Jack Reed: “first, let me commend Senator Wicker, the ranking member, for his extraordinary cooperation, thoughtfulness, and insight…”

“first, let me commend Senator Wicker, the ranking member, for his extraordinary cooperation, thoughtfulness, and insight throughout this entire process. As a result, this evening, we passed in an overwhelming vote a bipartisan piece of legislation that confronts the challenges we face today in a very, very difficult world. The first thing we did was we took care of the troops. We have a 5.2- percent increase in pay--one of the largest in decades. We also took care of the troops by investing in the best possible platforms in technology in many dimensions--underwater submarines, in the air. We are recapitalizing our triad for nuclear deterrence. We are looking closely at space, what we can do there both to defend ourselves and prevent space from undermining our national security. All of these things were done on a collaborative basis. Hundreds of amendments were considered in both the committee and here on the floor. As a result, we have legislation that I think we are all very, very proud of. I would also like to thank and commend Leader Schumer and Leader McConnell because they allowed us to conduct a very open process on the floor, to entertain amendments, to work closely so that we could have the conclusion we did this evening--- a strong, strong bipartisan vote. I am confident that what we have done will provide the Department of Defense and our military men and women with the resources they need to meet and overcome the challenges of a dangerous world.…”