Roy Cooper: “I would like to thank all members of the conference committee for their record-breaking work on this National Defense…”

“I would like to thank all members of the conference committee for their record-breaking work on this National Defense Authorization Act. This bill supports the national security, so I am pleased to support it. I would particularly like to thank my good friend, Chairman Rogers, for his bipartisan leadership of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee. In addition to authorizing core missions of our nuclear forces to provide a strong deterrent, this defense authorization bill mandates an independent study on increasing the decision time before the President can use nuclear weapons; allows negotiations for extending the New START treaty to maintain binding limits on the number of strategic weapons that Russia can deploy; drops a provision that would have all but separated the Nuclear Security Administration from the Department of Energy, in direct contradiction of expert recommendations; and allows the Department of Energy to continue terminating the failed and unaffordable MOX boondoggle. The bill supports effective missile defense efforts, including pressing for near-term solutions such as boost-phase missile defense using kinetic interceptors, increases accountability of the acquisition of expensive interceptors, and, of course, supports U.S.-Israeli missile defense. Finally, I strongly commend Chairman Rogers' leadership in strengthening our ability to defend our assets in space against increasing threats.…”