ARMED SERVICES
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT 2016 AS THE SENIOR MEMBER OF THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE, SEN. JIM INHOFE HAS FOUGHT TO BLOCK PRESIDENT OBAMA'S EFFORTS TO DISARM AMERICA AND WEAKEN THE WORLD'S GREATEST MILITARY. INHOFE HAS ALSO WORKED TO REPRESENT THE NEEDS OF THE FIVE MILITARY BASES THAT CALL OKLAHOMA HOME AND TO ENSURE OUR STATE REMAINS COMPETITIVE FOR FUTURE DEFENSE PROJECTS AND ATTRACTIVE FOR SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN AS WELL AS THEIR FAMILIES.
The following are provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) FY’16 that Inhofe either sponsored or supported: Guantanamo Bay When first considered by the Senate, the NDAA included language that would have encouraged the president to produce a plan to close Gitmo while also tightening restrictions on transferring Gitmo detainees to certain foreign countries. Inhofe opposed this language and authored Senate amendment #1533, which fully prohibited transferring Gitmo detainees to the United States through Dec. 31, 2016. In the final version of the NDAA, the language concerning a plan for closing Gitmo was removed and Inhofe’s amendment was included as Section 1031. Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Prohibition Inhofe pushed for and supported language that makes clear
Inhofe Annual Report 2015
that nothing in the NDAA shall be construed to authorize a Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round in fiscal year 2016. Inhofe believes that the United States has reduced force capability to an unacceptable level, and that it should not be brought down any further in the near term. He also recognizes that our national security has an immediate fiscal crisis and the defense community should not bear the near-term costs of a BRAC round in this tough economic climate for savings that will not be realized for another 20 years. Protecting & Retaining AWACS Inhofe successfully included language in the final bill that prohibits for two years the Air Force from retiring or preparing to retire any Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). For the past two decades, AWACS have been under constant, heavy demand, supporting overseas contingency operations (OCO) as well as homeland defense missions. Inhofe successfully blocked the president’s defense proposal that would have radically reduced our nation’s AWAC fleet and thereby inacti-
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