Dick Durbin: “I rise to highlight a number of important provisions in the fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. This is…”

“I rise to highlight a number of important provisions in the fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. This is the measure in its entirety. It comes with this report. It is about 1,664 pages for the actual bill and another 642 pages for the report. It is no wonder, as it deals with national security issues as well as the Department of Defense and many other agencies. It is clearly the product of many hours and months of work by the members of the committee, as well as the staff. We consider it on the floor of the Senate and have a special responsibility to look at it very carefully. This bill, of course, will take some time to be digested and analyzed. We have been in that process this week. Many of us count on our professional staff whom we have work for the defense appropriations committee. They also look at this measure to see how it squares up with the actual spending bill. I don't serve on the defense authorization committee; I am on the spending part of it, the defense appropriations subcommittee. We approved our measure today and reported it from the full Appropriations Committee. It will be coming to the floor in a few weeks. What is the most pressing concern when it comes to our national defense? Most Americans would rightly say it is terrorism. Terrorism is a real threat to America and to our families. We have to do everything in our power to prevent terrorism from reaching our shores and to dismantle it and destroy it overseas.…”