it was added to the ndaa by an amendment in the dead of night. this rule removes that provision, allows congress to properly study the issue. wherever yostand on the issue of including women in the aft, the american people should have the befit of a fu hearing, a full consideration of that issue. and jamming this thing int this billnd considering without going through that is not right for the american people, which ever de they stand on. making that, theay this bill stands today,s e right thick to -- thing to do before we make a substantial change. i also know the president has concerns about the way this year's ndaa funds our milita. the bill funds the overseas contingency operation until april, 2017, when a new president will have time to assess the security situation and then ey can submit a supplemental budget request based on their priorities. this is common for the first year of a new administration. indee in 2008, thesenator barack obama, then senator john kerry, then senator joe biden all supported a similar strategy. so i find it very o

that date is built into the ndaa already. if april 30 isn't enough time for a new president and new congress to ask for more money for these wars, if it is enough time for a new president and a new congress to ask for more money for these wars in a supplemental, then it should be plenty of time for congress to take up and debate an aumf. now, of course, this congress or the next one should and could take up an aumf any day it so desires. i remember in 2014, the speakerer -- that speaker boehner told us it would be better for the 114th congress to debate and pass an aumf. for iraq and syria. rather than the 113th congress. well, here we are, 16 1/2 months into the 114th congress, with no thought of taking up an aumf on battling the islamic state. i guess this congress is just too damn chicken to do its job when it comes to war. and we're going to kick the can into the 115th congress. or maybe the 116th congress. enough with the excuses. enough. in fact, i remember last year, speaker ryan said an aumf for iraq and syria, for th

we must strip the toxic language in the ndaa. we should ensure no federal contractor has the ability to fire someone just because of who they are or who they love and because they profess there is -- their religious belief says they do so. we must continue to fight until all americans have the rights they deserve. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from alabama. mr. byrne: thank you, mr. speaker. with regard to the amendment in question, it was considered late at night because of the fair and open process we have in the committee, and it took us from that along from 10:00 in the morning until that time of the night to get to it but everybody knew it was coming because it was noticed and everybody had a copy of it well in advance. so it wasn't a surprise to anybody. everybody knew it was coming. now, the particular provision itself does not contain anything close to a word like discrimination, but just so we can make the re

would that provision alone be enough for the president to veto the house version of the ndaa? >> well, you know, chris, the way that it's detailed in the statement of administration position that you've clearly reviewed quite closely, there's a long list of concerns that we have with the proposal that republicans have put forward. so at this point i don't think i can single out any one as being sufficient to garner a presidential veto. and the reason for that is just that there are a whole lot of reasons why the bill is bad and why the president strongly opposes it. so i think what i can say as a general matter is that the president has been forceful in using his executive authority to prevent discrimination, and the executive order that that you've cited is a good example of that. and the president has, on a number of occasions, protected his ability to use that executive authority in his negotiations with congress because we know that there are some in congress who, for reasons that seem rather perverse to me, believe that the president shouldn't be taking actions to prevent

which is a bilateral ndaa that goes back several congresses. bring these terrorists to south carolina, kansas or maybe another state without any correspondence with the governor? the governor represents 4.8 million people in south carolina. the general assembly, 124 in the house, 46 in the house represent a combined total of 4.8 million people in south carolina. the congressional delegation, seven of us, represent 4.8 million people in south carolina who overwhelmingly support your decision to stop or try to stop the administration bringing terrorists to charleston, south carolina. so we listen to a small group of environmentalists about energy issues but he won't listen to the governor, the general assembly and the congressional delegation with regard to bringing terrorists to u.s. soil? that is alarming to me. so let me ask you this. has there been any sort of threat assessment with regard to the naval big, transferring the -- brig transferring the terrorists? i believe a terrorist on an island isolated from the main land, very difficult to g

we got some big wins for georgia in this ndaa. we again fought to make sure two they have air force's most valuable platforms stay in the air, the a-10 out of moody air force base and the a.h.c. target attack radar system out of robbins air force base. bolt of these fleets are taking the fight to the enemy right noism a-10 is surntly engaged in the fight against isis in the middle east and supporting our special sforses by car rig out precision strikes against terrorists. additionally i'm grateful that the committee adopted my amendment to delay retirement of the j-stars through 2018 this legislation also provides for the recapitalization of that fleet. during the committee process we moved to protect the c-130 work load, robins is an efficient and effective depo center and is a center of excellence for our country. i believe the house version of the ndaa sets us on a course to sustain military readiness, makes appropriate investments for future threats, and supports the significant contributions of robins, moody and other georgia

the rule for the ndaa strikes the provision without debate. i understand that we aren't always going to be in agreement and that's why we debate and vote issues on the house floor but resort to gimmicks is unconscionable. this is an issue that congress must debate and vote on. i look forward to continuing to work with the chairman and the rest of the committee to ensure we resource our military services in a responsible manner so we can face the challenges of today and tomorrow. thank you, mr. chairman. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. thornberry: i yield two minutes to the chair of oversight and investigations subcommittee, mrs. hartzler. mrs. hartzler: i rise in support of our national defense. there are stark realities we must face in increased and emerging threats from around the globe combined with military readiness. in the face of these challenges, we have a choice. either continue to let our military capabilities wither as our adverse sears grow stronger or recognize the changing global ndscape and make sure they keep us safe.

president, the ndaa came out of committee with huge bipartisan support and certainly one of the most important things we do here is focus on our national defense, focus on having a strong military, focus on taking care of our veterans. we should be bringing that bill on the floor, not delaying any longer, debating its merits and moving forward. and i just don't understand why we're not doing that right now. and i certainly don't think the american people understand it. mr. president, another important topic that we should be talking about on the senate floor a lot more is the state of our economy. in my view, national defense, economic opportunity for americans, these are the critical things we need to be debating in the senate. as i've been doing recently, i wanted to come down here and talk about the health of our economy, the importance of getting to a healthy economy. make no mistake, right now we have a sick economy. we need to bring the u.s. economy, the greatest economic engine of growth that the world has ever known, back to life. we need to bring people who have lost economi

furthermore, the senate is advancing an ndaa bill that requires the d.o.d. to produce an annual budget justification for funding. there's significant demand, mr. chairman, for more transparency and accountability in terms of u.s. security cooperation. our amendment is consistent with that demand and it builds on the great work done by the committee this area to define clear objectives and security cooperation. i want to thank the chairman and ranking member and both committee staffs, majority and minority, for their excellent work and for their bipartisan approach to this and so many other issues in the build and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. thornberry: i yield one minute to the distinguished gentleman from new hampshire, mr. guinta. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. guinta: i have an amendment at the desk. thank you, mr. speaker, i rise in support of my amendment to the national defense authorization act and i want to thank the chairman for including it in the en blo

ndaa, we canl always go back and fix it, but i do think it is important to take these steps to get the commissaries moving towards a more self-sustaining posture and think that best protects our service members, but also helps deflect some of the arguments that have been going on the other way. mr. courtney, were you seeking recognition? >> i was, mr. chairman. >> the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. the yield to mr. walz. you, gentlemen. i want to say i do not disagree with anything the braking member has said and the commitment to getting this right is not questioned. i want to be clear about that. my concern comes with the length of time and am i correct, mr. chairman, that it is six months that this will come back and then they will put the changes and to affect and my question was of trying to get a little more time until the data comes back over a larger dataset. that was really the purpose of the amendment. >> no, the six months is the time at which they are supposed to come back with the initial plan of how the calculated out the market basket value, with th

in the ndaa last year, we actually had an amendment that addressed this and had the secretary of defense to focus on the operational seams with regard to putting together a arctic strategy. if confirmed, working with admiral harris and pay com, will you focus on trying address this co-com operational seam that certainly can be worked through, but seems to be a challenge? >> sir, if confirmed, i commit to you that i will focus on the arctic. i will use a complex place. it's becoming much more conge congested and i will focus on understanding comp hensley what that is and come back to you and talk about what should we do. >> general -- >> yes, sir, i will. >> in the ndaa last year, it focused on the secretary of defense because of these issues and the growing threat. being required to develop arctic strategy. a new operational plans that reflect a new situation in the arctic. if confirmed, will you work with osd the make sure that the those requirements from the congress are fulfilled? >> yes, sir, i commit to you to come back and talk to you what i learn. fz. >> >> yes, sir, i will. >> le

earnest: i haven't considered every proposal in the ndaa and let me consult with our staff and get back to you. reporter: on the talks about yria, john kerry said today if assad has reached a conclusion there is no plan b and it's very dangerous. dangerous for whom? mr. earnest: the concern that secretary kerry is expressing there that the longer that president assad remains in power in syria, the more chaos and violence and division plagues that country. and that's why the united states and most of the international community is strongly in favor of executing a political transition inside of syria. he has lost legitimacy. and has ordered the military to carry attacks against unarmed civilians and by doing so, he within the claim realm of reason to be able to govern the country of syria. just as a practical matter, it's hard to imagine that syrian citizens who are on the receiving end of barrel bombs would be open to president assad to leave the country. the longer he is there, the more dangerous and violent he becomes. that is dangerous. we know that isil and they are not the only one,

we've already gotten to work on the ndaa, and later this summer, the senate will consider the defense appropriations act. these measures will provide some level of certainty to our brave service members now serving in iraq, afghanistan and in other places around the world. as memorial day approaches, let us pause and remember all of the men and women who have given their lives so we can be free. let's pause and honor the families of the fallen who have also given so much. on memorial day, and every day, let us give thanks for these outstanding heroes. they serve as a testimony to the character of america. may god always bless you, our servicemen and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice, the great state of iowa, and these wonderful united states of america. >> washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up sunday morning, the transcript -- transportation officer will talk about how the administration is planning to airportelays in security checkpoints. he will discuss how the tsa plans to resolve long wait times and look at the current

i proposed two amendments to the ndaa and am disappointed they were not given a chance to be voted on. the ndaa bill that passed prohibits the use of unused military grounds to house unaccompanied immigrant children while their asylum case is being processed. mr. cardenas: my amendment would allow them to increase the shelter capacity by temporarily housing unaccompanied children in understand used d.o.d. facilities. i also offered an amendment that would have daca recipients to enlist in the military for as long as the program exists. to deny brave, dedicated men and women the opportunity to defend this great nation is just un-american. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise to commend my colleagues for supporting and passing the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2017

i hope to see a vote on the peters amendment 4138 as we continue the work on the ndaa, and i urge my colleagues to join us in fighting on behalf of our nation's service members. thank you, mr. president. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk shall call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. hatch: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hatch: mr. president, i rise today to speak about the pending nominees for the social security and medicare boards of trustees. as most of us know, under the law, these two boards consist of secretaries of treasury, labor, h.h.s., the commissioner of social security and two public trustees, one from each party. one purpose of the boards is to provide yearly reports on the operation of the trust funds and their current and projected status. since 1983 when the two public trustee positions were established in the statute, the trustee reports for both trust funds had largely been devoid

i filed an amendment to strike the provision from the ndaa. i urge all of my colleagues to support it. i think that that second amendment is also one that deserves a full debate out here on the senate floor. if we want other countries to reduce their nuclear arsenals and restrain their nuclear war plans, the united states must take the lead instead of wasting billions of dollars on dangerous new nuclear weapons that do nothing to keep our nation safe. president obama should scale back his nuclear weapons build-up. instead of provoking russia and china with expanding missile defenses that will ultimately fail, we should work towards a new arms control agreement. as president obama said in prague in 2009, let us honor our past by reaching for a better future. a lesson of the past and a lesson of hiroshima is clear. nuclear weapons must never be used again on this planet. president obama did an excellent job in reaching a nuclear arms control agreement with iran. that was important. because if iran was right now on its way to the development of a

piggyback on the mccain amendment, that we would figure out a way to solve this problem bipartisan in the ndaa bill and i very pruch appreciate my friend from arizona's commitment to help us solve that problem. i know we'll have the complete cooperation of our ranking member, senator reed, and i look forward to trying to solve the problem for the benefit of veterans throughout the country who don't get the services that we need and we can move forward, at least in 17 areas where they will. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: i just want to join my colleague from new york as the rarpging member of the -- ranking member of the v.a. committee, having worked with senator mccain on his amendment, i'm very pleased that the mccain-blumenthal amendment has been made pending and that we have an agreement to authorize those v.a. leases that were requested over the last fiscal years when we turned to the national defense authorization act. i want to stress that these leases have been requested over the last several fiscal years

has a very important amendment i think we should all consider and look at that will be part of the ndaa issue as we move forward. again, there are a lot of outstanding questions. we wanted to get the person who is right in the thick of things from the white house to come here and testify. white house on thursday claimed that this wasn't about executive privilege and then less than 24 hours before this hearing, they reversed course and said, oh, it is about executive privilege. now, who is being inconsistent? who is being inconsistent? you have plenty of time, mr. rhodes, to go out and talk to all of the media friends and talk to the echo chamber you brag about in the "new york times." when it comes time to actually answer hard questions under oath, you decide not to do it. my time has far exceeded what we had allocated. we'll now recognize the ranking member, mr. cummings. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i thank all our witnesses for being here today. mr. chairman, i'm sitting here today, i'm surprised, very surprised and shocked that you would invite john hannah to testify before

following on the prohibition in this house in the ndaa, i ask that my colleagues support my amendment. i reserve. the chair: any member claiming time in opposition? the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. dent: i rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. there are no projects in the united states, or in the f.y. 2017 request for this purpose in the u.s. , ere are funds, $33 million for the naval station at fwauntaun moe bay, cuba, at the request of southern command to deal with various issues of people obviously that we're interdicting on the seas or that are arriving in cuba. but the point is, i don't want to preclude the department of defense from dealing with an emergency situation, should one arise in the u.s. so that's why i must oppose my friend's amendment. at this time i'd like to yield time to my distinguished colleague and ranking member, mr. bishop of georgia. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. bishop: i thank the gentleman for yielding. we have an opportunity and obligation to help children who come across our boarder to escape the problems of their homeland.

memorial day recess, and i very much appreciate the fact that we're going to pass another bipartisan ndaa bill which will be signed by the president. it's going to give the defense to give our troops the opportunity to have the tools, equipment and resources they need in a very dangerous world. it funds the defense department at $602 billion, and our friends should know and the public should know, madam president, that this $602 billion is the figure requested by the president of the united states, so we are coming with a bipartisan number. we've had some questions on the part of our friends on the other side of the aisle about spending elsewhere, but we should -- we should be clear and there's no question about it the president requested $602 billion for defense, and this bill gives our troops and the president that $602 billion. it deals with such important issues as preserving the progress we've made in afghanistan, continuing our fight against the islamic state, bolstering readiness against an aggressive russia, standing up on behalf of one of our most important allies, the state of i

i rise today to speak about the national defense authorization act of 2017 off the ndaa. this bill was reported out of committee two weeks ago with 100% support from our friends across the aisle and nearly unanimous support if the majority party. i'm thankful for the leadership of chairman mccain and ranking member reed. i think they've done a marvelous jobs of the these are two veterans. they have served their country well before becoming members of this body. as members of this body, they have worked very, very hard to find consensus among republicans and democrats with regard to how we work to prepare an authorization bill for funding for our military. the reason that i'm here today is, i think it's important to share my thoughts about the need to move forward with a discussion of the national defense authorization act on the floor of the senate in an appropriate time frame. for those individuals that wonder how the senate works, sometimes we find it frustrating because we'd like to move in and as my friend, the senator from oregon just indicated, they would like to ha

what measures are there-dirnl' grateful i worked with congressman moulton in the ndaa we have a requirement thereby will be a response to missile testing and identification of missile testing. is there anything in place to let the american people know what's going on? mr. countryman: i'm soarry. what's going on -- mr. wilson: to identify a missile test and the implication of the missile test? by iran? mr. countryman: there's a lot of information. some of which is not appropriate for this forum, but we are always prepared to brief members on the full range of information that we have about iranian missile tests. mr. wilson: american families are at risk. they need to in a moment i yield the balance of my time. mr. royce: mr. cicilline ofryry. mr. cicilline: thank you, mr. chairman and witnesses. i appreciate the testimony with respect to the compliance. i think for many of us who supported this deal we are pleased that compliance with he requirements have been met. that iran has taken the steps required. i think part of the challenge for us, though, is we were told during this process that g

what measures are there -- i'm grateful i worked with congressman moulton in the ndaa we have a requirement thereby will be a response to missile testing and identification of missile testing. is there anything in place to let the american people know what's going on? mr. countryman: i'm sorry. what's going on -- mr. wilson: to identify a missile test and the implication of the missile test? by iran? mr. countryman: there's a lot of information. some of which is not appropriate for this forum, but we are always prepared to brief members on the full range of information that we have about iranian missile tests. mr. wilson: american families are at risk. they need to in a moment i yield the balance of my time. mr. royce: mr. cicilline of rhode island. mr. cicilline: thank you, mr. chairman and witnesses. i appreciate the testimony with respect to the compliance. i think for many of us who supported this deal we are pleased that compliance with the requirements have been met. that iran has taken the steps required. i think part of the challenge for us, though, is we were told during this proce

house armed serviceses advanced ndaa, wrapping up a marathon markup. you also reporting on the chairman thornberry's amendment slashing the size of the national security council. why does he want to do that? john: he would do it in an indirect way. he would say if the national security council is going to be more than 100 people, then the president's national security advisor must be confirmed by the senate. the senate armed services committee, by the way, did a more directly, capping the level of that national security council staff at 150. so the reason he wants to do it is because he thinks that the staff has become too large, overleaning and micromanages the war efforts. a way of pushing back the obama administration. we'll see what happens in the next administration. host: you're righting in "c.q." about a floor fight over helicopters. what's that all about? john: yeah. back in february, "c.q." disclosed there was an urgent alarm bell going off in the armed services committee about the fact that these vietnam era helicopters that are supposed to b

so the ndaa which will be taken up on the floor starting later this week and then after memorial day in the senate, i'm really going to try to do again what we've done in the last couple of years which is if not eliminate at least lift or mitigate the effect of cyber cuts. and if we do that, then we have to make the right investments and the right investments are at least two foerld. then i'll be glad to open it up and take some questions. the first one is work force. when jim introduced me he talked a little bit about work that i do. virginia is a center for technology workforce. not the only center. there are other state that's have a huge expertise in it, too, maryland, california, other states. but even as a center of a technology workforce, second in the nation of percentage workers in technology jobs, earn even? virg irnlg there's human gaps. there's only one candidate for every three cyber security positions that are open in virginia and there is in the state with the technology workforce. so we have a dramatic need to get more people into this field. this is one of the reason

berry, has a very important amendment, i think we should all consider and look at will be part of the ndaa issue as we move forward. again, there are a lot of outstanding questions. we wanted to get the person who is right in the thick of things from the white house to come here and testify, white house on thursday claimed that this wasn't about executive privilege and then less than 24 hours before this hearing, they reverse course and said oh, it is about executive privilege. who is being irch consistent. who is being inconsistent. you have plenty of times, mr. rose, to go out and talk to all the media friends and talk to the echo chamber that you brag about in the "new york times." when it comes time to actually answer our questions under oath and decide not to do it. by the time exceeded allocated, recognize the ranking member. mr. chairman, sitting here today i'm surprised, i'm very surprised and shocked that you would invite john hanna to testify before our committee as an expert witness. he helped prepare secretary of the infamous speech to the united nations to the iraq war, a spee

we've already gotten to work on the ndaa, and later this summer, the senate will consider the defense appropriations act. these measures will provide some level of certainty to our brave service members now serving in iraq, afghanistan and in other places around the world. as memorial day approaches, let us pause and remember all of the men and women who have given their lives so we can be free. let's pause and honor the families of the fallen who have also given so much. on memorial day, and every day, let us give thanks for these outstanding heroes. they serve as a testimony to the character of america. may god always bless you, our servicemen and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice, the great state of iowa, and these wonderful united states of america. >> i think we catch up to the 20th century. we have been the invisible half of the congress the past seven years. we have watched our house colleagues with interest. of members ofrage our colleagues in the house. >> today is the senate comes out of the communications for ages, we create another historic moment in the relation