{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2020-12-30-pt1-PgS7980", "2020-12-30", 116, 2, null, null, "NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S7980", "S7980", "[{\"name\": \"James M. Inhofe\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Jack Reed\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "166 Cong. Rec. S7980", "Congressional Record, Volume 166 Issue 222 (Wednesday, December 30, 2020)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 222 (Wednesday, December 30, 2020)]\n[Senate]\n[Page S7980]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT\n\n  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, this is what I have considered to be--and\nI have heard my friend from the Democratic side, the minority side, say\nthe same thing, that this is the most significant bill that we pass\nevery year.\n  It is the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act. This will be\nthe 60th year--is it the 60th or 61st year?\n  Mr. REED. The 60th.\n  Mr. INHOFE. OK. It is the 60th year that we have passed this, and it\nhas passed every year. There were a few moments there where I thought\nmaybe it wasn't going to pass this year and we would set a record.\nSenator Reed and I don't want to set that kind of record. We want to\nmake sure we get this done.\n  The reason this is important is this is the blueprint. This tells us\nwhat we are going to be doing with our troops. I could make an argument\nthat it is really--we are in the most dangerous situation, I think,\nthat we have been in before. I have often talked about the good old\ndays when we had the Cold War with two superpowers. We knew what the\nSoviet Union had; they knew what we had. Mutually assured destruction\nmeant something at that time.\n  But now it is different in a lot of respects because you have rogue\ncountries out there that have weapons and have abilities to wipe out\nnations. That is why it is so significant.\n  So, anyway, we suffered through a little bit of a problem back during\nthe Obama administration, during the last 5 years, which would have\nbeen from 2010 to 2015. In his budget, he downgraded the military by 25\npercent, and that is the same time, during that timeframe, that China\nincreased theirs by 83 percent.\n  So it is a scary world out there, and it is one that, to me, I have\nno doubt that this is the most important bill that we will pass all\nyear because we have got our kids, and they are out there right now.\nThey are in the trenches, and we have to support them. That is what it\nis all about.\n  I do want to mention how many people are involved in this thing. We\nare actually starting this right now. We are starting next year's NDAA.\nSo this started a year ago. The ones working on this--you have Liz King\nand John Bonsell heading up the minority and majority part of the\ncommittee, doing a great job and working every weekend--almost every\nweekend--with a very large staff, all specialists in certain areas. And\nthey have got the bill.\n  So I am very proud of the bill that we have this year. I think that\nit passed, when it passed in the Senate, it was 84 to--I think it was\n84 to 14, I think it was. I think there were a couple of people not\nhere. But that is the largest--that doesn't happen very often, to pass\na bill with those margins, and we did.\n  So this is a long tradition. We have got to support our troops. They\nare in there doing the right thing. It has been a joy, personally, for\nme to be working with Senator Reed, and we have, together, kind of\nprovided the leadership on this thing. We didn't work as hard as the\nstaff did. I admit that. But we were there, and I am very proud of this\nbill.\n  So right now we have kids that are overseas, and they deserve the pay\nthat was increased--that would be increased when this bill is passed.\nRight now, we have critical areas like pilots and engineers, doctors,\nthat are in short supply because of the fact that we have had, up until\nthe pandemic, a good and probably, I would argue, the best economy we\nhave had in my lifetime.\n  Well, that is good news, of course, but it is bad news in one way\nbecause it is hard to keep the people in those critical fields--pilots,\nfor example. They have an opportunity to get out and do things that\nare--there are jobs out there that are paying a lot more. So we have to\nhave them on the flight hours if something happens. And they are out--\nthere are a lot of jobs on the outside that are paying more. So we just\nhave to make sure that we keep the resources in the right place to do\nthe right job.\n  So I think this is the--I know this procedural vote today is going to\nbring us, in the next couple of days, to pass the Defense authorization\nbill.\n  It is all about the guys and gals in the field. We owe it to them.\nThis is going to be the 60th year. I anticipate that this is going to\npass with very large numbers.\n  With that, I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.\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-2020-12-30-pt1-PgS7980"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.5195529665797949, "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"}