The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the in the Senate section section on pages S7198-S7200 on Dec. 19, 2019.
The Department includes the Census Bureau, which is used to determine many factors about American life. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the Department is involved in misguided foreign trade policies and is home to many unneeded programs.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT
Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020.
The National Defense Authorization Act conference agreement provides crucial resources to our Armed Forces and our national defense, including a pay increase for our men and women in uniform. I am proud that the Congress was able to come together on a bipartisan basis to pass this legislation to support our servicemembers, strengthen our national security, and invest in critical projects in my home State of Maryland.
While I have serious reservations about a number of items included in this legislation and am particularly disappointed by the exclusion of important priorities like the DETER Act to prevent Russian interference in our elections, I believe that, on balance, this NDAA will strengthen our national security. For that reason, I voted in favor of it.
With this bill, the Federal Government will now provide 12 weeks of paid parental leave to its workforce. We have been fighting for years to provide paid family and medical leave to workers throughout the country. Now the Federal Government will finally start to lead by example. Paid leave will reduce employee turnover costs for the Federal Government and help agencies continue to recruit and retain top-notch talent into the civil service. I was proud to help secure this, and we need to keep fighting until all workers around the Nation receive paid family and medical leave benefits.
The NDAA also repeals the military widow's tax. Currently, military widows and widowers who qualify for the VA's dependency and indemnity compensation are forced to take a dollar-for-dollar offset from the DOD Survivors Benefits Plan benefit, even though their retired spouses elected to pay into the program. No other Federal surviving spouse is required to forfeit his or her Federal annuity because military service caused his or her sponsor's death. This is fundamentally unjust. In September, I met with a constituent and military widow who was subjected to this offset after the loss of her husband. Hearing her story hardened my resolve to ensure that we got this done this year, and I am proud of the Congress for coming together to repeal this offset.
Critically, this legislation also includes the Otto Warmbier North Korea Nuclear Sanctions and Enforcement Act, which I introduced with Senator Toomey. This legislation offers foreign banks and firms a stark choice: continue business with North Korea or maintain access to the U.S. financial system. Within 120 days of enactment of the law, this legislation mandates sanctions on the foreign banks and companies that facilitate illicit financial transactions for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. North Korea continues to perfect its ballistic missile capabilities and produce more fissile material for nuclear weapons. Our aim is to cut off North Korea's remaining access to the international financial system and create the leverage necessary for serious nuclear negotiations to achieve the goal of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The NDAA also includes bipartisan legislation that tracks the provision Senator Graham and I included in Senate Foreign Operations appropriations bills over the years to prohibit the transfer of the F-
35 Joint Strike Fighter to Turkey until President Erdogan relinquishes the Russian S-400 air and missile defense system. Turkey has recently started testing the S-400 missile system, and they have said the system will be operational early next year. The administration must not only continue blocking the transfer of the F- 35s, but--as Senator Graham and I indicated in a recent letter to Secretary Pompeo--it has a legal duty to impose economic sanctions on Turkey.
The NDAA also includes a version of a bill Senator Cotton and I introduced to prevent the President from removing Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from the Commerce Department's Entity List without certifying to Congress that it is complying with U.S. laws and the administration has mitigated the threat Huawei poses to our national security. While I was disappointed that our original bill was watered down, the final version is still better than the status quo.
This bill also includes a number of measures I introduced to ensure that we give proper recognition to Americans who have bravely served our country in combat. One of them is Col. Charles McGee. Colonel McGee, a distinguished Tuskegee Airman who recently celebrated his 100th birthday, is a living aviation legend and an American hero. From World War II to Korea, Colonel McGee flew more combat missions than any other pilot in the service of his country. The first African American to command a stateside Air Force wing and base, this Marylander's service to our Nation is truly remarkable. That is why I worked with the Air Force and introduced legislation to authorize the honorary promotion of Colonel McGee to brigadier general. And today, on a bipartisan basis, the Congress has authorized this honor. Colonel McGee makes all Marylanders proud and reminds us all of what it means to serve.
The conference report also includes the bipartisan World War I Valor Medals Review Act, which I introduced with Senator Blunt. This legislation directs the Department of Defense to review the service records of minority service members who fought during World War I and who may have been passed over for the Medal of Honor because of their race or ethnicity. Many of these individuals have never received proper recognition for their acts of valor.
Take, for example, William Butler of Salisbury, MD. In 1916 he was living in Harlem, where he enlisted in the New York National Guard. His regiment landed in France on Jan. 1, 1918. Sargent Butler received the Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre for his bravery in rescuing several members of his regiment from their German captors. Sargent Butler killed 10 Germans, took a German prisoner, freed all the American prisoners, and brought them back to safety. He returned home to a hero's welcome. The Baltimore Afro-American called him ``Maryland's Greatest Hero.'' The New York Tribune called him a
``hero among heroes.'' He and the rest of the Harlem Hellfighters marched through New York City. Upon his return to Maryland, his small community gave him a gold watch as a token of their respect and appreciation. But despite a recommendation for the Medal of Honor, he never received it. In 1947, after losing the ability to work, he took his own life. He was buried at Arlington--with a typo on his tombstone.
The living descendants of these veterans deserve to know that their government, despite its past failings, recognizes their heroism. I am very proud of the Congress for coming together to honor those who chose to serve their country, even at a time when their country did not treat them as equal citizens. In doing so we demonstrate that it is never too late to right a historical wrong.
I would also like to commend the Valor Medals Review Task Force, jointly established by the United States Foundation for the Commemoration of the World Wars and the George S. Robb Centre for the Study of the Great War, which has worked tirelessly to identify World War I veteran service records for this review. I applaud the NDAA conferees for encouraging the Secretaries of the military departments to consult with the Valor Medals Review Task Force to identify those service records that warrant further review to determine whether such veteran should be recommended for an upgrade to the Medal of Honor for valor.
The NDAA also addresses serious concerns with the oversight of privatized military housing. Over the past year, I have engaged with leaders at Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground as they have addressed woefully inadequate maintenance by private housing contractors. The NDAA includes key provisions of the Ensuring Safe Housing for Our Military Act, of which I am a cosponsor. This includes withholding payment of the basic allowance for housing under certain circumstances, the creation of a Tenant Bill of Rights and the position of Chief Housing Officer, a uniform code of basic standards for privatized military housing, and access for tenants to an online work order system, among other improvements.
Lastly, I am pleased that the bill includes language requiring congressional notification and a 120-day waiting period before the President gives notice of his intent to withdraw from the New START and Open Skies treaties.
While I am pleased with many of the provisions included in this bill and voted for its passage, I do have significant reservations.
First, the unchecked growth in the defense budget is unsustainable, and the continued use of the overseas contingency operations budget to fund elements of the Pentagon's regular base budget activities with war funds is a blatant abuse of the budget process. We have a duty to ensure the readiness of our forces, and I support efforts to rebuild our Armed Forces after years of costly overseas engagements. But massive spending increases without clear strategic direction do not make us safer, and the use of off-budget accounts to boost Pentagon spending is a disservice to our children and grandchildren, who will pay for these spending increases regardless of whether or not they are properly accounted for today. Especially in a post-Budget Control Act environment, where we are not constrained by artificial caps, we need to be thoughtful about our spending choices, recognize that every dollar spent on defense is a dollar not spent on health care, education, workforce training, and other critical areas of need. And we need to use OCO in a responsible manner consistent with its original purpose, and not as an off-budget slush fund.
Second, I am extremely disappointed by the Congress's failure to act to prohibit U.S. military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. This brutal war has raged for more than 4 years. Thousands have lost their lives in this conflict. Millions are displaced from their homes. The cycle of desperation, destruction, and death continues unabated. Earlier this year, Congress voted to end U.S. support for the war in Yemen--legislation that President Trump vetoed. The refusal of Republicans to address this issue as part of the NDAA is shameful.
Third, this legislation supports the President's effort to spend $1.3 trillion dollars on nuclear weapons. It contains no prohibition on fielding low-yield nuclear warheads on submarine-launched ballistic missiles, near-full funding for research and development on INF-range missiles, near-full funding to build new ICBMs and associated warheads, and full funding to retain the B83 megaton gravity bomb, which the Obama administration had intended to retire as part of its modernization efforts. And while it affirms the benefits of legally-
binding verifiable limits on Russian strategic nuclear forces, it does not explicitly endorse the extension of New START. This, like so much else in this bill, is a missed opportunity. Senator Young and I have introduced bipartisan legislation urging a 5 year extension of the New START agreement, and the Senate should pass it expeditiously.
Fourth, Republicans blocked a provision in the House NDAA that prevented the President from waging a war with Iran without an explicit authorization from the Congress. President Trump's Iran strategy has been blind unilateral escalation with no end goal. That is why his actions have produced exactly the opposite result of what his so-called
``maximum pressure'' campaign intended. President Trump has dismembered the multilateral coalition that forged the Iran deal. He has frayed our alliances in Europe and empowered our adversaries. All the while, the administration has raised the specter of a possible military intervention with Iran. By blocking this provision, Republicans are enabling the President to subvert Congress's constitutional prerogative with respect to decisions of war.
Finally, Majority Leader McConnell blocked the inclusion the bipartisan DETER Act, which I introduced with Senator Rubio to deter future Russian interference in U.S. Federal elections. The DETER Act sends a clear message to Russian President Putin or any other foreign adversary: If you attack American elections, you will face severe consequences. Leader McConnell blocked this measure from the NDAA, even though the Senate unanimously passed a resolution in the fall instructing the NDAA conferees to support its inclusion. In addition, Republican leadership removed a related provision in the House-passed NDAA imposing sanctions on Russian sovereign debt in response to interference in U.S. elections.
Leader McConnell's decision to block the DETER Act and the House sanctions on Russian sovereign debt effectively green-lights Russian interference in future U.S. elections. It is a gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin and a subversion of the clear desire expressed by both Chambers of Congress to hold Russia accountable for future interference. It reinforces Putin's belief that the costs of attacking our democracy are low and the rewards are great. It is a dereliction of his duty, as a representative of the people, to protect our Nation from foreign adversaries. I will continue fighting for the passage of the DETER Act. The next national election is less than a year away, and we must make clear to Putin that Russia will pay a steep price if they interfere in another election.
While I am strongly opposed to some of the provisions in this bill and disappointed by the omission of others, I believe that, on balance, the NDAA will strengthen our national security and advance other important national priorities. For that reason, I voted in support of final passage.
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