candidates took heart. c-span will re-air the entire debate at 10:00 eastern. washington forng a two week stay at his mar-a-lago club in florida, president trump made remarks at the joint andrews air force base. -- base. that thedent announced u.s. space force will officially be the sixth branch of the u.s. navy and named jennifer j whalen the first head of operations. ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states and ms. melania trump. ♪

>> ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the presentation of the colors and remain standing

for the national anthem. ♪

♪

>> good evening. on behalf of my family, i want to thank every member of our military and their families for their devotion to our country and their courage to defend our freedoms. during this holiday season, we send our prayers to all who are serving overseas and who will not be home with their families over christmas. thanks you for all of the sacrifices you make to keep us safe. very, very all a christmas and a happy and

healthy new year. now, it is my honor to introduce to you my husband, president donald trump. [applause] pres. trump: thank you. thank you, everybody. thank you very much and thank you melania. and hello, joint base andrews. at ease. we have good news for you. on behalf of the first lady, vice president mike pence, mrs. everyone ant to wish very merry christmas and a happy new year.

day fora truly historic the american armed forces. in just a few minutes i will probably sign into law the largest ever investment in the united states military. in fact, i can say the largest ever by far. today also marks another landmark achievement as we officially inaugurate the newest branch of our military. this is a very big and important moment. it is called the space force. [applause] importantly, we are the heroes that defend our families and secure our nation and protect our freedom. national defense authorization act is about me sure our were fighters have the

tools, resources, and equipment you need to fight and win. all the time to win. moree making our military strong and powerful than ever before. we are joint today by secretary of defense, mike s -- mark esper. and our service secretaries, , thank you, millie general and members of the joint use of. any distinguished military leaders and representatives including mac thornberry, joe wilson, mike rogers, michael turner, michael mccaul, robert winston. french hill. matt gaetz. waltz and i want to to aa special shout out great gentleman who loves the military, loves this country.

senatorim in half -- who worked so hard on this. i want to extend a special thanks to the commander of the air force, district -- in 10 major general ricky raab. and commander of the 11th wing and joint days andrews, colonel az.rew pur thank you. and i am profoundly grateful to everyone of america's airfields. there is no greater honor than to serve as your commander in chief. i especially want to thank the incredible people that fly in .aintain air force one you are the best of the best. q you i very much for doing such

an edible job. the 2020 andng of a is a watershed moment in the truest sense of the word. before i came into office, the military had endured deep and divisive cuts. our military was very depleted. as a candidate for president i promise to reverse these ourpling cuts and inter military remains unchallenged and unrivaled anywhere in the world. and right now, there is no one, no country that comes even close. >> the law i am signing in today b vides $738 billion with a

in defense funding for the 2020 year. .hat is an all-time record and that is after $700 billion in our first year. 716 billion last year. and it is all made here in the usa. that we make say finestest equipment, the -- this brings our total investment in national defense to almost $2.5 trillion. and what is the good of a budget if you don't have the best military in the world? and now we focus on the budget a little bit.

is that ok? we will focus on the budget. $2.5 trillion so that is really something. and it is new and beautiful. in addition to massive acquisitions in the past two years, this bill authorizes f-35's.00 new 155 army helicopters of all different types very 165 brand-new beautiful abrams tanks said to be the best in the world. 50 paladin howard's there's. -- howitzers. ford class air force carrier and to others on the way and much, much more. , ours we discussed earlier

military is getting far more than just new equipment. for the first time, and you know what happened last year, it was a good pay raise. you are getting another pay raise some of the largest in more than 10 years. if you don't want it, you don't for the first it time since president harry truman created the air force, over 70 years ago, we will create a brand-new american military service at such a momentous statement. 70 years ago, the air force. with my signature today, you will witness the birth of the space force. and that will be now officially the sixth branch of the united states armed forces.

that is something really incredible. the big moments. that is a big moment and we are all here for it. space. going to be a lot of things happening in space. because space is the world's newest war-fighting domain. amid the great threats to our national security, american superiority in space is vital, and we are leading, but not leading by enough, but very shortly we will be leading by a lot. the space force will help us deter aggression and control the ultimate high ground. i want to thank vice president mike pence. he was so involved in this with me, this was a real, with the spirit, with the love, i think i can say, mike, that we both had for this project because we realize how important it is to our military, to our future, to our defense. so important. and it is going to blending

magnificently with every thing else we have, so i want to thank mike pence per mike, thank you very much. [applause] great job, mike. it was nearly half a century from kitty hawk to the creation of the air force, and now it is 50 years after apollo 11 that we create the space force. with today's signing, i will appoint general j remy, the first chief of space operations. he will become the very first member of the space force and will be on the joint chiefs. he will be on the joint chiefs, which we are now expanding my one position. that is very powerful position. so general raymond, congratulations and thank you for everything you have done. [applause] the 2020 ndaa protects the legal tools we need to defend america's borders, it protects childcare and private housing for military families and ends

the so-called widow's tax, which blocked benefits for the families of fallen heroes. that is gone. [applause] it was very important. that was very important to us, widow's taxes. god. after years of unrealized promises by other politicians, i honor my commitment today as i signed paid parental leave for the federal civilian workforce. [applause] that is into law. so thank you very much, i would say that is a very big thing. paid parental leave, another thing they have been trying to get for many years.

as we head into christmas, i'm proud to report we are giving every soldier, sailor, air man, coast guardsmen and marine a well-earned payraise. in january, each of you will see the largest increase that you have had in such a long time. in fact, it goes back so far that a lot of people don't even know what that date is. i can just tell you, it is a lot of money. i say it again, if you would like not to take it, you would like to make a donation to your great country, please let us know. we will give you a little bit less. any takers? no. congratulations on that. with this legislation, we show our undying commitment to the warriors who keep us safe. these are incredible warriors. these are brave, powerful warriors. now they have the best equipment anywhere in the world.

it is not even close. just weeks ago, u.s. special forces brought the world's most wanted terrorist to justice, the monstrous animal known as al-baghdadii, the leader of isis, is dead. and his second was just giving the post of being in charge, and he is also dead. [applause] within three years of record to military investments, our country has rejected a future of american decline and embraced our destiny of american dominance. our military is now dominance, far ahead of any of our competitors. and if you saw where we started from not so long ago, you would really be amazed.

i want to thank everybody but i want to also think those great companies that really designed, made this equipment, because i have seen it and seen much of it in action, and i have frankly never seen anything like it in my life. so i just want to congratulate you all, because together we are protecting our people, our values, our traditions and our glorious american flag. [applause] i want to end by wishing our armed forces -- they are great people -- a very merry christmas and a happy new year. god bless you. god bless our military. and god bless america. god bless america. [applause] so it is now my honor to sign the 2020 national defense authorization act into law. and again, congratulations. thank you, all, very, very much. very special people. thank you very much. [applause]

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] president trump: is jay behind me, somewhere? [camera shutters clicking] [applause] this is the thickness.

can you believe that? it is now signed. [applause] [camera shutters clicking]

♪

♪ ["god bless america" being played] ♪

♪ ♪ >> here's a look at some of what

is ahead this saturday morning. our three-hour "washington journal" program is next. at 10:00, the presidential democratic debate. after that, the president's daughter-in-law campaigns for him in michigan. then justice department inspector general horowitz testifies before a senate committee on his report about the foreign intelligence surveillance act of usage allegations related to the 2016 campaign >> sunday night on q&a, wall street trader turn ontojournalist chris arnate his book "dignity." >>