Floor Statements

Mr. President, let me respond to my colleague and good friend from West Virginia. He and I served as Governors at the same time. We have a friendship that has now lasted more than a decade. A lot of what the Senator has indicated I feel as well in terms of the reason why we came here and the focus we should have. In fact, I think one of the most important things we can do as Members of this institution, Members of this body, is to show respect for one another and defend one another in our responsibility to try to find a way forward. Until we have that respect for one another, it will be very difficult to expect others to have that same respect for us or for this institution.

I most certainly appreciate the sentiments expressed by my colleague from West Virginia, and I appreciate his bringing them to the floor today.

Mr. President, it is in that spirit that I bring this message to my fellow Members of the U.S. Senate. I rise today to ask for support for the Defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2018.

I would like to start by thanking the majority leader for bringing the Defense appropriations bill to the floor. Now, just because the majority leader brings it to the floor doesn't mean we will necessarily get the opportunity to debate it. It requires either the unanimous consent of all the Members or at least 60 Members agreeing to have that debate. That is one of the reasons why we haven't had any appropriations measures on the floor. It takes 60 Members, Republicans and Democrats, just to begin the debate of each one of these 12 separate appropriations bills, which make up what we normally vote on during a year. This is also part of that process which has been broken for more than 44 years because it has only worked four times in 44 years. But you have to start someplace.

Providing long-term funding stability for our Armed Forces is vital to their ability to adequately train, equip, and maintain the force. In particular, under short-term, stop-gap funding measures known as continuing resolutions, which we are operating under right now, the Defense Department is restricted from starting new programs. These new programs are ones that we have already authorized through the National Defense Authorization Act on a bipartisan basis for 2018; we just haven't appropriated the money yet so that they can actually do the programs we have already agreed as a body are important to have in place. This is very concerning to me because in today's rapidly changing threat environment, these programs were designed to protect our Nation against those new threats.

If we are to adequately recover readiness levels that were lost over the last 8 years--really, in many cases, due to sequestration--as well as to modernize our Armed Forces in this increasingly dangerous and complex world, we must give them the funding, stability, and certainty that continuing resolutions fail to provide.

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Readiness, I am pleased that the subcommittee has held two hearings this year on our services' readiness posture. To put that in non-DC terms, it means just exactly what their conditions are right now and their need for modernization.

Today, I would like to share just a few examples of readiness issues facing our military force. The first are issues plaguing our Navy, and both demonstrate the need to adequately fund not only our Navy but all branches of our Armed Forces.

The first issue concerns the F/A-18 Hornet aircraft. For any Members who are wondering which aircraft it is, this is the one that people see on a regular basis on film clips and so forth showing them taking off of the carriers. This is our primary Navy attack aircraft. This is the one that we use for aerial combat. We also use this one to do the attacks in both Iraq and Syria.

The first issue is plaguing our Navy--and what they do is they demonstrate the need to adequately fund not only our Navy but, as I said, all of the different branches. So this is not only the Navy; all of the branches need this assistance.

Vice Chief of Naval Operations, ADM William Moran, stated that our legacy F/A-18A and D Hornets today take twice as many manhours as originally planned for repairs and maintenance. He has also stated that ``on a typical day in the Navy, about 25 to 30 percent of our jets and our airplanes are in some kind of depot maintenance.'' Overall, just over half are unavailable for operations today. So it is not just the F/A-18 Hornet, it is all of their aircraft that are in need of upgrading.

To sum up the Admiral's comments, the Navy is putting in twice the maintenance manhours to maintain a fleet that is less than 50 percent available.

In a crisis situation, the Vice Chief said, ``We can and we do put airplanes and ready air crews forward,'' but ``there's no depth on the bench behind them if we had to surge forces.'' In other words, all of the aircraft that are available right now, we have on the frontlines. These are the ones that are serving overseas. We don't have backups in case they start to go down.

The Marine Corps is also experiencing serious readiness issues with its F/A-18 fleet, and there is a human cost. On December 8, 2016, the Marine Corps announced that yet another pilot had been killed as a result of a training accident in the F/A-18 Hornet. This was the third Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet class A mishap--which is defined as an accident resulting in a death or the complete loss of aircraft--over a month-and-a-half time period. In the previous 22 months, the Marine Corps had experienced seven class A mishaps flying legacy F/A-18 Hornets. Sadly, some or all of these mishaps might have been avoided with the additional training and maintenance that would have been forthcoming with the additional funding that had been recommended in the National Defense Authorization Act, which this body, on a bipartisan basis, has already voted on.

Returning to the Navy, its maintenance-related readiness concerns extend to its attack submarine fleet. Admiral Moran recently mentioned that attack submarines are sometimes sent to private shipyards for maintenance because government shipyards are already at capacity with higher priority work, especially and specifically on aircraft carriers and ballistic missiles submarines, but the private shipyards do not have the capacity to take on extra repair work. This lack of shipyard capacity is severely impacting our attack submarine fleet.

For example, the USS Albany, which is an attack submarine, spent 48 months in the repair yard due to repeated delays as the workforce focused its attention on aircraft carriers and on ballistic missile submarines. That means an entire crew spent years waiting for a deployment that never came.

Worse still, the USS Boise attack submarine wasn't even put in the shipyard last summer because the shipyard workload was so far over workforce capacity. As a result, that boat is currently sitting in Norfolk, VA, and is not certified to dive while it awaits maintenance. This is a taxpayer asset sitting at dock tied up, not being repaired, not even being worked on. Right now, it is so far out of shape, it is not even allowed to dive. In fact, the Boise will not be able to rejoin the fleet until 2020 or later. That means this vital Navy asset will be unavailable for at least another 48 months.

In fact, a maintenance backlog has docked 15 nuclear-powered attack submarines for a total of 177 months--or almost 15 years--in which those attack submarines have not been available in the protection of our country.

While I am discussing some serious Navy readiness challenges, all of our services face readiness challenges.

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson recently said:

The fiscal year 2018 continuing resolution is actually

delaying our efforts to increase readiness of the force, and

risk accumulates over time. We are stretching the force to

the limit, and we need to start turning the corner on

readiness.

With a shortage of nearly 2,000 pilots, out of about 20,000 total, Secretary Wilson went on to say, current Active-Duty pilots were burning out because the Air Force was too small for what the Nation is asking.

``Our biggest need right now is for a higher and stable budget to provide security and solvency for the nation,'' she went on to say.

According to Defense Secretary James Mattis, operating under a continuing resolution for 2018 runs the risk of delaying vital projects and increasing their costs, including 37 Navy projects, 16 Air Force projects, and 38 Army projects. The projects that could be impacted include progress on new trainer aircraft, weapons systems, and important training programs.

The most important things Congress can do to solve these problems are to provide funding stability and avoid arbitrary budget caps that constrain defense spending below that which is required to protect our Nation. This bill that is before us now does both. More specifically, only by removing these caps can we avoid the Department of Defense having to make difficult choices that are so devastating for our Armed Forces. In particular, we must avoid their having to make the false choice of paying for readiness while assuming the risk for modernization or vice versa.

The American people expect us to adequately defend America next year

and for every year to come. This requires us to put an end to continuing resolutions and remove arbitrary budget caps and the threat of sequestration. Only by doing so can Congress fulfill its No. 1 responsibility: keeping Americans safe.

I conclude by again thanking the majority leader for bringing the fiscal year 2018 Defense appropriations bill to the floor. He can't do it alone. He needs our cooperation. He needs our understanding as to just how critical this is. If there is not unanimous consent to move forward, it will require 60 of us to agree. It is time to bring this bill to the floor for full debate and passage.

I ask all of my colleagues to support it, get it to the President's desk as soon as possible, and finally bring an end to the defense component of a continuing resolution that, with arbitrary budget caps, is so severely impacting the readiness of our Armed Forces.

Thank you.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, on December 21, 2017, Senator Isakson was necessarily absent for the vote on the continuing resolution. He intended to vote yea, and it was my intention to vote no. As a courtesy to Senator Isakson, I voted yea, in order to pair our votes.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

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

Mr. President, I have 2 requests for committees to meet during

today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

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

Mr. President, 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. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Wednesday, January 17; 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, and morning business be closed; further, that following leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to concur in the House amendment to accompany S. 139; finally, that all time during recess, adjournment, morning business, and leader remarks count postcloture on the motion to concur.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

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

Mr. President, today I recognize Katie Murray for all of her hard work on behalf of myself, my staff, and the citizens of South Dakota while working in my Rapid City and Sioux Falls, offices.

Katie is a joy to work with, and she has been an excellent public servant. We wish her the best in all of her future endeavors.

The citizens of South Dakota, my staff, and I are grateful to Katie for her service. We are a better State because of her hard work.

Mr. President, today I recognize Michele Mustain for all of her hard work on behalf of myself, my staff, and the people of South Dakota while working in my Sioux Falls, SD office.

We are grateful for the excellent work she has done for other elected leaders and for all of the help she has given to the citizens of the United States.

Because she has helped so many soldiers and their families, it is fitting that she will now be working for the Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve.

My staff and I wish her the best in the future. We will always appreciate her and her willingness to help us become better public servants.

Mr. President, today I recognize Maj. Michael ``Pako'' Benitez for all of his hard work on behalf of myself, my staff, and the State of South Dakota while working in my Washington, DC, office.

Pako entered military service in 1997 and has devoted his career to the United States Armed Forces. Before his time in my office, Pako served as a flight commander and F-15E instructor weapons system officer. Pako's experiences and expertise have been a true asset to the office.

I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Pako for his service to our country. I wish him continued success in the years to come.

Mr. President, today I recognize Shelli Coffey for all of her hard work on behalf of myself, my staff, and the State of South Dakota while working in my Washington, DC, office.

Shelli has spent her career working at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, spending time in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. Shelli's insight into regulations and community banks has been a true asset to the office.

I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Shelli for all of the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. ROUNDS. Mr. President, today I recognize George Nincehelser, an intern in my Washington, DC, office, for all the hard work he has done on behalf of myself, my staff, and the State of South Dakota.

George recently graduated from the University of Nebraska where he majored in criminal justice and received minors in Arabic, national security, and global studies. He is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of his internship experience and who has been a true asset to the office.

I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to George for all of the fine work he has done and wish him continued success in the years to come.