{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2014-12-16-pt1-PgE1848", "2014-12-16", 113, 2, null, null, "IN OPPOSITION TO THE FY15 NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION (NDAA) CONFERENCE REPORT", "HOUSE", "EXTENSIONS", "ALLOTHER", "E1848", "E1848", "[{\"name\": \"Chris Van Hollen\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", "[{\"congress\": \"113\", \"type\": \"S\", \"number\": \"2481\"}]", "160 Cong. Rec. E1848", "Congressional Record, Volume 160 Issue 155 (Tuesday, December 16, 2014)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 155 (Tuesday, December 16, 2014)]\n[Extensions of Remarks]\n[Page E1848]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n    IN OPPOSITION TO THE FY15 NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION (NDAA)\n                           CONFERENCE REPORT\n\n                                  _____\n\n                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN\n\n                              of maryland\n\n                    in the house of representatives\n\n                       Tuesday, December 16, 2014\n\n  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the\nConference Report for the FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act.\n  For the last 53 years, Congress has passed--and the President has\nsigned into law--an annual Defense Authorization bill to provide\ncritical resources our Armed Forces need to maintain the best military\nin the world. While I recognize that there are many important programs\nthat are authorized in this legislation, this NDAA also contains many\nmajor policy decisions affecting our country and our armed forces.\nUnfortunately, Congress was not allowed to consider a single amendment\ndealing with very consequential policy issues to this 1648-page bill.\n  The NDAA Conference Report also authorizes funding to deploy an\nadditional 1,500 troops to Iraq. I support the core pillars of the\nPresident's plan to fight ISIS, including the use of American\nsurveillance, intelligence assets and air power against ISIS targets in\nIraq and Syria and the arming and training of the Iraqi Army and\nKurdish forces to stop the ISIS advances in Iraq. I also believe we\nshould supply weapons to those groups in Syria, such as the Syrian\nKurds, who have consistently fought ISIS, and whose priority is to\ndefeat ISIS. However, I believe the Congress should make it clear that\nAmerican ground troops should not be used in a combat role in Iraq or\nSyria.\n  The President has asserted that the 2001 Authorization to Use\nMilitary Force (Public Law 107-40) provides the Executive with broad\nauthority to take all military action necessary in both Iraq and Syria\nto degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL. While the President has\nindicated that he does not intend to deploy U.S. ground forces into\ncombat, there is nothing in current law to prevent him from doing so.\nCongressman McGovern, Congressman Jones, and I asked the House Rules\nCommittee to allow us to offer an amendment to ban the use of U.S.\nforces in ground combat in Iraq, with the exception of rescue\noperations for Americans. Unfortunately, this request was denied.\n  The NDAA Conference Report also provides a two-year authorization to\ndeploy American troops to train and equip the so-called ``moderate''\nSyrian rebels. In September, a majority in Congress voted to\ntemporarily authorize preparation for such a mission for a short period\nending December 11th. This bill extends that authorization for two more\nyears and is written so that the four defense committees can\nexclusively decide how much funding should be allocated for this\nmission. Congressman Dent and I led a bipartisan letter to Speaker\nBoehner urging him to give us the opportunity to vote on that\nprovision. We also presented an amendment to the House Rules Committee\nwhich would have presented this authority. Once again, we were not\nprovided the opportunity to vote on this measure.\n  My primary concern with the proposal to arm the so-called\n``moderate'' Syrian opposition is that it will have unintended negative\nconsequences that will not serve our ultimate goal of defeating ISIS.\n  First, the primary objective of these Sunni Islamist fighters is the\ndefeat of Assad and his Alawite dominated regime--not the defeat of\nISIS. Since the start of the war there have been shifting alliances\namong these Sunni Islamist forces that include the al-Qaeda affiliate,\nJabhat al-Nusra, different elements of the Free Syrian Army, the\nIslamist Front, Ahrar al-Sham and ISIS, among others. Their common\ncause and overriding objective is defeating Assad. Indeed, the\ncommander of the Syria Revolutionaries' Front, Jamal Maarouf, one of\nthe most militarily proficient commanders of the FSA, recently said\nthat, ``It's clear that I'm not fighting against al-Qaeda. This is a\nproblem outside of Syria's border, so it's not our problem. I don't\nhave a problem with anyone who fights against the regime inside\nSyria.''\n  While there is no doubt that Assad is a brutal dictator, he does not\npose the same threat to the United States as ISIS, and his forces have\nrecently been battling ISIS. At this point, arming fighters whose\nprimary purpose is to weaken Assad has one unintended result--\nstrengthening ISIS. Indeed, I fear that the arms we provide to the so-\ncalled Syrian opposition are more likely to end up in the hands of ISIS\nor al Nusra.\n  I also have significant concerns about other measures in the NDAA\nConference Report. I was disappointed that it includes a provision to\ncontinue funding restrictions on the construction or modification of\ndetention facilities in the United States to house Guantanamo\ndetainees. It also removes the prohibition on transfers of Guantanamo\ndetainees to Yemen that was included in the SASC-reported bill.\n  Despite my overall opposition to this legislation, it does authorize\nmany important programs. I was pleased that the Women's Small Business\nProcurement Parity Act, S. 2481, was included in the final Conference\nReport. This language provides much needed guidance to assist federal\nagencies in reaching the goal of awarding 5 percent of federal\ncontracts to women-owned small businesses.\n  Today's bill also restores more than $818 million in cuts made to\nmilitary readiness accounts. This will allow our military to invest in\ncritical repairs and upgrades to many mission-critical facilities such\nas electrical and fire protection system upgrades.\n  I am also encouraged that this bill builds on a number of provisions\npassed in last year's NDAA and continues to address the problem of\nsexual assault in the military. In particular, it would eliminate the\nso-called ``good soldier defense'' in court-martial proceedings,\nprohibiting a soldier from using good military character as a defense\nin a sexual assault case. These proceedings should be based on the\nspecific evidence presented in the case.\n  Finally, I am pleased that the bill contains many long-delayed public\nlands conservation measures to protect more than one million acres of\npublic land, including 245,000 of new wilderness.\n  While I support each of these measures, the fact remains that without\nthe amendments I proposed, the bill could create a very slippery slope\nthat would drag American troops even more deeply into Syrian war and\nrenewed conflict in Iraq. For those reasons, I regretfully am unable to\nvote in favor of this year's NDAA Conference Report.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2014-12-16-pt1-PgE1848"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 8.887684904038906, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}