David Perdue: “I rise today to speak in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act. I strongly urge my colleagues in this body to…”

“I rise today to speak in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act. I strongly urge my colleagues in this body to vote for the NDAA and send it to the President's desk for signature. Let's move to fund our military. The threats to our Nation have never been greater or more complex in my entire life. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I am given daily briefs of what I believe is an emerging global security crisis. This administration just completed a nuclear deal with Iran that stokes the fears of our friends and allies in the region and releases tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief to a regime that is the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism. We have had to bolster our support to allies in the region in an attempt to mitigate the impact of further Iranian spending to support Assad in Syria, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah, Hamas, and terrorism worldwide. We have seen the astonishing rise of ISIS as they have taken advantage of the power vacuum we left behind by prematurely withdrawing our troops from Iraq. I would hate to see history repeat itself in Afghanistan, which is actually being discussed as we speak today. Meanwhile, traditional rivals are aggressively posturing on two other fronts. China is antagonizing our allies in the Pacific Rim, and Russia is testing the resolve of our NATO alliance, blatantly grabbing sovereign territory in Ukraine, Crimea, and injecting troops and war materiel into Syria.…”