in the Western Pacific. For over seven-and-a-half decades, Israel has made every effort simply to be a peaceful democracy in a dangerous area of the world. Hamas wants to end the nation of Israel. That is part of their charter. It is in writing. That is their goal. And, you know, our fellow American citizens are also victims of the Hamas violence. We have lost more than 20 fellow Americans to these terrorists, and, of course, we know that some are being held captive. Millions of Americans are praying today that they come home. The people of Israel know that there can be no return to the pre-war status quo. The pre-war status quo, the pre-October 7 status quo is over. Israel must now destroy Hamas, no matter how long it takes. As it pursues this goal, no nation should give Hamas terrorists safe haven. Iran should not give Hamas terrorists safe haven. Tehran's support for this war makes one thing clear: We successfully deter bad actors only through unmistakable signals of American strength. We need to return to the maximum pressure policies of the previous Trump administration, and we can match that financial pressure with a heightened defense posture in the region. We must also examine why Iran and its proxies believe they can get away with this heinous massacre. We know, for example, that the Biden administration's Iran policy--and this pains me to say, Madam President--the Iran policy was led by individuals who were actually part of an Iranian Government information operation. One of those individuals has been relieved. Another of those individuals, Dr. Ariane Tabatabai, inexplicably remains in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Thirty Senators have joined me in a letter asking for answers on this. We need answers now on why this is still allowed to happen and what steps the administration will take to remediate it. We should support the continued Arab-Israeli peace efforts, which President Trump initiated through the Abraham Accords. While I disagree with many of the Biden administration's Middle East policies, I strongly support the recent Saudi-Israeli peace initiative. Hamas clearly hopes their terrorist attacks will grind this process to a halt. I am grateful that many of our Arab partners, in the face of extreme pressure and hardship, still see the true nature of Hamas today. They understand that Hamas is an Iranian-backed terrorist organization who wants to wipe Israel off the face of the map. Many of our Arab partners have fought and defeated similar organizations like Hamas within their own borders. So I urge the Biden administration today to emphasize the shared Arab-Israeli interest in Hamas's defeat so that Arab-Israeli peace efforts can continue to progress. Finally, let me say this. I can state with confidence that the people of my State are with Israel. My office has received a remarkable outpouring of support for Israel from the people across Mississippi. We express that support in word and deed. The three flagship Navy corvettes of the Israeli battle fleet were built by the skilled craftsmen of our Mississippi shipyards. Think about that. Mississippi-made hulls, carrying the flag of the Star of David, are being used to protect the Israeli people from further attack. It is just one example of our common cause. With the people of Mississippi and with the overwhelming majority of Senators on both sides of the aisle, I call upon all of us to stand united in support of an Israeli victory.

Mr. WICKER

Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to address the crisis on our southern border and to say that we have a good opportunity with the Senate-approved National Defense Authorization Act. It is a remarkable opportunity for this body to strengthen homeland security by increasing border security. Bad actors continue to exploit our porous southern border and to funnel criminals, fentanyl, and even suspected terrorists into our country. Just this week, Customs and Border Patrol released staggering figures. In this fiscal year, Border Patrol has handled nearly 3 million border encounters--nearly 3 million border encounters. Of urgent concern is the fact that more and more of those who cross our borders are terror threats. In this fiscal year, 160 migrants were found to be on the terror watch list, up from 100 in 2022. A smuggler with ties to ISIS shepherded a dozen migrants from Uzbekistan across the border. This alarming incident raises questions about terrorists gaining access to our country. It also highlights the increasing number of asylum seekers from Central Asia. The situation is clearly out of control. The Senate Armed Services Committee has received testimony suggesting that our adversaries see our broken border as a strategic advantage. Russia certainly does. The former Northern Command chief reports that there are more Kremlin agents in Mexico than in any other country. They are there because of the open border policies of this administration. The Chinese Communist Party is also aware of this vulnerability, constantly looking the other way as Chinese criminal elements sell fentanyl components to cartels, helping fuel our national drug crisis. President Biden refuses to act, but Congress will. The good news is that we have already taken steps to do so. This summer, the Senate passed our version of the NDAA. We did so on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis. In my role as the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I led my colleagues as we crafted a defense bill that aligns with our current national defense needs. The bill supports our troops and enhances our warfighting capabilities. The bill also recognizes the border crisis as the national security challenge it is, and I note that more and more people in the mainstream media on network news on television--not just the cable shows--our newscasters are calling this what it is, a border crisis. In an impressive display of bipartisanship earlier this year, we passed our legislation with an overwhelming margin of 86 to 11. This sweeping endorsement puts the Senate in a strong negotiating position as the House and Senate reconcile the two Defense bills in conference. I certainly hope we can do that and get that to the President soon. As we move through the conference process, we must retain the border provisions we fought so hard to include. One such measure is the FINISH IT Act. When we say ``finish it,'' I mean the border wall. The legislation which I authored and which is in the bill would continue construction of the border wall. The previous administration purchased high-quality steel wall panels, but when President Biden took office, he chose to spend $130,000 per day to store these materials rather than using them to secure the border. High-quality steel panels are there. Our President is spending money to store them rather than using them for the intended purpose. Taxpayers already paid for them. That amounts to tens of millions of dollars spent to do absolutely nothing all the while cartels continue to traffic drugs to people from across our southwest border. The fact that we are spending taxpayer money to store these sections of the border wall rather than erect them is uncontested. That is admitted, and it is a fact. And it is one of the reasons Senators visit the border, to find out things like this. We on the Armed Services Committee inquired about this waste. We found the administration to be hastily auctioning off panels and doing so for pennies on the dollar. This is quite obviously an effort to circumvent congressional intent. The administration sees this legislation coming; they see the overwhelming 86-to-11 vote; and they want to get as many of these sections of the wall auctioned off as government surplus before the legislation takes effect. In one instance, the government sold $4.4 million worth of materials for a mere $156,000--$4.4 million worth of border wall segments sold for a mere $156,000. Again, this is uncontested. This is a fact that no one disputes. The administration is still unable to account for $255 million worth of materials. The FINISH IT Act, which is in the NDAA, passed by the Senate, would compel the Biden administration either to use the existing border panels or sell them to States capable of building the wall themselves. Border states grasp the severity of this crisis in ways that the President somehow ignores. Senate Republicans successfully shepherded this provision through the Democrat-led committee and secured wide bipartisan support from the Senate. Again, the bill passed by a final vote of 86 to 11. It is not difficult to discern why, under this administration, really every State is a border State. Just ask the mayor of New York City, which used to like to be called a sanctuary city. The mayor of New York suddenly sounds almost as concerned about the border crisis as the Governor of Texas. The FINISH IT Act represents just the first of several border security provisions in this year's defense legislation. Other measures address the threat posed by cartels. These criminal gangs bribe law enforcement officials and terrorize the innocent. These cartels have military-grade tools, and they use them. Our bill unlocks resources that empower the Department of Defense to take the fight to these dangerous organizations. We passed a provision which would help strengthen Mexican security forces. It would establish a pilot program designed to provide top-tier U.S. military training to law enforcement in Mexico. This would enhance bilateral cooperation against threats, including cartels. Another provision helps confront cartels in cyberspace, and another improves coordination between defense, intelligence, and Homeland Security officials. These proposals harness the full array of U.S. technological and logistical capabilities to target work we can do from our side of the border. The border crisis shows no sign of abatement. Illegal crossings continue to surge and fentanyl's devastating effects reach into more and more American neighborhoods and into every State. What affects the border, affects us all. I am sure there will be strong discussion as the House and Senate move to a conference. There will, of course, be disagreements, and yet I remain hopeful that the integrity of our borders can be an area of agreement. We must take this opportunity to protect the homeland. We must pass this year's National Defense Authorization Act with these hard-won border security measures. Mr. President, before I yield the floor, on a personal note, let me say that the Presiding Officer is looking particularly good this afternoon, and I appreciate his courtesy. I yield the floor.

Mr. WICKER

Mr. WICKER. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, there is widespread bipartisan support for this amendment. I am going to vote for it, and a number of Republicans have cosponsored it. Although we are going to have to call the roll, perhaps this could be the moment when a 10-minute vote actually means that.

Mr. WICKER. I yield. Unanimous Consent Agreement

Mr. WICKER. I yield the floor. Vote on Amendment No. 1065

Mr. WICKER

Mr. WICKER. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. WICKER. Does the distinguished chairman wish to speak on the motion?

Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, this represents another degree of cooperation. This comes to us by unanimous consent. According to the rules, we must have a vote of the yeas and nays, but we are approaching the finish line, and out of consideration for those who have travel plans later tonight, I hope we can stick to the 10-minute rule. I urge the passage of this important managers' package. Vote on Amendment No. 1087

Mr. WICKER

Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I now would like to congratulate my colleagues in the Senate for passing a very important National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024. I see that my distinguished chairman has come back to the floor, and I want to thank him for his cooperation. I want to thank every member of the committee and every Member of the Senate for their cooperation. As the public has learned, we do much of this through unanimous consent, and it is a tribute that we have gotten as far as we have and it is July 27, with another full 2 months to go before the end of the fiscal year. I think we are on the right track. This year's National Defense Authorization Act will help meet the dangerous national security moment we face. It will equip our military with many of the tools necessary to implement the national defense strategy. Every year, as has been mentioned, we pass the NDAA. This is the 63rd time we have done so, and it is a lasting, continual testament to Congress's commitment to our servicemembers and our security. To be sure, our threats are much greater than they were back in 1961 when the first NDAA passed. Today, the United States faces undoubtedly the most complex and dangerous security situation since World War II. This year's NDAA is an important step forward in our quest to build our arsenal. Ideally, we would have an annual 3 to 5 percent boost above inflation to our top line. We were not able to come to an agreement on that, but even without that budget increase, our committee has advanced a strong, bipartisan product that contains numerous important provisions. Let me summarize just a few. The bill authorizes a 5.2-percent pay raise for servicemembers and includes a host of other quality-of-life improvements for our troops and their families. The bill also contains provisions that will help the military solve its recruiting crisis. We include a massive expansion of the Junior ROTC Program, a citizenship builder in our high schools. We also included support for our submarine programs. We need to do more in that regard. The legislation addresses the ongoing maintenance delays by sending funds to our shipyards. It expands our deterrent capabilities with a sea-launched nuclear cruise missile and allows us to make good on our commitments to the United Kingdom and Australia, commonly referred to as the AUKUS agreement. The bill makes six more munitions eligible for the all-important multiyear procurement contracts. These multiyear commitments send a clear signal to our industrial base. And we will produce these arms at home, here in the United States, equipping American troops with American-made weapons and ammunition. Notably, we have fully authorized the construction of the next amphibious ship, the LPD-33. Our committee realizes military competition in the 21st century will be decided by our willingness to harness emerging technology. This NDAA accelerates the development of artificial intelligence, offensive cyber, hypersonics, and unmanned platforms. Because we intend to lap Beijing in the 100-year innovation marathon, we are authorizing a new Pentagon authority with the Office of Strategic Capital. As always, partnerships with our allies act as a force multiplier on all the tools we are providing American soldiers. I am glad this bill enhances security cooperation with allies in every part of the free world, from the Baltics to the Pacific. Starting in January, the Armed Services Committee held countless hearings, briefings, and oversight hearings of the Department. This is one of the most encompassing bills as a result of our work, which began in January. The committee mark included 1,217 provisions. Of that, 504 were the result of member inputs. During the committee markups, an additional 240 amendments were considered. Throughout the process, my colleague and teammate, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, has been a gentleman in every way and a patriot, as demonstrated by his service in the military and his service in the House and Senate. I thank him for helping to make this process exceedingly smooth. To take a moment, let me thank the following staff members who were so essential in getting this done smoothly and efficiently: Rick Berger, Brendan Gavin, James Mazol, Greg Lilly, Brad Patout, Olivia Trusty, Eric Trager, Adam Trull, Kevin Kim, Adam Barker, Sean O'Keefe, Katie Magnus, Isaac Jalkanen, Eric Lofgren, Kristina Belcourt, Pat Thompson, Katie Romaine, Travis Brundrett, Jack Beyrer, and Philip Waller. And all of these people on my side of the dais were led effectively by a veteran staff member from the House and Senate, my staff director, John Keast. Thank you to all of these people. Thank you once again to my colleague Senator Reed.

Mr. WICKER

Mr. WICKER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the following member of my staff be granted floor privileges until July 28, 2023, Chloe Jackson.

Mr. WICKER

Mr. WICKER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that there be up to 6 minutes of debate before the next rollcall vote.

Mr. WICKER. Now, Madam President, I think we can move along quickly if we do have order, and I do appreciate that. I call up my amendment No. 1055 and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I ask consent to have 1 additional minute on each side.

Mr. WICKER. I reserve the time of the proponents.

Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I claim the time.

Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, to close on behalf of the proponents, this is a bipartisan amendment, and it deserves bipartisan support by the U.S. Senate. Rather than set up a disruptive new bureaucracy, it builds on the requirement for the President simply to select, of the inspectors general, a lead inspector general reporting directly to the Secretaries of Defense and State. If you want true oversight and you want to put it in the statute, this amendment is necessary. That is what it does. It is simple, it is effective, and it puts it into law with the signature of the President. I urge a bipartisan ``yes'' vote for this bipartisan amendment. Vote on Amendment No. 1055

Mr. WICKER. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. WICKER

Mr. WICKER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the following interns from my office be granted floor privileges until July 28, 2023: Shields Armstrong, Dia Chawla, Sykes Connell, Bobby Current, Don Fruge, Christian Fulcher, and Barron Liston.

Mr. WICKER

Mr. WICKER. Madam President, let me say that in just a few moments, we will begin voting on amendments that are subject to unanimous consent requests, and we hope to do five votes today and additional votes tomorrow and following so that we can get this National Defense Authorization Bill enacted and get to conference. Let me say that this year's National Defense Authorization Act would help meet the dangerous national security moment we face and would equip our military with the tools necessary to implement the national defense strategy. Chairman Reed will speak later about the ways this bill will help us deter adversaries and reinforce our defenses. It has been a pleasure to work with him and to advance our constitutional duty to provide for the common defense. We do this every year. This will be the 63rd time that Congress--the House and Senate--have sent a national defense authorization bill to the President for his signature, and I know we will do it today. This is a testament to our commitment to our country and also to our servicemembers. Our threats are much greater than they were 63 years ago in 1961 when the first NDAA was passed. Today, the United States faces the most complex and dangerous global security situation since World War II. China is swelling its military might. Xi Jinping has directed his forces to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. He has actually said this is his goal. He proclaimed it openly. A successful invasion of Taiwan would spell the end of the global security architecture that has helped ensure American peace and prosperity since 1945. Meanwhile, Russia is executing the largest European land war in over half a century. But Vladimir Putin's eyes are not only on Ukraine and Europe. He seeks influence across the global south and the Middle East. Amid this resurgence of great power conflict, Iran and North Korea are increasingly bellicose. Their weapons programs and missile tests raise the specter of nuclear conflict to a higher level. The President of Israel mentioned this very effectively in a joint speech to Congress earlier today. Indeed, our own homeland is no longer a sanctuary. Criminal Mexican cartels have exploited our porous southwest border. This has created a drug and human-trafficking crisis that is killing thousands of Americans each year. Moreover, two decades after 9/11, our sovereign airspace is vulnerable. We witnessed that earlier this year when China flew a surveillance balloon over our country without any encumbrance. Managing such a complex threat environment requires more resources and smarter approaches. Senior national security officials have repeatedly told the Senate Armed Services Committee a simple message: American defense capabilities are spread dangerously thin. In fact, our military has not been spread this thin in 70 years. Our industrial base began to hum on the eve of war with the Axis powers. And since then, our worldwide military presence has underwritten our domestic tranquility. We have succeeded because we followed the doctrine of peace through strength. We believe the best way to encounter today's threats is to deter our adversaries from attacking at all. However, as today's threats increase, our deterrence capabilities have decreased, and they must begin to increase and do so immediately. For the past few years, our defense industrial base has languished. Anemic budgets created a brittle industry that cannot ramp production to meet the needs of today. This year's NDAA is an important step forward in our quest to rebuild our arsenal. Ideally, we would have an annual 3- to 5-percent boost to our topline above inflation--3- to 5- percent boost above inflation to our topline. Yet even without that budget increase, our committee has managed to advance a strong bipartisan product that contains important provisions. Let me summarize a few. Our secret weapon, first of all, has always been our people. So supporting our military personnel is key to any successful NDAA. This bill authorizes a 5.2-percent pay raise for our servicemembers, and it includes a host of other quality-of-life improvements for our troops and for our families. The bill also contains provisions that will help the military solve its recruiting crisis. I am glad to note we include a massive expansion of Junior ROTC--the JROTC program--an initiative that instills values like citizenship and public service in our young people and, no doubt, increases interest in military service. A 19th century American Navy captain said: Whoever rules the waves, rules the world. Our committee agrees. This year's NDAA supports our shipbuilding programs by fully authorizing LPD-33, the Marine Corps' top priority. The bill decisively rejects the Biden administration's misguided proposal to retire several ships too early. We also included support for our submarine programs. The legislation addresses ongoing maintenance delays. We are sending more funds to our shipyards. It expands our deterrent capabilities with the sea-launched cruise missile, and it allows us to make good on our commitments to the United Kingdom and to Australia, commonly known as the AUKUS agreement. The NDAA also delivers a host of powerful munitions. The bill makes six more munitions eligible for multiyear procurement contracts, including the highly regarded Tomahawk missile. This missile is one of INDOPACOM's commander's top priorities for deterring Chinese aggression in the western Pacific. The commander said he needed this additional procurement, and this committee bill gives it to him. These multiyear commitments send a clear demand signal to our industrial base. We have to manufacture this ammunition. We have to manufacture these weapons. They also allow us to replenish our stocks while securing victory for Ukraine against our strategic adversary Russia. And we will produce these arms at home, equipping American troops with weapons made by American workers. Our committee realizes military competition in the 21st century will be decided also by our willingness to harness emerging technology. So this NDAA accelerates the development of artificial intelligence-- offensive cyber, hypersonics, and unmanned platforms. We intend to lap Beijing in the 100-year innovation marathon. We need to lap communist China. So we are authorizing a new Pentagon authority within the Office of Strategic Capital. This bill also establishes investments in space launch infrastructure to secure the high ground in the Sino-American space race. As always, partnerships with our allies act as a force multiplier on all the tools we are providing American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. I am glad this bill enhances security cooperation with allies in every part of the free world, from the Baltics to the Pacific. The bill also addresses the crisis at the southwest border. And it is a crisis. We do this by requiring the Department of Defense to develop a strategy for countering fentanyl--a DOD strategy for countering the deadly drug of fentanyl. It also authorizes the Department to act against criminal Mexican cartels in cyber space. Today, the Department unbelievably pays rent to store previously purchased border wall materials. We don't put them up to protect our border, but we pay rent to landowners to store these border wall materials. This legislation, on a bipartisan basis, compels them to use or transfer those materials so that wall construction can continue. This bill focuses the Pentagon on deterring real wars, not fighting culture wars. Our NDAA sends a signal to the Department of Defense bureaucrats that Congress intends to rein in divisive social policies. This year's bill limits the amount we spend on salaries of DEI staff. It restores a culture of meritocracy and calls our service academies to focus on forming effective officers and not on hosting Berkeley-style seminars. Time forbids me from listing all the provisions we have included in the NDAA. But before I finish, I should note that we have an all-too- rare chance to return the Senate to regular order today, and it gives us a chance to avoid a costly, wasteful continuing resolution for our military. For the first time in years, the Senate majority leader has put the Defense bill up for consideration with months left in the calendar. Still, we must be mindful of the fleeting time. But we must take this chance to avoid another self-inflicted real cut to defense. And that is what a continuing resolution always does when we have to retreat to that. Let's avoid that and we are doing that today. We are going to take up five amendments that we have agreed by unanimous consent to bring to the floor. The managers' package contains 50 amendments that have been agreed to by the committees and the leadership--25 amendments sponsored by Democrats, 25 amendments sponsored by my party, the Republican Party. And we have a chance to continue this with votes tomorrow. I think we should proceed with dispatch, working into the night, if necessary, next week, to get this bill done after having a full debate on ideas submitted from both sides of the aisle. Let's work thoughtfully to deliver a bill to the President's desk that commits this Congress to a national policy of preparedness. Let me quote President Theodore Roosevelt who endorsed such a policy of preparedness. Theodore Roosevelt said this: Never in our entire history has a Nation suffered . . . because too much care has been given to the Army, too much prominence given it, too much money spent upon it, or because it has been too large. But again and again, we have suffered because enough care has not been given to it; because it had been too small; because there has not been a sufficient preparation in advance for a possible war. We need to heed those words today. And what President Roosevelt was saying is it will cost a lot to deter our enemies, but it would cost a lot more if we do not. We cannot wait a moment longer to consider this year's NDAA. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.