Amy Klobuchar: “I come to the floor as we start further consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act and ask my colleagues to…”

“I come to the floor as we start further consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act and ask my colleagues to pay close attention to what is included in this legislation. No one is going to be surprised that the National Defense Authorization Act might include something that had not gotten the bright light of day shown on it, but I am here to say to my colleagues, what is in this act is really egregious, and we need to correct it before we continue to move forward. This legislation--mostly done behind closed doors--is not unusual for the Senate Armed Services Committee, but when you think about the billions of dollars that we are spending, we need to make sure this policy out here on the Senate floor is not just another rubberstamp. We are here to look at particular provisions that I think are troubling, particularly because it wrestles away civilian control of our nuclear arsenal and gives it to the military--provisions that, in the future, would allow the Defense Department to raid dollars used by the Department of Energy for cleanup of nuclear waste, R&D for our National Laboratories, or maybe other infrastructure investment. I am aware that the Presiding Officer knows how much the quadrennial review called for in investment in energy infrastructure. So I find it troubling today to see that we are at a provision that would wrestle away control of our nuclear arsenal and give it to the military.…”