WASHINGTON – Today on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) discussed the importance of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes legislation he authored to prevent sexual assault and harassment in the military, support military spouses, and authorize the Texas Coastal Spine Project. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.

“As members of the Senate, we have a responsibility to support our troops and make sure they have what they need to do the job we’ve asked them to do, and the [National] Defense Authorization Act is one of the most important ways we do just that.”

“This bill provides the largest pay raise for our troops in two decades.”

“This…will also authorize additional funding to Texas school districts that serve military personnel.”

“It will authorize the extension of reimbursement authority for spouse relicensing to ensure that nurses, teachers, and other spouses whose jobs may require a state-specific license are not saddled with an additional expense.”

“I’m glad it includes bipartisan legislation that I introduced to improve the tools that military commanders will have at their disposal to prevent sexual assault and domestic violence within the Department of Defense.”

“In addition to supporting our servicemembers, this legislation will authorize $315 million for military construction projects in Texas alone.” 

“The Water Resources Development Act has also been inserted in the defense authorization bill, but specifically this bill, as part of that WRDA bill, will authorize the Texas Coastal Spine Project, which will provide basic protections of infrastructure against future hurricanes along the Texas Gulf Coast.”

“If another hurricane were to wipe out Houston like Hurricane Harvey tried to do, obviously that’s something that will have an impact not just locally, not just in my state, but across the nation as a whole. So this coastal spine project is very important.” 

“I believe that after years of hard work, the Texas Coastal Spine Project has begun the long, long road to final construction, and I’m glad this project will be fully authorized in the Water Resources Development Act. The next step is to secure the funding to begin that lengthy construction process, and I’m eager to work with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make that happen.”