Roy Blunt: “I join my colleague Senator Thune in talking about the Defense Authorization Act, which is the bill that is before the…”

“I join my colleague Senator Thune in talking about the Defense Authorization Act, which is the bill that is before the Senate right now. The preamble to the Constitution says that one of the purposes of the founding of the government was to ``provide for the common defense.'' I believe that the No. 1 priority of the Federal Government is to do that job. There have been lots of arguments about what level of government can better do lots of other things, but I do not hear many arguments about what the job of defending the country is all about or who has to do that job. When we send our troops into harm's way, it is our job to ensure that they have the tools they need and that they have the resources they need to carry out their missions. That is what Chairman McCain has done in this authorization bill that is before the Senate today. Senate passage of this bill would mark the 56th year in a row that Congress has passed the National Defense Authorization Act. It should give one some indication of how serious that job is. There are very few things the Congress manages to do every year, but as for the authorization of how we do what we do, this authorization bill provides the authorities that the military needs for it to defend the Nation. The world is a rapidly changing place.…”