{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.inhofe.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sasc-chairman-inhofe-urges-support-for-the-most-important-bill-of-the-year_the-national-defense-authorization-act", "SASC Chairman Inhofe Urges Support for 'The Most Important Bill of the Year' \u2014 The National Defense Authorization Act", "2020-12-11", "2020", "2020-12", "Republican", "House", "OK", "James Inhofe", "I000024", "www.inhofe.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "U.S.\r\nSen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee,\r\ntoday spoke on the Senate floor to urge his colleagues to vote for the\r\nConference Agreement on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal\r\nYear 2021. The legislation will receive a final vote at 12:30 p.m. Eastern. It is my honor to present the 60thannual National Defense Authorization Act. For 59 straight years, you can't say this\r\nabout any other piece of legislation, all year or any time, except the defense\r\nauthorization bill. We've passed this bill  we pass it every year for 59\r\nyears. This will be 60 years, and I anticipate that we'll pass it now. There isn't much that happens around the\r\nCapitol that has a track record like that, but this is the bill. Maybe I'm\r\nbiased. Maybe in some people's minds I'm wrong, but I think this is the most\r\nimportant bill of the year. I really believe that. I've believed that since\r\n1987. This is something that we have to do. There's an old document nobody reads\r\nanymore called the Constitution. In there, it tells us what we need to be\r\ndoing. That's exactly what we're going to be doing today  provide for our\r\ndefense. So it's simple, what this bill does. It\r\nmakes our country more secure, and it supports our troops who defend it. Right now, this couldn't be more\r\nimportant. As President Trump's National Defense Strategy tells us, we're up\r\nagainst the most serious threats we've seen maybe forever, and it's coming from\r\nChina and Russia. These countries who stand against\r\neverything America stands for, are building. You know, it bothers me that we\r\nwent through the last five years of the Obama Administration  that would have\r\nbeen from 2010 through 2015  where he criticized the military. We didn't have\r\nto have the military, he feltDuring that time, during the Obama\r\nAdministration, during those five years, he reduced the funding for the\r\nmilitary by 25 percent. This has not happened in my memory, and it hasn't\r\nhappened since World War II that we've gone through a five-year period of doing\r\nthat. The tragedy is during that same time,\r\nChina was increasing theirs by 83 percent. Stop and think about that, Mr.\r\nPresident. 83 percent. When you realize that we were reducing our expenditures\r\nby 25 percent while they're increasing theirs by 83 percent. Now, that's\r\nserious enough, and that's something that is very much a concern to many of us. So we know that they were increasing, we\r\nwere decreasing, and as a result, things happen. There are some things that\r\nthey did: hypersonics, for example. That's one of the most recent exercises\r\nthat's out there. They're actually today, as we speak, they're ahead of us \r\nboth China and Russia are ahead of the United States of America in hypersonics\r\nand that type of technology that's out there. This president came along, and, you know,\r\nI know there's a lot of controversy about this bill. I know that the President\r\nwanted to have something in there that was having to do with language that had\r\nnothing to do with the military, and I agree wholeheartedly with him, but you\r\ncan't  you've got to have a defense authorization bill. Our kids in the field\r\ndemand it. With the NDAA, we're implementing the\r\npolicies and programs to make sure that doesn't happen. We ensure that America\r\nis able to prevent and, if necessary, win wars of today and tomorrow I see that Senator Reed has come in.\r\nSenator Jack Reed is the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.\r\nLet me just tell you that I can't think of anyone I'd rather have as a partner\r\nin putting together the defense authorization bill, the most important bill of\r\nall year, than Senator Jack Reed. He has been there by my side with me working\r\ntogether. We had a Big Four meeting. We always end up with a Big Four meeting,\r\nand to tell you what that is  that's the ranking Democrat and Republican in\r\nthe House, the Democrat and Republican in the Senate, and the four of us get\r\ntogether and decide, what are we going to do? What is this thing going to look\r\nlike? Then we pass it. We pass this bill. It's a good bill. It's one that we have an\r\nopportunity to vote on today, the most important bill of the year. In voting\r\nagainst it, you have to stop and think about those kids that are out there in\r\nharm's way and the threats that they are facing on a regular basis. This is the\r\nproblem. This is a serious thing that's out there, and I can't imagine wanting\r\nto have to face these people in the field, in harm's way and say, well, we\r\ndidn't pass a defense authorization bill. We're going to pass it. These kids are\r\ngoing to get the right treatment they need. They are going to get the resources\r\nthey need. I did mention just a few minutes ago about\r\nthe previous administration. I don't want people to misunderstand what I am\r\nsaying. I'm not saying this critically of the Obama administration. I'm saying\r\nhe didn't have the same priorities that many of us have. His top priority was\r\nnot defending America, in spite of what the Constitution tells us should be the\r\ntop priority. So we went through that time, as I mentioned, between the five\r\nyears of 2010 and 2015, reduced the funding for the military by 25 percent. At\r\nthe same time, China was increasing their funding for their military by 83\r\npercent. This is what we looked at, and that's what\r\nour president was faced with, and that's why  I don't know who is ill advising\r\nthe president to be concerned about an issue that has nothing to do with the military.\r\nI know the President has been the strongest  I don't know if there has ever\r\nbeen a President that has been a stronger supporter of our military and our\r\nkids in harm's way than President Trump. I'm just looking at this now, and I'm\r\nthinking we're now one minute away from passing a bill that's going to be the\r\nmost significant bill. At this time I'd ask if the minority would like to make\r\nany comments at all, because I can tell you right now, I mentioned the names of\r\nall the people that had worked on this bill for the last year, and right side\r\nby side, it's been Senator Jack Reed and me in the leadership of this bill, and\r\nit's going to be a reality. I just want to thank you and give you an\r\nopportunity to get a last word in here, because we're going to vote on this\r\nthing in less than a minute.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.inhofe.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sasc-chairman-inhofe-urges-support-for-the-most-important-bill-of-the-year_the-national-defense-authorization-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8116070423275232, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}