Mr. President, I compliment the distinguished Senator from Tennessee for his remarks. I extend my appreciation for his strong leadership in developing and bringing to the floor of the Senate the Defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2016. Specifically, I urge the Senate to do as he suggests. Let's get this bill before the Senate, offer amendments if Senators have suggestions for changes in the bill, and move ahead to completing action on this bill on time so we can predict with some certainty what our obligations are going to be and we can more thoughtfully with a sense of confidence know that we are doing the right thing to protect the security interests of our country, our citizens, and our interests around the world. We have before us an effort to move to the consideration of the Department of Defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2016. The bill provides $514.1 billion in base budget funding and $58.6 billion in overseas contingency operations funding for the Department of Defense. The Senate Appropriations Committee has worked on a bipartisan basis to write and approve 12 individual appropriations bills this year for the first time since 2009. Senators should have the opportunity to debate, amend, and approve the Defense appropriations bill.…
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