U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today voted in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2016. The legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 270 to 156 on Thursday and the Senate by a vote of 70 to 27, sending the bill to the president for his signature.
“I applaud Congress for passing the National Defense Authorization Act for the 54th consecutive year. This vital piece of legislation sets the course for our national security and provides for our nation’s nearly 2.1 million all volunteer force and their families,” said Inhofe. “While many Democrats voted against the NDAA due to the increase in the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account, this funding was needed in order for our nation’s military to meet basic readiness needs. The president is also threatening to veto the bill over OCO spending, and should he follow through, it would have a devastating impact on our ability to defend this nation and its citizens. In the past six years, roughly $1 trillion in defense cuts have been put into motion under the leadership of President Obama, yet in the past few years our nation has increased its contingency operations around the globe. This coupled with the need to reset military equipment worn down by over two decades of combat operations, it became necessary to increase OCO funds in order to ensure our men and women in uniform have the training and resources needed to effectively execute current and future operations.
“The authorizations and spending priorities contained in this bill are critical to our national security and support the DOD’s resource requirements. By signing this bill and funding our national security, the president has an opportunity to signal to our allies and those who would oppose us that the United States is not disengaging from the world and stands ready to lead.”
Missile Defense
The final bill accelerates the development of a next-generation missile defense interceptor and a Multiple-object Kill Vehicle. More importantly, it authorizes $30 million for planning and design of a critically needed East Coast missile defense site. Countries around the world, including Iran and North Korea, are developing ballistic missiles with increased range, accuracy and sophistication. This bill takes an important step towards increasing the capability of the United States to defend itself against a ballistic missile attack.
“Today and in the immediate future, the ballistic missile threats to our nation have superseded our limited missile defense capability in numbers and sophistication. Both Iran and North Korea are close to having miniaturized multiple re-entry warheads on their ballistic missiles. Our Missile Defense Systems today cannot adequately defend the United States of America against multiple warheads on single long range ballistic missiles. Investment has to be made now in Multiple Object Kill Vehicle technology and increasing more space and time for more intercept opportunities in the protection of our nation. We as a nation must move beyond a limited missile defense policy that has been out grown and begin to evolve our missile defense system to revolutionary reduce our cost of intercept and have credible deterrent missile defense systems against limited near peer complex threat capability,” said Riki M. Ellison, chairman & founder of Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.
