Contact: Caroline Tabler or James Arnold (202) 224-2353

Washington, D.C. - Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today released the following statement on the completed markup of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 in the Senate Armed Services Committee:

"The committee has written a strong piece of legislation that allows us to build a modern fighting force capable of addressing the whole range of threats we face. I was especially pleased that this year's legislation includes provisions to forbid China to participate in the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, allow the president to modernize our nuclear arsenal, and prohibit the Department of Defense from buying any products from Chinese telecom giants Huawei and ZTE. These policies are all vital to our national security, but the Department cannot put them into action unless we pass a defense appropriations bill well before the end of the fiscal year. I urge the full Senate to pass this bill as soon as possible, so we can finish work on the appropriations bill in the near future."