Joe Donnelly: “as we continue to debate this year's National Defense Authorization Act on the floor this week, I want to take a few…”

“as we continue to debate this year's National Defense Authorization Act on the floor this week, I want to take a few minutes as the ranking member of the Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee to discuss provisions of the bill that relate to our Nation's nuclear deterrent and nonproliferation programs, missile defense, and space programs. I want to start by thanking all the members of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee for putting in another year of hard work. I would especially like to thank our Subcommittee Chairman, my colleague from Alabama, Senator Sessions, for the strong partnership we have built over the past 2 years in leading this committee together. I want my colleagues to note that Senator Sessions and his staff worked closely together with me and my staff in developing elements of the bill pertaining to the Strategic Forces Subcommittee. Together with our colleagues on the subcommittee, we have built bipartisan consensus on some of the most important issues in this bill--no small feat when we are talking about things like nuclear weapons and defending against missile threats from Iran and North Korea. I also thank the tremendous professionals on our staff, both Republican and Democratic, whose expertise and dedication to serving the national interest are essential to this bill's success.…”