▶ 0:14:17please take your seats. We have a Obviously, we'll have others joining us Call this meeting of the appropriations committee to order. I'd like to welcome everyone to today's meeting. Uh thank you for all the hard work uh sincerely over the last couple of days. Before we begin today's markup, I want to remind you of the plan for today.
▶ 0:14:42First, the markup we are in right now will cover the defense appropriations measure for fiscal year 2026. Uh, I'll have more to say about this bill a bit later, but as I announced last night, no matter what else is on the schedule, we will complete this bill today. We'll consider all amendments. We'll take a vote on reporting the defense bill to the full house today.
▶ 0:15:07So, you should just take that to the bank in terms of how you want to use the time in front of you. Um, as you all know, our markup on the A bill uh is in recess subject to call of the chair. Once we complete our work on the defense bill, it's my intention to resume that markup and resume our work on the agriculture bill to work through as many amendments as we can. This evening is the White House Congressional Picnic.
▶ 0:15:35I know many of you have friends and family in town for the event. So, we will break for a few hours for the picnic and depending on where we are in the process, we'll likely resume after the picnic is over. That said, I also know that many of you need to head to New York City to pay respects to our former colleague, Representative Charlie Wrangle, and we will of course make sure to get members who are flying up to New York to their flights on time. But that doesn't mean we'll stop working.
▶ 0:16:06If you want to go, you can go. But if we're not done, we're going to keep going. So just know that I'm not going to keep you from a funeral. You'll decide whether or not you want to keep yourself from work by the amount how we uh you know proceed today. But we will get done. So there won't be a point. We're going to stop and let people go to the picnic. That's a big deal. We certainly want people to be able to go pay their respects, but I'm not stopping the meeting. So just be aware of that.
▶ 0:16:34Uh with that said again we'll complete our work on the defense bill today. It's my hope that we can finish more work and hopefully all our work on a that's a big lift but uh you're aware you're aware u you know we also had hoped to do homeland security. Clearly we can't do that. So that's going to be placed off um into the future and we'll try and get back on schedule during the the course of June and July when we get back ahead of the August break.
▶ 0:17:03So again, thanks uh so much for all the hard work over the last couple of days. With that uh our uh order only order of business today again is consideration defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2026. I now recognize Chairman Calbert to present the bill. Thank you Cole.
▶ 0:17:28Thank you, Chairman Cole, uh for your leadership and guidance uh through this challenging process. Um anyway, uh because uh given the recent conclusion FY25 process and the continuing lack of a detailed defense budget, uh we need to move forward. I'd like to thank Ranking Member McCollum, um Ranking Member Deloro, and the for their continuing friendship and partnership many years.
▶ 0:17:55And as we have a very short day today, I hope and everyone's tired. I will seek to be relatively brief. This bill before us today reflects the resources needed to face significant and proliferating threats challenging the United States and its interests. It's important to note that the nation's critical interests are global.
▶ 0:18:16The American public, the economy, and our national security rely on international communication and digital connectivity, safe and open channels of transportation and trade, and stable and reliable access to energy and other critical resources. We protect those interests first to promote a safer, more prosperous America, but also to respect the obligations we have with our allies and partners.
▶ 0:18:39Our ocean borders, including the Arctic to the north, no longer provide the insulating protection we once relied upon to protect us. New and more dangerous threats can reach our shores through many means. Our fundamental priority to protect our homeland depends on being prepared to protect our interests across multiple domains.
▶ 0:18:59The growing sophistication of cyber capability of nation state adversaries, criminal organizations, rogue independent aggressors is a great equalizer that results in risking our economy and safety here at home, even from remote non-state actors. Similar space, which we rely on for our great enabler for critical capability, communication, navigation, situational awareness, is critical but still vulnerable domain.
▶ 0:19:27We must not lull ourselves into a false sense of security. For all of its promise, we must be cautious against the temptation to rely exclusively on space capabilities at the expense of other complimentary highly capable, versatile, and survivable air and terrestrial platforms. Even with the late conclusion of the FY25 process, the defense subcommittee conducted six oversight hearings, seven classified sessions with defense department, intelligence community officials this spring in preparation for FY26.
▶ 0:19:59The committee recommendation includes billion in defense discretionary funding, which is equal to the FY25 enacted appropriation. This bill invests significantly in modernization of the force, maintaining US maritime and air dominance, fostering both innovation and production capability it relies upon, air and missile defense, and support for our service members and their families.
▶ 0:20:24The bill also supports the private the president's priority to initiate golden dome for America by enhancing our air and missile defense research and development and it helps protect against threats such as trafficking of dangerous drugs at the border. The committee recommendation is fiscally responsible adheres to the budget cap put forward by the administration and abbreviated budget proposal.
▶ 0:20:46The committee recommendation was developed with an awareness of the defense investments moving on a parallel legislative track through the reconciliation process. While we sought to synergize the investments in our bill to extent possible to those in reconciliation, the mandatory spending proposals in the administration budget fall outside the jurisdiction of this committee and not addressed in this bill. However, taken together, these spending proposal represent the first $1 trillion uh budget for defense.
▶ 0:21:18Importantly, enhancing our investments in national defense is not just about additional funding. It's also about targeting available resources where they can be most effective. We reflect a shared commitment with the administration to eliminate waste and pursue government efficiency within the Department of Defense and the intelligence community by codifying a streamline functions and management improvements.
▶ 0:21:41For example, the recommendation realizes 3.6 billion in savings and reduction of almost 45,000 civilian personnel to capture the president's workforce acceleration recapitalization initiative effort. We also continue robust investments in innovation entities within the department such as DIU, AFIT, and the Office of Strategic Capital in order to deliver capability in a time frame of relevance.
▶ 0:22:08However, the committee's effort to support this goal was somewhat hampered by the lack of full budget proposal and detailed justification material. This lack of information meant the committee was unable to examine up-to-date program execution data. Found it more difficult to assess either opportunities for increased investment or for additional reduction and elimination.
▶ 0:22:30Despite the lack of detailed inh information, this bill maintains the committee's long-standing tradition of conducting a thorough bipartisan evaluation of available information to ensure the appropriate use of valuable taxpayer funds. This committee has produced a bill that invests wisely to meet our obligation to the war fighter and to keep this nation safe from an ever growing threats.
▶ 0:22:53I'd also like to extend my sincere thanks to the committee staff on both the majority and the minority for their great efficient work under some of the most challenging circumstances in many years. I al especially like to thank the subcommittee's majority staff, Ariana, Jackie, Bill, Ka, Max, Gina, Dan, Adam, Harris, John, Kyle, Taylor, and our our clerk, of course, Adam Sullivan, and my personal office defense team of Danny, Brent, and the Quan.
▶ 0:23:24And certainly, I want to thank uh my uh good friend and partner, Ranking Member McCullum, uh as we work through this bill for the a long time. My thanks and colleagues to all the committee on all the committee personal staff and their hard work dedication not only in this bill but uh for many other analytical and oversight activity undertaken in your uh year round to advance this work uh to this committee. Uh with that Mr. Chairman I yield back.
▶ 0:23:54Thank you very much. I'd now like to recognize Miss McCulla my very good friend ranking member of the defense subcommittee for her remarks on the bill. Thank you, Chairman Cole, Ranking Member Deluro, Chairman Kelbert, and um for those of you who listen to what I say carefully, I don't use the word friend lightly to I consider both both chairs uh good partners to work with and Mr.
▶ 0:24:19Calbertt and I have been opposite roles both in interior and here back and forth and we we strive to serve the United States of the America together. I also want to recognize the work of the staff um the three members on the minority side, Jennifer, Jason, and Ed.
▶ 0:24:35I would like to take a second to also thank Ben Peterson and my defense fellow Lisa Lawrence in my personal office for the work that they've done in this crush time frame, as well as uh Adam Sullivan, John, Bill, Kyle, Ariana, Jackie, Dan. Well, as you can tell, I I would be I'd be taking a lot of time to mention all the great staff on the majority side.
▶ 0:25:00Thank you all for working together as one team to try to get information out to the members of this committee. You had to pull a B bill together without a full budget request from the Trump administration and those are unprecedented circumstances as the ch as the chair pointed out. So, here we go. The 20 uh 26 Defense Appropriation Act totals $831.5 billion.
▶ 0:25:27That's the same level that DoD is currently operating under a fullear continuing resolution. As I said, this bill was constructed without having a fullear 2026 budget request in front of the subcommittee. And that's a huge problem. Here's why. The Defense Appropriation Act in this is this committee's largest largest discretionary funding bill. It is an incredibly complex piece of legislation.
▶ 0:25:56It deals with a wide range of national security issues. the construction of ships and submarines to build a modern navy, the launch of technology, advanced satellites, the development of hypersonic weapons, and most importantly, supporting our service members and their families who bravely serve our nation. It is in the best interest of our nation for this defense bill to be written the right way with thoughtful analysis.
▶ 0:26:23The DoD's program requirement is a detailed annual review. In particular, the budgets for comment programs and research and development efforts require them to, you know, be looked at with the eb and flow that naturally occurs with them. And that's the only way our subcommittee can analyze this information in order to write a thoughtful and informed bill is to review a full budget request.
▶ 0:26:52Now I want to take a moment to illustrate for the members. I have two poster boards that represent a single DoD program that we fund. Okay, this is one single program. The future long range assault aircraft. This is an advanced helicopter for the army. It's an important program. This poster shows the ninepage congressional budget justification document for this program from last year's budget review when we worked on this bill last year.
▶ 0:27:22These documents represent the critical granular details that the defense appropriations subcommittee needs in order to properly evaluate these DoD programs. It not only shows us what the request is for the coming years, but also what is expected to be spent over the next five years. that detail. The next five years is how the staff can see the program if it's on target and that's where they compare information from the previous year.
▶ 0:27:52That's the eb and flow that this committee needs to keep track of. That's part of our oversight duties. Now, a lot of this work goes into analysis. And then these are the annual documents required by Congress. They are required by Congress totaling thousands of pages all across the department's programs. The submissions of these documents is part of the normal budget request. It is normal to get these documents.
▶ 0:28:20Every administration, every Congress in modern history has operated under this. So this year, because of the Trump administration's failure to submit a full budget request, what did we have to write this bill? Let me call your attention to the second poster board. You see a number there, one line. It represents all we received on the future long range assault aircraft.
▶ 0:28:48Nine pages of background on one hand, one number on the other. That's what the administration gave us. No information to make these decisions. It is completely unacceptable. And once again, it is not the chair's fault that we did not have this information. I know he would like it as well.
▶ 0:29:09So, I ask my colleagues on the majority to consider this because I know that we'll have discussions about how we're doing our job here. What would be your reaction if the Biden administration had failed to submit a budget request? I think I know what the answer would be, and that's why I bring this up today.
▶ 0:29:30This is unacceptable for this administration to not provide us what's known as the full That's what makes this bill right now incomplete. For example, Golden Dome at this point is merely a concept. We don't have a plan. None of us have been briefed on how the administration intends to spend $175 billion or even deliver it in three years.
▶ 0:29:58A portion of Golden Dome is also in the reconciliation bill. What happens to the department? What will they do if it doesn't pass in reconciliation? They can't come back to this committee and ask us to fill those gaps. And that's why defense spending should have never been included in reconciliation. Another example is the cost to deploy the National Guard around the country.
▶ 0:30:24On Tuesday, we finally finally found out what the cost of deploying the 4,000 California National Guardsmen and the 700 Marines in Los Angeles is 134 million. But now, Secretary Hagsth is reviewing a request from the Department of Homeland Security to deploy more than 20,000 National Guard troops across the What is the end goal? to turn the National Guard into the National Police.
▶ 0:30:55The National Guard is intended to be used for specific purposes. They're used by their states when natural disasters occur or yes, in times of civil unrest, but that's when their governors call them up. And then there's the Title 10 missions when they are deployed overseas or at times of national emergency like September 11th. Deploying troops of that magnitude has a serious, very serious budgetary impact.
▶ 0:31:23Because Secretary Hagsth has not given us the complete budget, we have no idea what thought has gone into the duration of these indeployments or how much they cost, where the funding will be pulled from to pay for them. And the courts have still not yet decided even if the California deployment is legal. Bottom line, we need a complete budget to make informed decisions in this bill. The president proposes, Congress disposes.
▶ 0:31:52That's the way our system works. And there are consequences to not following this process. We may end up buying too many of one platform, wasting precious tax dollars. We may end up buying too little of another, leaving a gap in our military and defense capabilities. When we do not see the budget request, we fail to maximize the buying power for the taxpayer.
▶ 0:32:19So, it's unfortunate that the Trump administration and OMB in particular has put this committee put all of us in this position. Fiscal year 2026 defense appropriation bill also includes many of the same poison pill writers that were included in the previous two defense house appropriation bills. And once again, this bill includes partisan social writers that should never become law.
▶ 0:32:50This bill begins to lead us down a road that may once again put us towards a fullear continuing resolution. Last year's CR was bad enough. A second would be a catastrophe. Our national security cannot afford another last year. Once again, the bill limits the ability of service personnel and their families to receive reproductive health care they deserve.
▶ 0:33:15And I would remind my colleagues that women now make up 20% of the military service. Approximately 800,000 women service members live in states that has limited or banned access to reproductive health. Once again, these provisions disenfranchise gay, lesbian, and transgender service members in this bill. These poison pill writers will not go unnoticed by our troops and their families.
▶ 0:33:44And I believe they will re we will will reflect later on in our abilities to recruit and retain. As I told Secretary Hagsath on Tuesday, many Americans and myself included have witnessed what is a deliberate effort by the Trump administration to silence and diminish the activities of minorities and women in the military. Their dedication, heroism, and sacrifices on behalf of our nation deserve recognition, not eraser.
▶ 0:34:15As a former history teacher, I know and I acknowledge the uncomfortable truths about our own history. By acknowledging them, that's the way we move forward together. Since World War II, the Department of Defense has made great strides in building a military that is more reflective of the population of the nation.
▶ 0:34:36it defends and that should be celebrated not reversed and that is how I can say it over and over again how we work to form a more perfect union together. So Mr. Chairman as you know we've discussed this regrettably at this time I'm going to be unable to vote for passage of this bill and I cannot re recommend to my colleagues that they vote for it. The time is short.
▶ 0:35:02If we are to avoid a second consecutive year of funding the Department of Defense with a continuing resolution, every member needs to know what we have to do for this bill to become law. The Trump administration needs to do its job and submit a complete budget request to Congress. The partisan writers have to come out. It's the only way this bill will get the bipartisan support it deserves.
▶ 0:35:28It was deeply unfortunate that we wasted an entire year. So, Chairman Cole, Chairman Calbert, Ranking Member Delora, to all the members of this committee, let's do our job as appropriators, not fail as we did last year. I yield back. Thank you very much. I thank the gentle lady for her remarks. I now recognize myself for remarks on the bill.
▶ 0:35:54Chairman Calbert, thank you for all the work you've done to ensure leadership in America's defense. And thank you to Ranking Member McCullum for your partnership with Mr. Calbert in that endeavor. And it's always good to be here with my good friend, the ranking member of the full committee as well. We hope for peace. Uh but while we always uh are prepared to sustain it, that's always been the burden and the honor of a free nation.
▶ 0:36:21And generation after generation, our military has stood as the greatest force for liberty the world has ever seen. We must never allow that that posture to change. And the complex threat environment before us today demand serious focus. Ample evidence of this fact can be found in each hemisphere. Aggressive and malevolent regimes such as those in China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are not standing still.
▶ 0:36:49They're pouring resources into their militaries, expanding their reach, and testing the resolve of our leadership. Their goal is clear to outpace the United States over matches and outmaneuver us militarily, economically, and strategically. This bill meets that challenge head on. It takes key steps to give our troops every advantage and build our superiority now and into the future. This means focusing resources where they make the most impact.
▶ 0:37:19Each investment in today's legislation modernizes our military, revitalizes our industrial base, and supports the most fundamental part of our defense, the heroes who wear America's uniform. Today's bill ensures our defense resources are invested as effectively as possible to help equip our armed forces with the weapons and tools they need to confront any foe anywhere in the world. It invests in enhancing our production cap capacity and hypersonic programs.
▶ 0:37:49It supports the modernization of our nuclear deterrence and submarine arsenal. It strengthens air superiority through investing in fifth and sixth generation aircraft, including acquiring the lethal F-47. And it focuses on the battlefields of the future through prioritizing innovation and the use of autonomous and unmanned systems. We also provide our defenders a pay raise and reinforce important quality of life provisions for military families.
▶ 0:38:19All in all, the legislation reminds me of the key elements Secretary Hegs and General Kaine just this weekend reiterated when discussing the objectives of our That is restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding our military, and reestablishing deterrence. I will always work to ensure our service members are the best uh equipped, best trained, and uh most successful in the world.
▶ 0:38:47I again want to thank Chairman Calbertt and Ranking Member McCullum for their hard work on this bill, and I look forward to supporting it and our war fighters today. I yield back the balance of my time. And I now recognize my Oh, got Kind of told me what I was going to say. Uh, I now recognize my good friend, the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Laura, Connecticut, for her opening Thank you very much, Mr.
▶ 0:39:15Chairman, and and thank you very much for um the uh as best I can put it is the care and feeding of the the committee, not just with regard to the feeding, but thinking about the schedule and what it means in in the context of us getting it all done. And we need to get it all done. So grateful.
▶ 0:39:34Uh, I say thank you to you to the ranking member um uh and and I want to say a thank you to the subcommittee staff for their hard work and in particular Jennifer Shartran, Jason Gray and Edor. It is unprecedented that we are holding this markup with hardly any detailed information whatsoever from the Department of Defense. No real budget, no detailed spend plans, no specifics for how we are going to get our submarine programs in order.
▶ 0:40:05No vision on how the Blackhawk platform will be utilized into the future. No information on the administration's claim priorities like Golden Dome. It is unacceptable for us to move forward with a defense funding bill without this information. And it's regrettable that the administration has put us in this position. And unfortunately, he speaks volumes about the competence of this administration and the department's leadership. And I fear what it portends for our national security.
▶ 0:40:36Through this bill, we have grave and solemn responsibility of appropriating the funds necessary to defend and to protect our nation and to protect the safety and the well-being of our men and women in I come from a defense dependent state. I understand the importance of investments that we make in our nation's defense.
▶ 0:40:59But I cannot support this bill which abandons our allies, damages our political readiness, and promotes divisive policies that undermine morale. We also need to zoom out and understand the bigger picture here. The cost of living crisis is felt by every American family. That includes military families. But the president is not laser focused on the cost of living crisis, which he is actually making worse.
▶ 0:41:26This administration and Republicans in the Congress are attacking programs that help families make ends meet in order to give billionaires a tax break. The cost of living crisis has a direct effect on our military readiness and capabilities. I am proud that Prattton Whitney produces the F-135 engine, the power plant for the F-35 joint strike fighter in my district.
▶ 0:41:52The highly skilled workers at this plant are critical for our defense industrial base, and the rising cost of living is making it harder for them to make ends meet. They bring immense value to Pratt and Whitney, to Connecticut, and to our national security. and they recently fought for their value to be recognized. I proudly join them on the picket line.
▶ 0:42:15Kiana Brown, a worker at the East Hartford plant who has been at Prattton Whitney for three years, said, and I quote, "Job security is the biggest thing for me." What is getting money handed worth if you're not going to be here in a couple of years? This is yet another reason why predictability and budgeting and contracting for our defense industrial base is so important.
▶ 0:42:38This is yet another reason why it is unacceptable that Secretary Hexth has no budget, no budget, and no spend plan. And while I'm pleased that Prattton, Wendy, and the union representing that facility's workers have agreed on a contract, Congress must do more to address the cost of living. Instead, what Republicans are pursuing will only make it worse.
▶ 0:42:59safety net programs, other basic services that have been attacked by the administration and defunded in Republicans reconciliation bill not only help with the cost of living, they are critical for national security. I said this to the secretary in our hearing on Tuesday. America's future service members are learning in our schools. They might rely on Medicaid to see a doctor. They may only have a meal to eat because of wick or food stamps or may or they may live in subsidized housing.
▶ 0:43:29If tomorrow's service members are worried today about having their most basic needs met, then they are being held back from their fullest potential and that weakens our national security. Turning to the bill before us, rather than working with House Democrats to strengthen our national security and prioritize the issues that matter most to our men and women in uniform, House Republicans are abandoning our allies, undermining democracy at home and abroad, and failing to support our service members.
▶ 0:43:56Despite broad support in the Congress for helping Ukraine defending itself against Russia's brutal invasion, they empower Putin by failing to include the $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. The majority's bill holds the door open for disinformation created by America's enemies rather than allowing the Department of Defense to counter the threat, allowing extremism and propaganda to proliferate across the internet and the media landscape.
▶ 0:44:26The bill continues House Republicans attacks on the right of women to seek an abortion and the rights of minorities to be protected from discrimination while destroying the department's efforts to build a more inclusive, effective, and modern military. And the bill weakens the department by continuing the administration's reckless and indiscriminate cuts to vital civilian personnel and yielding to Doge and Elon Musk.
▶ 0:44:53In further conceding our prerogatives for funding the Department of Defense to reconciliation and Doge, the majority directs the department to find nearly $8 billion in cuts. Everything from military health care to troops pay and operations accounts potentially facing reductions to the detriment of our readiness and to service members and military families quality of life.
▶ 0:45:17Instead of focusing on how to keep the American people safe and improving the quality of life for members of our armed forces, House Republicans are undermining readiness and abandoning our allies. I cannot support this bill, but I believe I believe that we can make critical improvements to it in support of our country's defense and in support of our service members. Thank you and I yield I thank you, gentle lady. Any other members wishing to make general comments about the bill?
▶ 0:45:49Gentle lady from Nevada. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I rise today unfortunately in opposition to this bill primarily because of the process as the ranking member clearly uh laid out, but also because it harms our military readiness, undermines our national security, and fails to support our service personnel and further limits
▶ 0:46:19our female service members access to fundamental health care. It's incredibly disappointing that this bill has been made partisan and includes these devastating provisions because there are some good parts of the bill. Specifically, I support the increased funding for critical minerals as well as the funding for the collaborative combat aircraft program.
▶ 0:46:44On the issue of uh critical minerals, I want to point out that the Department of Defense paid an Australian firm 10 times more than it paid an American firm, MP Materials, headquartered in Nevada, to onshore the full ecosystem of rare earth production, including Samarium.
▶ 0:47:06Now, Samarium is a rare earth that is almost exclusively used for military purposes and yet for which the entire world's supply of samarium comes from China. So, this should be a top priority. MP is the largest rare earth the US's largest rare earth producer. It's invested a billion dollars of its own capital since 2020 and employs more than 800 Americans.
▶ 0:47:34Yet, it was undercut by an Australian firm that never even broke ground in the United States. MB Materials is ready to help the US combat China's export controls and ensure the rare earth metal being used in our military applications is being sourced in America.
▶ 0:47:54Earlier this week, the secretary committed to me that the department will ensure uh will first support US critical mineral companies already investing, hiring, and paying taxes in our country. I support the $341 million increase to IBIS in this bill. And when talking about the collaborative combat program, it's important to understand that Creech Air Force Base in Nevada is leading the charge.
▶ 0:48:24It literally is the center of excellence for our military uncrrewed aircraft system. We've all seen how remotely pil piloted aircraft and uncrrewed aircraft systems are playing a significant role in combat in the Ukrainian war. as displayed. Investments to support critical mineral extraction in America and the CCA should be top priorities, but unfortunately they are part of a bill that will harm our military.
▶ 0:48:54For example, it continues gutting the Air Force Reserve Pider pilot fighter force. Air Force Reserves fighter forces projected to be cut by by 2030 with no clear plans for replacement.
▶ 0:49:12The Air Force has had significant pilot shortage over the past several years and gutting the reserves fighter units means that there will be fewer places for experienced pilots to go when they leave active duty. This will exacerbate the total forces pilot shortage. The bill also leaves behind our allies around the world which weakens our own national security.
▶ 0:49:36And lastly, unfortunately, this bill can uh attacks women's access to healthcare. Our brave service members risk their lives every day to protect our nation, and it sickens me that we would prevent them from making personal health care decisions about their own bodies, lives, and futures. About half of our service women stationed in the states are stationed in states that do not protect a woman's right to choose.
▶ 0:50:06And this bill will prevent them from accessing abortion even in cases of rape and the life of the woman. We should be voting on a bill that will help equip and prepare our service members to carry out their mission, boost national security, and importantly improve the lives of service members without jeopardizing the health of our service women. This bill does not do that and I urge my colleagues to vote no and I yield. Gentle lady yields.
▶ 0:50:36Mr. Bishop, you're Thank you, Chairman Cole, Ranking Member Delaro, Chairman Calbert, and Ranking Member McCollum. I'm unable to support the Department of Defense funding bill for fiscal year 26 in its current form.
▶ 0:51:01I represent three major military Fort Benning, uh, Robins Air Logistics Center, the worldwide logistics command for the Marine Corps at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, and many men and women who are veterans of our armed services.
▶ 0:51:22The current bill, in my opinion, establishes a defense strategy that is rooted in leading from fear, a tactic that might generate shortterm compliance, but ultimately undermines long-term stability and global leadership. History teaches us that sustainable power is built not on intimidation, but on respect and cooperation.
▶ 0:51:49For instance, after World War II, the Marshall Plan didn't coersse European allies. It invested in their recovery, forging durable partnerships that have lasted for decades. Similarly, NATO's success rests on mutual trust, shared values, not on unilateral threats or coercion.
▶ 0:52:14Respect has consistently proven to be the most effective long-term motivator, cultivating trust and cooperation among allies. This synergy is essential in today's complex geopolitical landscape. Synergy is defined as the interaction of multiple entities producing an effect greater than the sum of their individual efforts.
▶ 0:52:42Simply put, America is stronger and safer when it leads by building alliances, not by bullying and sowing discord. Our adversaries are keenly observing the fragmentation and dysfunction within our government.
▶ 0:52:59More critically, countries like Ukraine and Taiwan, which rely heavily on US support to deter aggression, are increasingly uncertain whether America will uphold its commitments when it matters most. This erosion of confidence risk emboldening our adversaries and destabilizing entire regions.
▶ 0:53:24If we want to ensure global security and maintain our leadership, we must adopt a strategy that prioritizes respect, builds trust, and fosters genuine cooperation. Because the stakes are not just political, but they are existential.
▶ 0:53:42Inside our Department of Defense, I have serious and growing concerns about the blatant attack on any semblance of diversity, intellectual diversity, cultural diversity, or demographic diversity. The current administration is weaponizing the Department of Defense as a political tool demonstrated clearly by the wave of firings disproportionately targeting women and minorities.
▶ 0:54:10This is not just about personnel changes. It is an unmistakable message. Dissent or disagreement will not be tolerated. Disagreement is not weakness. It is essential to effective decisionmaking.
▶ 0:54:28Without it, organizations succumb to group think, a dangerous conformity that suppresses critical voices that stifles innovation and creates a false sense of The consequences are grave. For example, the recent incident involving the discussion of sensitive classified information over unsecure unclassified channels was not just a lapse.
▶ 0:54:59It was a systemic failure. People involved understood the gravity of the breach. Yet no one raised objections. Why? Because dissent was either discouraged or punished. This culture of silence and enforced conformity is a perilous path, one that risks not only policy failure, but the lives of our servicemen and women.
▶ 0:55:27Tragically, some of these careers have already been lost as a direct result of this administration's reckless disregard for open dialogue, uh, diverse perspectives, and sound decisionmaking. If we continue down this path, the price will be paid by security failures. This bill fails to implement the necessary safeguards to adequately protect our service members. It alienates our trusted allies while simultaneously emboldening our adversaries.
▶ 0:55:57It falls short on securing our most sensitive intelligence from those who would exploit it without regard for national security. While it could be the largest national defense investment in the history of our nation, $1 trillion, it lacks specificity, transparency, justification, vision, and overall suitability to make our to meet our strategic national security challenges at this very volatile moment.
▶ 0:56:24these deficiencies will be addressed during this appropriations process, but until then I cannot support the bill in its current form. Gentleman's time is fired. Uh Mr. Klyber recognized. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this legislation.
▶ 0:56:51My colleagues led by full committee ranking member Delaro and uh subcommittee ranking member McCullum have already laid out in great detail their concerns with this concerns with which I agree.
▶ 0:57:11But I want to focus on a particular concern of mine, a concern that seems to be an obsession with this administration and many of his supporters. Many of my colleagues are aware of my fondness for President Harry Truman, a man who had the capacity to rise above the circumstances of his birth and the constraints of his social limitations.
▶ 0:57:39One of the major reasons for my emotions about Truman surrounds his signing of Executive Order 9981 which integrated the armed services in Now Truman did not wake up one day and decided to sign that executive order.
▶ 0:57:59Instead, he woke up one morning to the news of the blinding of Sergeant Isaac Woodard, who was returning home to South Carolina in full uniform after helping to win World War II. He was welcomed home by a lynching at the hands of the local deputy sheriff. Mr.
▶ 0:58:25Chairman, I would respectfully ask each member of this committee to carefully reflect upon the actions of President Truman and the statements of Secretary Royal and consider uh whether the bill that we are doing here uh is of any real significance.
▶ 0:58:49the first clause of the executive order declared, "It is essential that there may maintain in the armed services of the United States the highest standards of democracy with equality of treatment for all those who serve in our country's defense." The statement and the executive order it preferenced were highly controversial at the time.
▶ 0:59:17The Secretary of the Army, Kenneth Royal, spoke out in opposition to the commanding chief and ultimately I want to quote him at length. The army is not an instrument for social It was not the army's job to favor or to social doctrines.
▶ 0:59:43He continued, "A total abandonment or a substantial and sudden change in the army's partial segregation policy would, in my opinion, adversely affect enlistment and reinlistments, not only in the South, but in many parts of the country.
▶ 1:00:06and a change in policy would adversely affect the morale of many southern soldiers and other soldiers as well. I want you to reflect all my colleagues on what President Truman did and what Secretary Royal said.
▶ 1:00:28Are we going to pass a bill today in the spirit of Truman's actions or the spirit of Secretary Royal's words? A little bit later today, uh I think the last amendment that I see on our schedule uh is being offered by uh Congresswoman Underwood uh and she is going to offer an amendment uh to deal with this DEI issue.
▶ 1:00:57I want to ask my what does army readiness have to do with Mega Evers's war record from our website.
▶ 1:01:15Mega Evers fought for this country, came home to Mississippi, and was shot dead by an and we are now erasing his contribution from our Mr. Chairman, I had some others here that I can't do in your down in the south. We talk a little slower and therefore I can't get to these other examples. But I want us to think about these contributions.
▶ 1:01:46Think about Jackie who fought for this country and what he had to endure just to play baseball. and we erasing him and his record from the website. I want I yield back but I please let's think about this as we vote today. Appreciate the gentleman. Uh Miss Captor, you recognize you asked for time, Miss Captor.
▶ 1:02:19I have to take a deep breath so that I don't cry. Chairman Cole. Thank you, Congressman Klyber. Thank you. It's on. Shall I turn the mic on? Thank you, Congressman Klyber, for serving our country.
▶ 1:02:44Chairman Cole and Ranking Member Deloro, Chairman Calbertt, and Ranking Member As we review the fiscal year 2026 Defense Appropriation Bill, I approach it with profound concern. Serving the defense of this country is my primary priority. As we've discussed at length in our defense subcommittee meetings, this bill before us today is totally hollow.
▶ 1:03:15There is no number to which we are marking two. It is an embarrassment. As I and it isn't because of any person in the leadership on this committee that is preventing this from happening, that there's something bigger going on up the street. As I speak, our subcommittee has no budget request from the new administration, nor related justification books. If we were an expedition, there's no proposed route, nor a budget, nor supply list.
▶ 1:03:45We don't have orders where to send the battalions. After our hearing with Secretary Hegsth earlier this week, it is clear the administration is not even sure when it might submit its full budget request. What a disservice to our nation. Whatever the Office of Management and Budget is doing, the new administration still does not have its full budget request together. It does not have a plan for defense.
▶ 1:04:15No plan. No plan creates apprehension, hurts US security, gives our enemies sucker, and means service members lives are placed at higher risk. The fundamental responsibility of Congress is to protect and defend the American people against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We must strengthen America's security in a dangerous world and uphold liberty's call.
▶ 1:04:44This bill falls far short of meeting those obligations. Instead, the delayed submission weakens our strategic posture both at home and abroad. A defense bill should be prioritized rather than embroiled in unending internal administration wrangling and multi-year delays that is so dangerous to this country.
▶ 1:05:09Our enemies are From what the administration has stated publicly, one glaring example is the cutting of $300 million from the Ukraine security assistance initiative. Either you stand up for liberty where it's being fought for or you don't. There's no wavering that can happen.
▶ 1:05:30And let me just say in terms of Ukraine, there is no place on earth on earth where more people have suffered for their liberty. going back to the Bolevik revolution all the way up to the present day with Putin even history can't properly account how many died there 11 million or 15 million all the way back to Lenin to Stalin and now the current demagogue
▶ 1:06:00that's in there in Moscow and they're fighting and they're inventing the warfare of the future with drone warfare even our country couldn't do China's close to it. We have to have this budget in order to protect the people of this country and allow the defense department to do its job. Achieving that requires, that's why I ran for office, rebuilding America's defense industrial capabilities.
▶ 1:06:29And don't think they don't need a lot of attention. We have to rally together to expedite the provisions for exceptional, deployable, and innovative air, sea, and land systems. And don't think we're not challenged on every level. America's larger power lies in the alliances we built.
▶ 1:06:51Without maintaining these hard one alliances at cost of hundreds of thousands of American lives, we leave gaps that China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran eagerly fill. They are fast at work. Make no mistake about that. This bill's delay weakens our long-term strategic capabilities.
▶ 1:07:18We must not miss essential strategic opportunities requiring our leadership maintain a competitive advantage precisely when adversaries rapidly expand their capabilities. In closing, I sincerely regret I cannot support this bill that I view as my first responsibility. A bipartisan majority of members must unite across this Congress to expeditiously and fully rise to America's defense.
▶ 1:07:48We are capable of doing so much better and our allies and liberty depend on it. I yield back. Thank you. Gentle lady's time is expired. Miss Westerman Schultz recognized. Five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Defense Appropriations Bill usually enjoys wide bipartisan support, or at least it's supposed to.
▶ 1:08:11But unfortunately, the one before us is woefully inadequate to address the critical national security needs of our country, and it's why I'm opposing it. First and foremost, this fiscal year 2026 defense appropriations bill was written without the Department of Defense's full budget materials being available to us. As Miss Cull Miss McCullum capably described, conducting necessary oversight over the department's programs cannot be done while Congress is kept in the dark.
▶ 1:08:39As ranking member McCullum accurately pointed out, this order of events could lead to more waste, fraud, and abuse and more confusion and uncertainty after subjecting the DoD to a year-long continuing resolution, which we just did. This is appropriations malpractice, plain and simple. I would oppose this approach no matter who was running the Department of Defense, OM or the White House. But with Pete Hegsath at the helm, we have someone who has proven to this committee he has no intention of following the law.
▶ 1:09:07Therefore, it is more critical than ever that we check the Pentagon's work on these budget requests. We learned the hard way that we cannot trust and we must verify. To start, this bill betrays our democratic allies in Kev. By eliminating support for the Ukraine security assistance initiative, we empower Russia and put innocent people in our commitment to dem democracy in Putin's crosshairs. As the Ukrainian people fight for their lives and future, this is no time to abandon this critical ally.
▶ 1:09:34It's sickening to see this committee advance a bill that turns our back on democracy. Ronald Reagan would be ashamed by what his party and this president are trying to do here. Making matters worse, this bill also carries provisions that would harm readiness, recruitment, and retention of our all volunteer fighting force. And once again, this bill targets female service members right to make reproductive healthc care decisions for themselves. While women service members put their lives on the line for our freedoms, the Republican party wants to strip them of the same rights they have stripped from civilians.
▶ 1:10:05It's a cruel irony. Unfortunately, because of the DOS decision and the actions of the Trump administration, our female service members are in a position that they have never been in before. Their right to control their own body now depends on which state their duty station is located. And that will dictate their access to reproductive health care, creating an unequal patchwork of basic human rights. Unreal.
▶ 1:10:27All that I and my colleagues on this side of the room are arguing is that service members should have the ability to request leave to seek medical care if the care they are seeking is not allowed in their state of assignment. Beyond that, this bill includes language directing the Department of Defense to find $7.75 billion in cuts to the funding amounts that we put in this bill. That is an absurd mandate that will put almost everything on the line to be cut. This money could come from pay for our troops or the maintenance for our installations.
▶ 1:10:57It could be funds for our allies abroad, defense health programs, Department of Defense schools for military families stationed abroad, or almost any other line item in this bill. I don't understand. Have we just given up? Are we throwing in the towel and giving up our art article one authority? Are we going to defer our authority to make just under$8 billion in cuts to the Department of Defense without one ounce of oversight from our committee? I'm sure Elon is proud. What's next?
▶ 1:11:23Should we give the DoD the power to declare war on their own or allow it to override the Congressional War Powers Act? I want to be blunt. We are failing to meet the moment. We're failing to hold the Heath Pentagon to account and we're abandoning our our critical congressional due diligence. This bill is bad for our national security, bad for our international allies, and bad for our readiness. We could have had a bipartisan product that I would be proud to support as I have in the past.
▶ 1:11:51I urge my colleagues to vote no on this bill for our service members, civilian personnel, our national security, and for the strength of our nation. I yield back. What if everybody gave you these little tiny suits for you to wear? Men, you it wouldn't be very comfortable. It's the same thing for the women. if if they're getting body armor that's made for a man, uh it it it creates dangerous gaps in coverage and can mean the difference between life and death.
▶ 1:12:21Right now, there's more than 4,000 women in combat that rely on specially fitted protective gear. And funding would ensure that they can fight effectively and return home safely. Third, as been pointed out by my colleagues, this bill reinstates a deeply harmful abortion policy, requiring service women to take unpaid leave and travel at their own expense to access care or be forced to carry pregnancies to term. Our our service women, they don't get to choose. Gentle lady's time is expired.
▶ 1:12:52All right. Well, with that, well, I'll end by saying this since I'm my time is expiring. We trust women to operate Blackhawks and lead special ops. we should trust them to make personal decisions about their own reproductive health. And uh listen, I just hope as we move this bill along, folks, let's be smart. Let's be smart.
▶ 1:13:15Uh and and correct these gap gaps, not out of but out of patriotism and respect for every man and women who serves. I yield back. Gentle lady's time is expired. Mr. You're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I want to compliment you and the majority staff as well as ranking member McCullum uh and our team for all of the work in such a small amount of time.
▶ 1:13:45Um I rise in opposition to the bill and uh like many of our colleagues here on this side, we would love to support this bill. um we have in the past, we will in the future, but right now, this time, uh this is a broken process and a lot of this is not on you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 1:14:08Um as the ranking member mentioned, uh this is probably the largest expenditure of funds this committee has ever seen with the fewest It is shocking. $831 billion dollars and the lack of detail and information that we have seen. I I I could be corrected and if I if I am, I'm I'm open to it.
▶ 1:14:33But um it is it is quite jarring on behalf of the taxpayers for us to be taking this step at this time with so little detail behind the information that we are seeing. Mr. Mr. Chairman, as I said, you know, we're marking to numbers that we know can't be law.
▶ 1:14:55Many of us here, we're in this room, we're on this committee because we want to have the ability to spend the resources of the taxpayers where it is most appropriate. Uh that's not the executive's job. That's our job. And we want to be here to make law. We don't want to be here to make points. Uh we want to make law. Um, Mr.
▶ 1:15:20Chairman, I'm also concerned that uh the state that you and I hail from, California, has the largest civilian workforce uh that supports our military installations. And this bill has a $3.6 billion reduction in the workforce. That could cut over 40,000 full-time equivalents. Uh that will hurt our war fighters. That will not put us um uh in a posture that is helpful when we talk about the Indo-Pacific.
▶ 1:15:47Uh, and I'm concerned, Secretary Hegsth, at our hearing earlier this week, um, where where you, Mr. Chairman, even commented at the lack of detail information that that our committee has received. Uh, it just certainly seems that the secretary is either unwilling or unable to give the committee the necessary detail that we need to carry on our work.
▶ 1:16:12I'm not sure if that's because he can't hold staff or because uh he is unwilling uh working with OM to get us the information. Um I've heard our colleagues comment about uh against CRS, but in this committee right now we are doing everything possible to lead to a CR.
▶ 1:16:38The lack of coordination, the lack of consultation, the lack of detail um is putting us on a path that I think none of us want to be on. And I and I do genuinely mean that. I don't think that this committee wants to pass CRS. It negates all of the important work and all of the priorities that we spend hours looking to accomplish. So, Mr. Chairman, I hope that I know that this is just one step in a process.
▶ 1:17:08I hope that we can continue uh to work um you know in a bipartisan way uh to pass bills that become law, but that's going to mean uh that we have to make some choices. And that has to mean that's going to mean that we're going to, you know, upset some folks who prefer for us to have CRS, who prefer an unfettered ability for them to spend money.
▶ 1:17:36And I'm not seeing the majority in a position uh to push back against the administration. There's a lot of happy talk um but there is not a lot of willingness to actually exercise our ability to do the job that we are here in this room to do. With that, I'll yield back. Mr. Chair, gentleman yields back. Mr. Casease. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
▶ 1:18:05I rise regrettably in opposition um to this uh bill, but I start with a glaring reality that perhaps we both agree on and that is that we must in fact increase our overall defense budget. We must increase our overall defense budget. This is a dangerous uncertain world and it will clearly get more dangerous and uncertain.
▶ 1:18:31It's not going to go backwards or stabilize where it is today in and of itself. We face the generational challenge of the People's Republic of China and they're not sitting over there having these debates. They are proceeding as fast and as expeditiously and as broadly as they can. We face the harsh author authoritarian reality of Russia, Iran, North Korea and others.
▶ 1:18:53We face terrorism and other asymmetrical threats And hope and aspiration and posturing are not a plan or not a strategy. Only a strong national defense co coordinated and delivered over time will achieve the foundational necessity of all else. And a strong national defense is not just advanced and too often expensive and overbudget weapons systems.
▶ 1:19:24It is complexity and interoperability over time across all domains, space, air, land, sea, cyber, intel and on. It is certainly personnel and facilities. It is campaigning and training and interaction with partners and allies and friends. And yes, it is quai soft and soft power. much of which is beyond this particular bill. We're talking about all manner of interaction with our partners and allies around the world.
▶ 1:19:53I'm often reminded of an experience I had in a very small but incredibly key nation where a civic engagement team of six service members had that entire population supporting our country because they built a basketball court and played basketball with folks in that country. Talk about the costbenefit and any military leader will tell you that and yes it is everything beyond this bill. It is development assistance.
▶ 1:20:23It is trade. It is on and on. It is a coordinated strategy across number of bills that add up to a strong national defense. We cannot silo ourselves in this bill and call it national defense. And let's be clear, we can and should increase our overall defense budget without risking our economy and without shortch changing our def non-defense needs. This is a false choice that is presented.
▶ 1:20:50And we can do that if we are honest and efficient in how we handle this particular bill and allocate the responsibility fairly across our society. According to the Congressional Budget Office, we currently spend 2.9% of our gross domestic product on defense. Contrast that with 3.3% in 23 and 3.4% in 24 at a time when we're asking many countries around the world and many countries are in fact spending more than that on their GDP.
▶ 1:21:21We can and should do more and we can and should expect our partners and allies and friends to meet their own obligations. that is right for us to expect them to shoulder the responsibility of our mutual defense. But we must lead by example and we must cover that period when we are asking them to ramp up to a much higher level than they have. Let's not let's not talk about whether they should or shouldn't have done something in the past.
▶ 1:21:47They're going in the right direction, but we cannot leave this gap and cut our national defense at the same time as they are ramping up. Regrettably, this bill in combination with other related bills in other does not offer our best way forward. First, reconciliation. This is a dishonest bill. This bill does not increase our national defense. It is the Biden budget. And okay, fine.
▶ 1:22:14You can say that there's $150 billion more in reconciliation. That bill hasn't passed. Why isn't that money in this bill? Let's be honest about what it's going to take for national defense over time, yearbyear. Second, there's a glaring overfocus in weapons systems. Third, there's a lack of coordination with other bills. This does not add up to a cohesive defense strategy on other areas. Fourth, there are glaring deficiencies.
▶ 1:22:43My colleague spoke compellingly on what amounts to the desertion of Ukraine, and we'll have more to discuss on that. It fails fails to invest in space research and development. There's no co cohesive strategy for the Indoacific. In some this bill does offer a foundation at least for an honest, full and coordinated defense strategy, but until we get there, I regrettably cannot support it. Thank you. Thank the gentleman. Gentleman time is expired. Mr. Morelli.
▶ 1:23:18Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I uh appreciate all the hard work that you've done and it's a privilege to sit on the subcommittee uh that has um led us uh to this bill. I want to um also thank uh the ranking member for her leadership and her friendship. I want to make three points I think as we consider this. The first is uh obviously we all agree in order for the United States to maintain a strong capable fighting force uh our service men and women deserve nothing less than our full support.
▶ 1:23:49But to understand that security doesn't begin on the front lines. It begins in our communities, in our classrooms, in our kitchens, in our health clinics. A defense uh that is strong relies on strong, healthy Americans. A skilled military relies on educated and skilled Americans. Our future soldiers, sailors, uh marines, air um force guardians rely on quality schools, affordable healthcare, adequate nutrition.
▶ 1:24:14Um, I saw shockingly a recent study from the Council for a Strong America that 77% of youth between the ages of 17 and 24 cannot qualify for military service. 77%. It's shocking. And the reasons were malnutrition, obesity, uh, lack of adequate literacy. Uh, if tomorrow's service members are worried about whether to have a meal on the table or access to quality health care, then we're failing them and we're weakening America's security.
▶ 1:24:44uh cuts to public education, SNAP, and health care make us vulnerable and make us weak. Um and it's not a problem the Pentagon can or should be called upon to serve. It's an American problem. It demands a long-term approach. Second thing I want to raise is I was and continue to be distressed by lack of clarity around America's place in the world, defending democracy, defending freedom.
▶ 1:25:09Uh I asked Secretary Hexath during our uh subcommittee hearing about Ukraine indicated that he would give that that the approach was going to be to give less security to Ukraine. We have walked away walked away from our leadership role in the world.
▶ 1:25:23And what I find striking about this is talking uh as I have done and many have done to allied nations who I frankly thought naively when I came to Congress that probably many of our partners around the world resented American leadership on some level that you know the notion had to rely on big brother. But what I have found instead is other nations saying to us other leaders saying we rely on American leadership.
▶ 1:25:51American leadership has helped built the postworld war II world and keeps us safer and keeps us safe for democracy. And what we have seen and our retrenchment from our support for NATO, European allies, allies around the world to me is something that um I frankly have a hard time wrapping my head around and I got no confidence after our conversation uh with the defense secretary.
▶ 1:26:16And uh I also want to just uh reiterate what others have said and I I associate my remarks about the process that we're going through. Um you know by not having the president's budget request, we have no real idea what the priorities are here.
▶ 1:26:33We're working with some topline numbers and I appreciate the work that uh the chair of both the subcommittee and the standing committee have had to do and trying to piece this together, but this is really it's I I'm sort of an average guy and I try to work hard to convey to taxpayers I represent whether the money that we're appropriating is spent well and whether families can rest at night knowing we've done the utmost to protect the citizens of this country.
▶ 1:26:58and we're here considering how to fund a military and defense apparatus and we can't get the commander-in-chief to be bothered enough to give us a budget request. I'm not sure how this average Joe will assure the folks he represents that the president or this Congress have met their solemn obligations in this regard. And it's very troubling to me. I understand the challenges here. I know we have work ahead of us, but dear Lord, uh we have to do better than this. And I know the men and women in this room want to do better.
▶ 1:27:27Uh but this budget falls uh woefully short in being able to help us assure Americans uh that we have done the very best to give them the security and safety uh that they demand and that they deserve. Uh with that uh I yield Gentleman yields back. Mr. Leven, you're Thank you, Chairman Calbertt.
▶ 1:27:55Uh, I too am disappointed to rise in opposition of the bill. I am deeply honored to represent the Marines and sailors on Camp Pendleton, where Marines are trained to fight and win our nation's wars. They're among the most disciplined, capable war fighters in the world. My focus is making sure they always stay that way, fully prepared, fully supported, and always focused on the mission they were trained to carry out.
▶ 1:28:19I don't think we can do that for them or for our military at large if we rely on CR after CR after CR. I don't think you believe that either. Also, part of operational readiness is that our service members have a clean and safe place to live well on base. I think we all agree and I appreciate that this bill increases funding for junior enlisted barracks maintenance. It's a step in the right direction, but broader challenges remain.
▶ 1:28:45The hiring freeze and some proposed cuts in the bill could undermine the very readiness that we're trying to support. Increased operations and maintenance funding only works if we have trained civilian personnel in place to do the work. Without them, our barracks will continue to deteriorate and our junior enlisted service members will continue to pay the price. I'm also deeply concerned about the steep cuts to medical research.
▶ 1:29:08The most recent continuing resolutions slashed funding for the congressionally directed medical research program by 57% from fiscal 24 levels. But the damage wasn't spread evenly. 23 of the program's 35 subfields lost all funding entirely, including research in epilepsy, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, Parkinson's disease, and traumatic brain injury. These aren't just budget lines. They represent real hope for service members, veterans, and families battling serious illnesses.
▶ 1:29:37Many of us know someone who's faced one of these diagnoses and cutting off support for this kind of research is Finally, I want to raise concerns about recent reports of active duty Marines being deployed for domestic purposes. This week, I formally asked Secretary Hegsth, Northcom, and local commanders for clarity. What is the legal authority for this deployment? What are the rules of engagement? And what non-lethal training has been provided? So far, no one has offered a clear, consistent answer.
▶ 1:30:06In fact, the headline in Politico just yesterday read, "Hegs says troops in LA are lawful. He just can't explain why." It continues, "The Pentagon chief stumbled when pressed on the legal underpinning for the deployment of 700 Marines to California. Even if you support this administration, I know you all do. I hope you watch his testimony. It could should concern you just like it concerned me.
▶ 1:30:29So too should the reports that these Marines are assigned to a domestic mission as Task and purpose reported this morning and have not yet completed training on the standing rules for the use of force or on non-lethal tactics. These rules govern the use of force by military personnel operating within the US and are far more restrictive than rules in combat zones. You would never permit someone to serve as a law enforcement officer after just 4 days of training, let alone without completing it. This too should concern us all.
▶ 1:30:58Active duty Marines are trained to fight and win wars, not to serve in civilian law enforcement roles. Deploying them without clear legal authority, adequate training, or straightforward rules of engagement sets an incredibly dangerous precedent. We must and I will always support our service members in every way.
▶ 1:31:20That means being honest about their role, transparent about their orders, and committed to the laws and norms that govern military force in a democracy. And today, my colleagues, we are falling short on all fronts. Thank you. And I yield back. Gentleman yields back to balance of his time. Mr. Espalot, you're recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Mr.
▶ 1:31:49Chairman, I rise uh in opposition to this bill. Unfortunately, like many of my colleagues on this side of the aisle, I am unable to support this measure for many of the same reasons that have been stated here by my colleagues.
▶ 1:32:07Des despite the the heavy price tag of this bill being $831 billion, the administration did not undertake even the most basic form of cooperation with this body. They have not submitted a budget request or any detail planning for the department.
▶ 1:32:27You would think that a matter as important as national defense will push in a b will be pushed in a bipartisan manner, but that has not been the case. Uh they have not submitted a budget request or any detailed planning. Think about that. Almost $1 trillion with almost no details whatsoever. Uh that's not the right way to go.
▶ 1:32:55This is the security of our nation we're talking about. Most of us agree that the threat presented by China, North Korea, Russia, Iran is a serious one. Rather than taking the mantle, Secretary Hess and this administration have used their time to diminish and attack war heroes simply for their background.
▶ 1:33:22They took the unprecedented step recently, the president did this as well, of circumventing governor of California to deploy National Guards. They're also deploying Marines in the streets of Los Angeles, costing $134 million to taxpayers while we don't get any details regarding this budget. So, this is not an endless money pit.
▶ 1:33:52Uh this is a serious discussion about the security and the defense of our nation of in front of of China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, etc. This administration has provided scarce and scanned details on its plans for ensuring our security interests in Africa. for example.
▶ 1:34:16Instead, they have adopted the same playbook of dismantling a key agency or office such as Africa with no replacement strategy whatsoever. The decisions that the administration is making as part of the budget process within the daily management of the department are deeply distressing. Therefore, I cannot support this measure. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back. Gentleman yields back.
▶ 1:34:46Mr.Wigley, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Today, we're marking up a bill that should reflect our responsibility to support men and women who defend our nation and advance our interest here and Fortunately, this bill doesn't reflect our values. It endangers our national security and the security of our allies.
▶ 1:35:09And at this time when we are tariffing our allies, telling NATO that they're on their own and treating Ukraine the way we are at the the critical point in their history, I'm not sure we have friends and allies.
▶ 1:35:23It is a reminder of FDR's last inaugural address, his shortest, but the one that speaks to us today, the man who fought the isolationists in the 30s uh and is critical in the victory in the Second World War.
▶ 1:35:40And in that address he said, "We have learned that our welfare is dependent on the welfare of nations far away from our home and that to have a friend in this world, you need to be one." I'm not sure who considers us their When we talk to Greenland and Canada, for example, the way we do, uh, when everything is loss or
▶ 1:36:11victory, there's no subtleties in between. Rather than meeting the moment, this bill maintains funding levels that were set under previous administrations, levels that don't reflect the complex and evolving global threats we face today. At a time when Ukraine is still fighting for its sovereignty, this bill eliminates funding for the Ukraine security assistance initiative.
▶ 1:36:38It's not surprising with an that won't pick sides in this conflict is a betrayal of NATO, of our partners in Europe, and of the very ideas of rules-based international order and be a gift to Vladimir Putin. This bill also undermines our own military readiness by injecting toxic policies into what should be clear focus and united defense of our country.
▶ 1:37:08It strips women in uniform of access to comprehensive reproductive care putting ideology of head of readiness and well-being of our service members. It attacks LGBTQ plus service members and chips away at policies that ensure everyone who is willing to serve can do so with dignity. And it takes aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
▶ 1:37:34Initiatives that not only reflect our values but strengthen our force by ensuring that we drawing on the full talents of our nation. We should be investing in strategic deterrence in innovation and cyber security in partnerships that prevent conflict and project American strength. We should be honoring the service and sacrifice of our troops by ensuring that they and their families have the health care, pay, and support they deserve.
▶ 1:38:01The Defense Appropriation Bill should strengthen and unite our armed forces, not weaken and divide them. It should help us address evolving threats head on, not retreat from them. I urge my colleagues not to support this bill because we can and must do better for our men and women in uniform, for our allies, and for the security of our nation. And I yield back. Gentlemen yields back. Mrs. Watson Coleman, you're recognized. Thank you.
▶ 1:38:32Thank you. And good morning. I want to associate myself um as in opposition to this bill with everything that my former colleague right here, my colleague formerly spoke to. I'm concerned about this this bill, this department, the fact that we keep putting money there, but we don't know what the heck they're doing with all of it.
▶ 1:38:58I'm also concerned that it he spoke to our issues and our um dealing with our friends or our continuing to maintain our role in peacekeeping and in in values that are de democratic in in nature and and respect uh the ability for all folks to live in peace.
▶ 1:39:21and he spoke to Ukraine and I think we're still in in in the muck and the mire of how we're dealing with Gaza and Netanyahu also and that needs to be stated. But let me also say that there are so many other reasons to be in opposition to this bill. This bill includes $700 million for congressionally dedicated medical research programs to fund high-risk medical research.
▶ 1:39:48But this represents an extreme rec cut of over $400 million from fiscal year 2024. This CDMMRP funds research that directly benefits military service members, veterans, and their families.
▶ 1:40:07So are my Republican colleagues suggesting that advancing medical and scientific research and filling research gaps in the defense health agency not an imper not an not imperative to the overall defense of our often supports underfunded or stigmatized conditions such as rare diseases or women's health issues.
▶ 1:40:36It also reflects Congress congressional oversight and democratic responsiveness to public concerns and diseases that may otherwise be neglected due to a lack of lobbying power or commercial interest. I am so proud of my military.
▶ 1:40:53I am so proud of the role our military has had all over the world trying to bring peace, dignity and respect and stability to com uh communities and to people all over the world.
▶ 1:41:07So, I am really unsettled, unhappy, and embarrassed by the fact that we're going to put our army on display in some performative way, spending over a hundred million dollars so that they can parade down the streets of DC, wrecking the infrastructure just so it can sav the the ego needs of this corrupt president.
▶ 1:41:35It offends me that we should do this. So, I just want you to know that I find myself needing to stand in opposition of this bill, in opposition of our support for ridiculous things like a military parade as if it should be a clown show. And I am very concerned that my Republican colleagues will not stand up for the dignity and respect of our military. I yield back.
▶ 1:42:06Gentle lady yields the balance of her time. Mr. Miss Underwood, you're recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am unable to support the fiscal year 2026 Defense Appropriations Act we have before us today.
▶ 1:42:26While it does include a few provisions that I would support, especially an increase in basic pay for all military personnel and additional pay increases for junior enlisted, it fails our troops and our national security in almost every other way. Our service members and military families make enormous sacrifices to serve our country. The least we can do to honor those sacrifices is treat them with dignity and respect.
▶ 1:42:53Unfortunately, the Republican majority has chosen to use our armed services as political pawns instead of prioritizing the health and safety of our troops, their families, quality of life, or our nation's military readiness. For starters, this bill cottifies a dangerous new policy of the Trump administration by banning service members from traveling to access reproductive health care.
▶ 1:43:18And thanks to the ongoing effort to ban abortion nationwide, almost half of active duty service women are effectively unable to access abortion services without traveling. This extremist provision is a slap in the face to the women in uniform who risk their lives for a country that refuses to provide for their health or acknowledge their fundamental rights.
▶ 1:43:42I am disappointed in my Republican colleagues but not surprised at this point in their allout assault on reproductive freedom. The bar is on the This bill also includes provisions that target LGBTQ plus service members by blatantly endorsing discrimination.
▶ 1:44:01And of course, this bill also bans funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within DoD despite widespread agreement among security professionals that a diverse talent pool is a missionritical priority for our armed forces. Just to give one example of how diversity strengthens our military readiness, the Navajo code talkers played a key role in securing our victory in the Battle of Euima, saving countless American and allied lives.
▶ 1:44:31In fact, in both world wars, Native American service members have used indigenous languages to successfully transmit secret information. It recently got harder to learn about this history since the Trump administration deleted information about the code talkers from DoD websites. So, let me remind my colleagues that the military's ability to recruit and retain, for example, speakers of diverse languages is essential to its ability to win battles and save American lives.
▶ 1:45:00In other words, the GOP's obsession with culture wars hurts our readiness for real wars. It's foolish. It's short-sighted. and it's making us less safe. While House Republicans are happy to rubber stamp the Trump administration's reckless and hateful agenda, I am not. This bill fails our service members. It fails to keep us safe and I will be voting against it. I yield back. Gentle lady yields back the balance of her time. Miss Escobar, you're recognized for five minutes.
▶ 1:45:34Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. And I want to begin by thanking the staff. They've been incredible helping to support our work, working through the night, early into the morning. And so I want to give a shout out to all of them. I am so privileged to represent Fort Bliss, which is a premier military installation in the middle of my hometown of El Paso, Texas.
▶ 1:45:59and I served for six years on the House Armed Services Committee and was very excited about coming to this committee so that I could bring the work that we did as authorizers uh here into the appropriations committee.
▶ 1:46:15But I I want to echo what my colleagues have said and the disappointment that they've expressed not just in the process but in what is happening uh in terms of the administration and and what it is prioritizing which I think is really contrary to what all of us here are should prioritize.
▶ 1:46:37In fact, what the administration is doing with regard to the Department of Defense should be alarming to everyone. The hiring freeze and the plans to further cut the DoD civilian workforce, that is not helpful. turning the Department of Defense into an arm of the Department of Homeland Security. That is not only harmful to the mission of the Department of Defense.
▶ 1:47:06That not only um harms our readiness, but that's not the way that our Department of Defense should be We've seen the administration move money from things like barracks.
▶ 1:47:21A as a member of the the quality of life panel on the House Armed Services Committee last Congress, we worked in a bipartisan way to focus on the things that make our active duty service members lives better. At the top of the list was the need for barracks and to see money shifted away from the needs of our active duty military personnel in order to fund border operations.
▶ 1:47:52That's a DHS uh appropriation. Should not be a DoD appropriation. We're also we've also seen this administration use our installations for immigration detention at Fort Bliss. They're building a 5,000 bed facility to house families and it is slated to cost about $4 billion. All of us should be outraged by that.
▶ 1:48:21That's not a DoD priority, nor should it be. Using our military assets for DHS purposes, that degrades our national defense. That degrades our mission. that degrades our readiness. Using Marines as support personnel for ICE in Los Angeles, all of us should be outraged by that. It's it is so alarming.
▶ 1:48:50None of this is part of what our active duty personnel are trained to do. And then there's the way that this administration has politicized DoD. Taking down mentions of our bravest heroes because their service or our honoring of their service is considered woke or DEI while at the same time erasing the bipartisan work of Congress that renamed installations that previously were named after
▶ 1:49:20Confederate generals who history regard as traitors to our republic. So now the administration is embracing Confederate generals a banning transgender troops. And then this bill limits reproductive healthc care access for women in the military. It implements language that protects those who discriminate against same-sex couples.
▶ 1:49:46Really in 2025, that's what our defense bill is doing. I I'm ready to do the hard work of making sure our DoD is adequately prepared to meet the threats of today. That's what we should be focused on and being a check on an administration that is using our pre precious resources for political purposes.
▶ 1:50:13I hope we can get this bill to a place where we can support this in a bipartisan way. Maybe the amendment process will do that. I'm ready to put in that work, but right now I cannot support this bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. Gentle lady's time is expired. Miss Dean, you're recognized for five minutes. Mr. Chairman, uh, and I want to start also by complimenting the staff.
▶ 1:50:42I can't imagine the hours and the details and and the work that you have put in. So thank you for making this uh more productive for us uh in order to do our job. I also want to compliment the leadership uh of this committee uh both sides uh for the leadership uh and for the honesty with which you opened uh this hearing this markup uh saying that there are some important priorities that we must talk about in terms of the defense bill
▶ 1:51:12but that we're missing critical detail. I appreciate that honesty. America needs to understand as we do our job, we're doing it with at least one arm tied behind our back. We don't have the numbers. We don't have the details. I'm reading from uh the report uh that is uh combined together with minority views. Uh and I thank the chairman for this report.
▶ 1:51:35Literally on page three, the first bit of text, uh, the committee recommends for the fiscal year 2026, 831 billion equal to fiscal year 2025. Uh, and the recommendation invests in American military superiority, shapes a more efficient and effective Department of Defense, protects from threats at America's border, and takes care of service members and their family. a pretty good mission statement.
▶ 1:52:05I think we could also be talking about readiness and some other things, but it's it's a common understanding of what this bill and this committee uh minority and majority are doing. But then uh literally on this first page, however, the committee's effort to report this goal was hampered by the lack of a full budget proposal and detailed justification material.
▶ 1:52:33This lack of information meant that the committee was unable to examine upto-date uh program execution data in the context of a full fiscal year 2026 uh request. Again, I compliment the leadership of this committee, majority and minority, uh for understanding that and for saying that on page one. We're missing the numbers. So with that, uh, I want to mention that I'm a member of the foreign affairs committee.
▶ 1:53:03Uh, and I've had the opportunity to travel whether it's to the Middle East or to Europe. Uh, and what's missing also in here that I think is gravely concerning uh, is support for Ukraine. I'm very glad and heartened and and I work on uh, the Ukraine caucus uh, with Miss Captor and Mr. Quigley and so many others.
▶ 1:53:26It is a gro it's a grotesque omission uh that the security assistance for Ukraine uh has been pulled out, eliminated, gone from this budget. What we see in Ukraine, them fighting for their democracy, I'd say that is what we want to see in ourselves, the protection of our democracy. What we fail to do for Ukraine, we're literally failing to do for ourselves.
▶ 1:53:52So, I look forward to that amendment passing and continuing that support because after all, we saw an a very bad display of uh the president on February 28th in the Oval Office where the vice president and the president literally bullied a president at war. Three years at war. Bullied the president of Ukraine and saying, "You don't hold the cards. Are you kidding me?
▶ 1:54:21It's time we stood in unison, Republicans, Democrats, people of no party affiliation to say what happens in Ukraine matters to us and we must stand with Ukraine in Gaza. Gaza is starving. Let's face facts in here. There's actually a prohibition of working with our UN partners to get humanitarian aid into Gaza.
▶ 1:54:51We know what is going on in the pursuit by Mr. Netanyahu uh in Gaza is wrong. Israel had every right and responsibility after October the 7th to go into Gaza and to root out Hamas. But in the meantime, they've gone well beyond that mission and now they are starving the people of Gaza with so much of the infrastructure destroyed and so many people not getting aid.
▶ 1:55:21In addition, we traveled to Denmark uh with the foreign affairs committee. Denmark is baffled and really appreciated our visit Democrats and Republicans to say we are your friend. We are your ally. But they are baffled by this nonsense on Greenland. We They are baffled by the tariff chaos. And I know I'm getting um gabbled out. Two quick things.
▶ 1:55:49$45 million for a birthday party for the president. That's grotesque at a time when we're worried about money and waste and fraud. I'll end with this. June 16th this week will mark 10 years since candidate Trump came down that golden escalator. Gentle lady's time is expired. And you remember what he said in his inaugural address. This American carnage stops now.
▶ 1:56:16Sadly, that was a foreshadowing of the 10 years of carnage that this administration is doing. I yield back. Gentle lady's time is expired. Mr. Hoyer, you're recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On February 3rd, seems to be on not working.
▶ 1:56:48It is not down. But when Mr. Vote appeared before our subcommittee, he told us why. Not because he doesn't have it, not because he can't give us the information, but because they have chosen until the reconciliation pass, they will not give it to us. That is why we don't have that information on which to act.
▶ 1:57:15Now, I'm going to be talking at greater length on Ukraine when Miss Captor offers her amendment, but let me say this. Last night, I met with a group of One of them was Sergeant Andre Swalinski. He's receiving treatment at Walter Reed for wounds he sustained fighting Russian invaders. He lost his eyesight. He lost both arms.
▶ 1:57:40But he has not lost his determination to make Ukraine free and whole once more. Let us not lose our determination to do the same. That's what strength looks like. He came to our capital and asked for us to stand with Ukraine. So sad that he had to ask. I thought we did stand with Ukraine.
▶ 1:58:12Frankly, Mr. Trump, Mr. Bance, Mr. Hexath, Mr. Rubio, the scabbard have put that at risk almost every time they talk. If Russia wins, America loses. Mr.
▶ 1:58:31Rogers, the chairman of our armed services committee says the Mike Rogers that if puts it a different way, he says Russia must lose this war or the message we send will be louder than all the dollars we put in this bill.
▶ 1:59:00I hope every one of us will support the caster amendment, capttor amendment. I'm going to talk more about it. Putin, I've said this before, Ji Singping, Kim Jong-un, Humeni, and the rest of their access of aggression are watching us right now with this bill.
▶ 1:59:22Legislation like this, even when it fails to become law, makes America look timid, lacking resolve, and uncommitted to defending freedom here and around the world. From dictators, desperates, and international war criminals. So the reckless terminations of civilian, national security employees, and topranking military officers.
▶ 1:59:46We'd have to reject this bill and work on a bipartisan alternative to address these issues if we are to re reaffirm our strength to the world. I have voted for of the defense bills that have gone through this house in the last 44 years. I believe that America needs to have a strong defense.
▶ 2:00:12A defense which surpasses all other in the world. A military that has the equipment and the training to be the best in the world when we put them at the point of the Since Russia's invasion in 2022 of Ukraine, this Congress has had at least 12 votes on the issue of supporting On average, 80% of
▶ 2:00:42the Cong of the House of Representatives has voted to support Ukraine. 80% eight out of 10 both sides except on one vote had a majority of their members voting to help Ukraine. And yet this bill withdraws money to do exactly what 80% of this Congress has committed to do.
▶ 2:01:09I'm going to talk more about uh what Senator McConnell has to say about this and what Senator what President Kennedy had to say about it. Suffice it now to say that we need to demonstrate our resolve and we can do it today on our voting in this in this house in this Sergeant Smalinski and thousands of others in Ukraine but millions and billions of others throughout the world count on America.
▶ 2:01:41Let's not let them down. I yield. Thanks a gentleman. Gentleman's time is expired. Mr. Mvin, you're recognized for five minutes. Mvan, I should say. Thank you, Chairman, Ranking Member, uh, Subcommittee Chair Kelver, and Ranking Member McCollum. Defending our nation, supporting our war fighter starts with the hardworking men and women in Northwest Indiana, steel, manufacturing, and organized labor.
▶ 2:02:08I'm proud to serve on this committee to stand up for them, ensure their essential contribution to our national security, and are fully recognized and fiercely protected. The entire state of Indiana and our Midwest region has an all-we inspiring people and workers, not just at our manufacturing facilities, but also through research and innovation taking place at our institutions, higher education.
▶ 2:02:30They all are our selfless service members are put our our selfless service members at the top of mind as well as beginning the consideration of this important legislation and I look forward to building on their vast skill set knowledge and proven success to continue to advance the strength in our national security. One area I'd like to see improvements upon with the jointlike tactical vehicle program.
▶ 2:02:56Earlier this year, the administration announced the Army Transformation Initiative, which I am concerned would have devastating impacts on Indiana's manufacturing base. In particular, the initiative targeted the Humvey and the JLTV programs, which support dozens of small businesses across Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. This bill thankfully returns the Humvey program to F25 levels. Yet, my concern lies with the JLTV program.
▶ 2:03:21The measure appropriates more than 168 million for the JLTV for the Marine Corps and nearly halves the Army JLTV line to 345 million as the Army begins to phase out the Humvey and the JLTV procurement. This creates an air of uncertainty for the future production line. So, while I am appreciative of the efforts to bring the Humvey program in the FY25 levels, I remain concerned over the ATI and its impact on Indiana's workers and small businesses.
▶ 2:03:50In addition, I am deeply concerned by the significant funding cuts to the CDMR peak accounts. I understand that this program was established to support research for disease and disorders that disproportionately affect our nation's service members and their families and believe that underfunding the CDMRP substantially jeopardizes our ability to advance the treatment of cancers, neuro neurodeenerative diseases and rare I would highlight that I have met with Northwest Indiana
▶ 2:04:20constituents who have directly benefited from kidney cancer research in this program and I look forward to continuing to advocate for the enhancements in research, prevention, and treatment of these conditions. This bill also includes a provision that would prevent our women service members from seeking necessary reproductive care as service members decisions to seek abortion in private and personal. And we should not include such provisions that create undue stress for our service members who are willing to sacrifice their lives in defense of our country.
▶ 2:04:47We must do more to allow service members and all women to make their own medical decision. Indiana's defense partners are trusted at home, abroad, and by our allies. You'll find Indiana made equipment in Ukraine holding the line democracy during Pton's war of aggression. You'll find them in Thailand and Taiwan ready to keep the Chinese Communist Party from furtherro encroaching on its neighbors. And you will find Indiana made equipment on US military bases across the world protecting our men and women in uniform and defending the US national interests.
▶ 2:05:18I thank you again for the opportunity to speak and look forward to debate the efforts uh in support of brave members of our armed forces, our essential defense manufacturing base and our workforce and members of organized labor. With that, I yield back. Want me to hang on? Thank gentlemen. Are there any other members uh wishing to make general comments about the bill? Boy, did I time that well or not.
▶ 2:05:48Okay, with that, seeing no other members wishing to make opening remarks, I'd like to recognize Chairman Calbertt to offer a manager's amendment. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk. I ask unanimous consent to wave the reading. Without objection. The manager amendment incorporates various non-controversial items in the bill and report that have been cleared by the majority and minority. I want to thank those members on both sides for working with us on various issues that have been brought to our attention.
▶ 2:06:17I urge adoption of this bipartisan amendment. Thank you very much. Gentle lady from Minnesota, Mr. McCullum's recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh Chairman Calbertt, uh I would like to uh commend our staff for working to make this uh a bipartisan um manager amendment.
▶ 2:06:38uh as you said it has several non-controversial technical changes and it makes changes to the bill and report to address a number of topics important to this member members of this committee. I hope this is an example of what you and I can be working towards in the future and passing this bill. So currently I urge adoption of this amendment and I yield back. Thank you gentle lady. Uh obviously move into general comments about the manager's amendment.
▶ 2:07:04With that, gentle lady from Florida is recognized for any comments she cares to make about the manager's amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise to uh address the manager's amendment. As a breast cancer survivor, I do appreciate the inclusion of my proposal to increase funding for the DoD's breast cancer research program.
▶ 2:07:24While in the bill overall the program still sees a cut from FY24 levels, I do hope to work with the chairman uh and the chairman of the full committee to see this funding fully restored as we continue with the FY26 process. Military women are up to 40% more likely to develop breast cancer than civilians, and these funds help drive life-saving and transformative discoveries.
▶ 2:07:48It's resulted in the development of innovative therapies and treatments, better diagnostics and breakthrough research, improving outcomes for so many military families. Now is not the time to roll back investment in life-saving research so we can better understand how to best treat our service members. And I also appreciate the inclusion of long-standing report language regarding metastatic cancer research that was not included in the original report.
▶ 2:08:10Uh we have to make sure that we continue to try to do research to make progress on solving the vexing metastatic cancer. Um the fact that we have not made as much progress in life-saving treatment um and life-saving uh life-saving impact when it comes to metastatic cancer and this program helps do that.
▶ 2:08:35Um, there's also uh so many other things that in in this bill that have been unfortunately reduced that we need to continue to work on moving forward, but I am glad that these changes were included and I appreciate it. Thank you. I go back. Thank you, gentle lady. Do any other members seek recognition to speak on the I recognize Chairman Calbert for one minute to close.
▶ 2:09:07I thank the gentleman for letting us bring forth the manageer's amendment and the gentle lady for his support and uh ask for its approval. Thank you. The question is on the amendment. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say no. The opinion of the chair, the eyes have it and the amendment is adopted.
▶ 2:09:41With that, my good friend, the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Laura of Connecticut, is recognized for an amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have an amendment at the desk, Mr. Chairman, thank you. Without Would the gentle lady like the reading? I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed.
▶ 2:10:06Without objection, the reading of the amendments dispensed with and the gentle lady's recognized for remarks on her amendment. Mr. Chairman and my colleagues, this amendment should not be necessary. We should not have to tell the president of the United States that he is unable to accept a luxury airliner worth hundreds of millions of dollars as a gift from a foreign power. These things should be obvious. And yet here we are.
▶ 2:10:32It is deeply troubling that some in the majority envision a president unbound by laws, who rules by decree, who accepts lavish gifts from foreign governments, who fills public offices with the ultrawealthy political allies. Individuals without any expertise or professional experience to carry out the missions on the goals of their agencies who expels opposition and crushes dissent.
▶ 2:11:01Make no mistake, the world and the American people are watching. While the president imposes tariffs on our allies and eviscerates our foreign aid investments around the world, we see him also accepting gifts from foreign governments. Our allies, adversaries, and constituents all see that he is self-indulgent. This is not just any gift.
▶ 2:11:26a luxury plane which will then be delivered to the president's library when his term is over. We all see what it is. The American public can see this for what this is. A president using the highest office in the land to boost his own image, ego, and future financial Even some of the president's confidants have said this will be a stain on the Everyone who works in the federal government goes through ethics
▶ 2:11:57training. Our interns on Capitol Hill cannot accept so much as a burger or fries. And I hope all of you know the toothpick rule. Small snacks are acceptable, but a fork and knife meal is not. And yet the president of the United States can accept a $400 million airplane without so much as batting an eye.
▶ 2:12:22It is hard to imagine a more brazen violation of the imalments clause which was written because the framers of the Constitution knew that even the appearance of improper influence calls a president's decisionmaking into question. The provision applies directly to the president who by the way is exempt from many other government ethics rules but not this one.
▶ 2:12:51Let us revisit the constitution for one moment. Article 1 section 9 clause 8. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States, and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall without the consent without the consent of the Congress accept any present imalment, office or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince or foreign state. Congress has not consented.
▶ 2:13:22This committee should not consent. Just as we cannot give up our constitutional power with the purse, we cannot look the other way as this president makes a mockery of our laws and traditions. The president describes this as a good deal for taxpayers. But last week, the Secretary of the Air Force said it would cost up to $400 million of taxpayer funds to retrofit a commercial plane. Other experts say it could be closer to a billion.
▶ 2:13:48The ethics, optics, economics, and security questions are all alarming. They tell a story of a president who would happily indebt himself to a foreign regime simply to have a more opulent jet plane at his disposal. Does anyone believe that the government of Qatar truly expects nothing in return for this plane? If so, I have a bridge to sell you.
▶ 2:14:10Congress can easily put an end to this debate and res restate clearly what we believe is in the constitution with today's amendment. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment and I yield back. Thank the gentle lady. The gentleman from California, Mr. Calbert's recognized to respond to the amendment. I thank the thank you the chairman. I object to the gentle lady's amendment. This is not a venue to arbitrate the legality or the appropriateness of a potential gift.
▶ 2:14:39This is something to be done through the courts. The FC25B program is significantly delayed. As those of us have been working on this recognize that this contract was executed in 2018. It was supposed to been delivered two years ago and then they were notified uh by the primary contractor that wouldn't be delivered till 2031.
▶ 2:15:02Uh it took us four years to win World War II, but apparently it takes over 15 years to deliver a a uh a new modified Air Force One. Um anyway, uh the current Air Force One has been flying for 35 years. President should have a new Air Force One as soon as possible given the age of the current aircraft.
▶ 2:15:26And uh I would uh hope that uh that this plane can be modified is is for is for a reasonable price and the capability required for transport transporting the president of the United States. So hopefully that'll be done quite quickly. With that I urge a no Thanks gentlemen. Uh gentlemen the gentle lady from Minnesota Mr. Collins recognized to address the amendment. Thank you uh Mr. Chair.
▶ 2:15:55I rise in support of this amendment and I want to focus on the ethics of this and the aspect of the ranking member Dolores amendment. The amalman's clause was included in the constitution by our forefathers to prevent exactly this type of situation. It's in article one. Its placement's important. It's at the front of the constitution. And I'm going to quote again.
▶ 2:16:19No person holding any a profit or trust under them shall be without the consent of Congress to accept any presence, amaluments, office, title of any kind from any king, prince or foreign state. What the administration is doing is ignoring clearly what's in the constitution. Now, let me give you a shocking example of how that has a multiplying effect with other countries.
▶ 2:16:50During the visit of the president of South Africa with President Trump, the South African president's opening comment was, "Hey, sorry I didn't have a plane to give you." To which the president replied, "I wish you did. I take it. This is nothing to joke about. When I hear this and others around the world hear this, it makes people think that the White House, yeah, it could be subject or is subject to foreign influence.
▶ 2:17:19Furthermore, this does have a money aspect to it. The administration, if accepts this plan, is going to have to pull money away from other requested DoD programs, other priorities without or with congressional approval to retrofit this plane. In this case, the money that will be used to retrofit this plane is our concern and does affect the budget in front of us.
▶ 2:17:49Now I just want to say that sometimes people you know uh have you know alternative uh ideas on what's happening and uh President Reagan uh in his library he did receive a gift of an airplane after he left office. He followed the imalments clause. It wasn't a gift from a foreign government. It was not pre-pl uh pre-planned and the plane was uh already being dis decommissioned.
▶ 2:18:18The fact that the Reagan Library didn't take possession of the aircraft until President George W. Bush was in office. So there's no comparison here to say it's similar to what happened uh with President Reagan. I think this uh plane is going to be a gift that keeps on giving in a negative way to this committee's budget.
▶ 2:18:40and also to our standing of upholding the imalments clause and how other democracies view the United States when it comes to um ex you know taking gifts. So this Congress must hold the administration accountable. We must make sure we protect the limited dollars in this budget and I support the amendment and I ask my colleagues to do the same. Thank gentle lady. The gentleman from Georgia, Mr.
▶ 2:19:09Bishop is recognized for any comments he cares to make about the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, thank you, Representative Delaro, for championing yet another administration attempt to circumvent congressional authority and disregard ethical standards.
▶ 2:19:27Congressional Research Services 2012 report, gifts to the United States President clearly states that under the Constitution, Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8, the President and all federal government officials are prohibited from receiving any presence from foreign governments, kings, or princes without the consent of Congress.
▶ 2:19:50In an apparent attempt to circumvent this constitutional safeguard, the administration has claimed that the plan in question was a gift to the Department of Defense rather than a personal gift to the president. However, the administration has publicly indicated its intent to transfer the plane to the Trump Presidential Labor Foundation after the president leaves office. How can this not then be construed as a personal gift?
▶ 2:20:20This pattern suggests that this administration's ethical boundaries are malleable, written in pencil rather than ink, easily erased or rewritten to accommodate expediency, especially when there is little or no Without proper oversight, there scant incentive to uphold ethical standards.
▶ 2:20:44Today, we find ourselves at a critical crossroads, presented with a clear opportunity to do what is right, to hold our leaders accountable for their action, no matter who they are. Public trust in our government is alarmingly low. As of February 2025, only 29% of Americans believe the federal government in Washington can be trusted to do what is right. What have we done to restore that trust?
▶ 2:21:13Do we even consider what our constituents think of our actions? I urge this committee to act decisively, to stand for integrity, to reject misuse of taxpayer funds, to retrofit an unethical gift that lacks congressional approval. Let us demonstrate our commit commitment to accountability to the rule of law. Support this amendment. Stand up for integrity. Stand up for honor.
▶ 2:21:42But more importantly, stand up for the constitution. adopt this men this amendment and rebuke unethical conduct by the president. I yield back. Thank gentlemen. The gentle lady from Ohio, Miss Captor, recognized to address the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the Deloro amendment. It's amazing we even have to talk about this.
▶ 2:22:10Uh, apparently the um president accepted this gift but then had to hand it over to Secretary Hegsth over at DoD because what the president did wasn't really legal and now we're stuck with this airplane.
▶ 2:22:27I think they ought to raffle it off somewhere and give the money to Ukraine because it's hundreds of millions of dollars that it's going to require to even if it's able to be used, all right, and uh to strip it of whatever is in there in terms of security. But to add, it's just too complicated. You can't do that with an airplane. You have to build it from the ground. We've made sure that we've funded the uh US Air Force to build a new plane for the president, but we shouldn't be retooling something that comes from a despotic uh country.
▶ 2:22:57That's for sure. We're talking about a private aircraft. All right. And uh who knows who knows what's really in it. Um but what's interesting about this deal is I'm from Ohio. We know corruption when we see it. Two weeks before this was announced that the plane was coming, the uh Trump organization through his sons uh signed a golf course deal over in Qatar.
▶ 2:23:21Now, this whole set of exchanges is extremely interesting and really ought to go over to some inspector general to investigate, but the American people shouldn't be paying for any kind of changes to this plane. Um the uh uh the risks involved are too great and It all smacks of an ethical rot which the constitution anticipated. Others have discussed the imaluments clause.
▶ 2:23:49Um but we already have this funded contractor air force one and we're behind in that now we're stuck with this thing. I don't even understand why secretary heth accepted it. Uh I think it should be put in a special uh hanger somewhere and uh we should get a price for it and help to fund real real struggles for liberty uh that our country is involved in in many places in the world.
▶ 2:24:14Um we don't need to be subsidizing the palace in the sky with any gold uh attendant uh improvements that will be made inside that airplane. We shouldn't subsidize vanity. We shouldn't allow any nation to give a gift like that to the United States. We should stand for integrity and I fully support the Deloro amendment. Thank you so very much and I yield back. Thank the gentle lady.
▶ 2:24:40The gentle lady from Florida, Miss Welman Schultz, is recognized for comments on the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise today in strong support of the amendment offered by my friend, ranking member Deloro. The story of the Boeing 747 fromQatar with a big giant bow on it like it is a car being purchased for a kid's 16th birthday is almost too cartoonish to be true. I'm not sure the writers on VEP would have tried to pull off a plotline this ridiculous.
▶ 2:25:09This gifted plane in quotes is not only an ethics nightmare, it is unconscionable to accept it and it is an and it is an unacceptable national security risk. Adding to the ringling circus, President Trump plans to use taxpayer dollars to retrofit his secondhand jumbo debt. And what good is a freebie if the American people get socked with a hu huge bill from it? The American people already face a cost of living crisis, one that Trump makes worse every day.
▶ 2:25:39And now they have to pay to retrofit this so-called gift to the tune of up to $1 Even someone with a two-bit dimetore law degree would know this isn't legal. Oddly, my colleagues across the aisle are always quick to lecture us on what the founders said and meant when they wrote our nation's founding documents.
▶ 2:25:59But on this, we hear zero mentions from our Republican colleagues of the clear gross violation of the imalments clause in the Constitution, which prohibits accepting gifts from foreign states. Time after time, congressional Democrats have asked the Trump administration if he will meet the requirements of the imalments clause and what if any authority Trump has to accept and retrofit this plane. What does the self-proclaimed quote most transparent administration in history have to say about this? Crickets.
▶ 2:26:29So to recap, we have an illegal foreign gift of a plane and one that is a clear national security risk that looks like a blatant bribe. And it comes with a retrofitting job that will cost the American people hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars. And this is occurring all while prices are still too high and rising thanks to the Trump tariff taxes. And what do we hear from Republicans in this body? Nothing.
▶ 2:26:53no demand for trans transparency or congressional oversight in what looks to be a clear influence scheme or demand for payment all involving the highest office in the land. And there are reports that the plane will only be used for 3 years because after Trump's term is over, it will go to his presidential library. Talk about a wasteful grift. We need to turn the lights out on this circus. And in a few minutes, every member of this committee will get the chance to do just that. vote yes on this amendment to protect our national security and adhere to the constitution.
▶ 2:27:24By the way, two things that we commit to when we swear our oath at the beginning of every term. I encourage all my colleagues to support this amendment and I yield back. I thank the gentle lady and we now recognize the gentleman from Maryland, Mr. Hoyer, for any comment she cares to make on the amendment. I'm embarrassed. the richest, most powerful nation on We have a base gutter.
▶ 2:27:58Are we so lacking in selfrespect that we have to take a plane for the president of the United States from a foreign country, a used plane? What have we become? A supplicant with a handout. Do we have no shame?
▶ 2:28:29Do we have no sense of pride? Support this amendment. America's not for sale. Thank you. The uh chair recognized a gentle lady from New Jersey, Miss Watson Coleman, for comments on the amendment. Thank you for recognizing me. I stand in support of this amendment.
▶ 2:28:58First of all, this airplane is the most tangible um illustration of corruption and the fact that we are for sale. This is not about a need. The United States of America doesn't need this plane. This greedy, unfulfilled, corrupt president wants this plane.
▶ 2:29:18And I am reminded of the Wizard of Oz because I look at my colleagues across the aisle whom I really have a lot of affection for and I want to remind you of the lion that was looking for You know this is wrong. you know that this is a form of of uh uh corruption.
▶ 2:29:44You know that every time he or his family take a trip somewhere, you end up with a golf course or a um a a a project uh that will be u curated in that area.
▶ 2:29:59You know that this is all about feeding this bottomless ego and and helping him to become the billionaire that he had said he was all of these years. You know, he's using us.
▶ 2:30:19you know, he's allowing the abuse of everything, including our military and our local police and our um uh national guard. You know, we're living in the midst of a uni unitarian corrupt dictatorship.
▶ 2:30:40You know that our our security, our rights, our rights and respect are all on the line. You know this.
▶ 2:30:55So, I'm going to ask you to follow Darthy on the road to the wizard so that you can find out that there is courage to be had and that on behalf of the United States of America, once the most respected country in the world, you can help us to regain that respect because right now we just look like a cheap date ready to give it up for any little
▶ 2:31:26nugget that comes our way. Please, I beg you. I beg you. I beg you as an American, as a member of Congress, find your courage and stand up to this corrupt president. I yield back. All right. Are there other members wishing to address the amendment?
▶ 2:31:52Seeing none, the questions now on the amendment offered by the I'm sorry, did I miss somebody? Oh, of course. I'm sorry. A gentle lady's recognized for a minute to close. And I have turned on the mic here, so things are getting better. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank my colleagues, all of you, for the powerful and eloquent statements on what is an embarrassment and what we really shouldn't be.
▶ 2:32:18It's beneath the dignity of this committee and it's u it's its goals, its value, it's everything. I'm wondering I wonder what Thaddius Stevens would have said about all this, you know, all these years ago. But they frame the Constitution. But, you know, we're looking at a pattern, my friends. We're looking at a pattern by President Trump and this administration. unfortunately is it is the Republican majority is rubber stamping this pattern that there's no regard for the Constitution of the United States.
▶ 2:32:48Think about it. They're already abregating article one section 9 clause 7 and that is the power of the purse which they have willingly given up and said go ahead you you know take it. It's yours. And now article 1 section 9 clause 8 uh in violation of the imalments clause. This is supposed to be by the consent of the congress.
▶ 2:33:14Consent of the congress is what it said in the imalment clause. Um 400 million to a billion dollars. Where is Elon Musk when we need him with the chainsaw? You know he's disappeared. Speaking of wizards, he's gone. You know, a president personally accepting a luxury jet from a foreign power at no cost is not just a violation of the law.
▶ 2:33:42It flies in the face of what is acceptable for holding the job as an elected official. Flies in the face of constitution, every impulse of our history. We pushed away from the opulent trappings of a European monu monarchy and toward this American ethos of equal justice. If we do nothing else today, we should affirm that no one, even the president of the United States, is above the law constitution. I yield back and I thank the chair.
▶ 2:34:10Questions now on the amendment offered by the gentle lady from Connecticut. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say no. No. The opinion of the chair, the nose have maybe he'll get a ride on the plane. Recorded vote. Recorded vote has been requested. Sufficient number of hands being uh raised. The uh clerk is asked to call the role. Mr. Adder Halt. Mr. Adherol.
▶ 2:34:41No. Mr. Aguilar. Mr. Aguular. I. Mr. Alford. Mr. Alford. No. Mr. Ammeday. Mr. Ammedday. No. Mrs. Bice. Mrs. Bice. No. Mr. Bishop. Yes, Mr. Bishop. I Mr. Calbertt. Mr. Calbertt. No, Mr. Carter. Mr. Carter. No, Mr. Case. Mr. Casease. I Mr. Sisammani. Mr. Sisammani. No. Mr. Klein. Mr. Klene. No. Mr. Cloud. Mr. Cloud. No. Mr. Mr. Clyde. Negative. Mr. Clyde. No. Mr. Cole.
▶ 2:35:11No. Mr. Cole. No. Mr. Quayar. Miss Dean. Miss Dean. I. Mr. Loro. Hi. Mr. Loro. I Mr. Mr. Diaz Bolard. Mr. Diaz Bolard. No. Mr. Edwards. Mr. Edwards. No. Mr. Ellie. Mr. Ellie. No. Miss Escobar. Miss Escobar. I. Mr. Espayat. Hi. Mr. Espayott. I. Mr. Fleshman. Mr. Fleshman. No. Miss. Miss. Frank. I. Mr. Franklin. Mr. Franklin. No. Mr. Gonzalez. Mr. Gonzalez. No. Mr.
▶ 2:35:41Guest. Mr. Guest. No. Mr. Harter. Mr. Harter. I. Dr. Harris. Dr. Harris. No. Mrs. Henson. Mrs. Henson. No, Mr. Hoyer. I Mr. Hoyer. I Mr. Ivy. I Mr. Ivy. I Mr. Joyce. Mr. Joyce. No. Miss Captor. I. Miss Captor. I. Mr. Loa. No. Mr. Loa. No. Miss Lee. Miss Lee. I. Miss Llo. Miss Llo. No. Mr. Levan. Mr. Leven. I.
▶ 2:36:08Miss Miss. McCullum. I Miss McCullum. I Miss Ming Grace. I Miss Ming I Mr. Molinar Mr. Molinar no Mr. Moore Mr. Moore no Mr. Morelli Mr. Morelli I Mr. Mvan I Mr. Morvan I Mr. New House Mr. New House no Miss Perez Miss Perez I Miss Pingri Miss Pingri I Mr. Pokean Mr.
▶ 2:36:39Pokean I Mr. Quigley Mr. Quigley I Mr. Russianthaler Mr. Russianthaler no Mr. Rogers Mr. Mr. Rogers. No. Mr. Rutherford. Mr. Rutherford. No. Mr. Simpson. Mr. Simpson. No. Mr. Strong. Mr. Strong. No. Mrs. Torres. I Mrs. Torres. I Miss Miss Underwood. I Mr. Valido. Miss Wasserman Schultz. I Miss Wasserman Schultz. I Mrs. Watson Coleman. Mrs. Watson Coleman. I Mr. Wac. Mr. Wack. No. Mr.
▶ 2:37:09Zinci. Mr. Zinci. No. Do any uh other members seek recognition to seek to change their vote or to record their vote? Chairman, Miss Malloy, I. Gentleman from South Carolina. Mr. Klyber votes I. Gentle lady from Utah. Miss Malloy. No. Gentleman from He's already Okay.
▶ 2:37:38Are there any others wishing to record or change their vote? Seeing none, the clerk will tell it.
▶ 2:38:26On this vote, the eyes are 27, the nose are 34. The amendment is not adopted. My good friend from Minnesota, Miss McCullum, is recognized for an amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have an amendment at the desk and with uh unanimous consent I would ask that the reading be dispensed with. Without objection, the reading of the amendment is dispensed with and the gentle lady's recognized for remarks on her amendment. Mr.
▶ 2:38:54Chairman, this is a very simple amendment which holds a a portion of the travel funding for the secretary of defense and each of the uh service secretaries until they've submitted each and every one of them their Jbooks to the committee that those are the books that have all the granular detail I was talking about earlier and they've testified on their budget. Now, this is not an unusual amendment. At one time or another, this type of amendment has been included by all committees.
▶ 2:39:24This type of amendment, it's even been included in the NDAA. So, if you've ever voted for an NDAA, chances are you have voted for this type of amendment in your career. I know that the lack of budget is a shared frustration on both sides. We just had the Secretary of Defense here on Tuesday to testify before the committee without a full budget request. He barely scratched the surf c surface surface. He talked about $25 billion for Golden Dome.
▶ 2:39:54As I said, it's a concept for which we don't have a plan. $3.5 billion for a new F47 program. And nearly $6 billion for ship building. Now, that's a list which is wolffully short of the billion enacted budget for the Department of Defense.
▶ 2:40:15Similarly, due to the delay in the budget, we had the secretaries of the army and navy test be uh testify before the committee, but they were unable to disclose any funding as it related to 2026. They just didn't know the numbers. As for the Air Force, we heard testimony from the acting secretary. Now, we have a confirmed secretary of the Air Force, and we should have him back to see if he knows anything.
▶ 2:40:45Now, it's not the fault of Mr. Cole or Mr. Calbertt that this committee must move forward in the absence of a budget from this but you're doing this so that we can possibly avoid another CR for the Department of Defense. But this is not how we should be doing our business. Meanwhile, Secretary Hagset has traveled all over the world. Panama, Germany, Singapore, Japan, the Philippines, just to name a few.
▶ 2:41:14Now, it's important that the Secretary of Defense visit our troops overseas, and I do not take issue with that. It is vital that he come to Congress, however, and answer specific questions on the decisions that the administration has made and our interpretation of them. Today is June 12th and there are four months left in the fiscal year. I don't know how else, Mr.
▶ 2:41:41chairman to get the attention of the administration to do its job to inform all of us to inform Congress of the budget. And as I like to remind people as a former school teacher, they need to turn their homework into Congress before doing any further travel. So I ask my colleagues to support this amendment. And with that, Mr. Chair, I yield back. Thank the gentle lady. And I recognize Mr.
▶ 2:42:11Calbert to respond to the amendment. I uh rise in opposition to the general ladies amendment. There's no doubt that the Trump administration has hit the ground running for the second term. There's no learning curve on the part of President Trump this time around. Yet, the Secretary of Defense and the Service Secretaries are still months into the job. It's vital they travel to meet leaders, counterparts around the world, which they're doing.
▶ 2:42:36It's critical that they meet with service members deployed abroad serving in harm's way uh away from their families and to thank them for protecting our great nation uh which the secretary obviously is doing also. Now saying that um I share the gentle lady's frustration. We all share the frustration of not having uh budget materials on time. However, it's not the secretary of defense or the service secretaries uh quite frankly that are at fault holding up the delivery of the budget materials.
▶ 2:43:06Uh let's put the blame on where it really belongs. And u our desires for quicker information would be more appropriately directed at pushing OM uh to move faster and get this information to this committee as quickly as possible. With that, I urge a no vote on this amendment and I yield back the balance of my time.
▶ 2:43:27Do any other members wish to address the Seeing none, the questions now on the amendment offered by the gentle lady from Minnesota. All those in favor say I. I. Oh, again I did it. My fault. And u hold your eye. We're going to go back. The gentle lady needs a minute to close. I am so anxious to move through this process.
▶ 2:43:56I apologize to my friend because she certainly should have been recognized. No apology necessary. I'm just as anxious as you and everybody in this room to get to get move on. So, I'm going to be brief. Yes, I am withholding funds and it's only $10 million. I'm trying to get OM's attention maybe by the Secretary of Defense going down there and pounding on his door saying, "Give me the information. The Congress wants it. So, please uh consider supporting this amendment.
▶ 2:44:26I think I know what the outcome is uh to both of my chairs uh on on the dis here. $10 million to get their attention so that we can have all the tools needed to make this bill work for all of us. And I yield back. Thank you, gentle lady. And again, my apologies to the gentle lady and to the committee. Um the question is now on the amendment offered by the gentle lady from Minnesota. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say no.
▶ 2:44:56No. The chair the nose have it and the amendment is not agreed to. A gentle lady from Minnesota. Mr. Cullum is recognized for an amendment. Mr.
▶ 2:45:19Chair, as as I said before, I have an amendment at the desk and I would ask with unanimous consent from this committee that the reading be dispensed with. Without objection, the reading the amendment is dispensed with and the gentle lady's recognized for remarks on her amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 2:45:35In response to the Supreme Court's devastating decision to overturn Roie Wade in 2022, the Department of Defense revised their joint travel regulations to provide service women and their families of service personnel with the ability to access lawful available non-overed reproductive health care regardless of where they're stationed.
▶ 2:46:00I strongly support the department's policy at the time and I'm deeply disappointed that the Trump administration rescended it back in I have offered this amendment the same in previous years and I want to be crystal clear. This in no way changes the hide rule. No funds will be used to perform an abortion.
▶ 2:46:27This version was strike section 8142 of the provision of the bill that deals with the administrative policy from 2022 that is no longer active. This bill does not take a position on this policy. We should not codify this provision into law. It would make it harder in the future for service members and their families to travel to access reproductive health care that they deserve.
▶ 2:46:57An Iran study corporation found that the percentage of active duty service women who have uh who have no or severely restricted access to abortion is 46%. of the women that are stationed are stationed in states where they cannot access pay for themselves their reproductive care.
▶ 2:47:21That amounts to approximately 80,000 women in the armed services who are based in installations that have limited or banned reproductive healthcare. 80,000 women. The states of Texas and Florida are home to several military installations and both states have enacted severe abortion restrictions. In some states, women have suffered and died.
▶ 2:47:47In many cases, these states laws are even impacting women who are experiencing miscarriage and it's been documented. So, I want our service members to be focused on executing their mission safely and not worrying about receiving the health care that they and their families deserve.
▶ 2:48:04And that's precisely what why the Department of Defense instituted this policy under the previous administration to ensure that every service member and their family has the access to administrative absent and travel allowance for their basic reproductive health. Now, I'm deeply disappointed by the Trump's administration recision of this policy, but the provision in this policy is a poison pill writer and it must be removed.
▶ 2:48:34So, I would ask members to support my amendment and Mr. Chair, I yield back. Thank gentle lady. The gentle lady from Utah, Miss Lloyd's recognized to respond to the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the gentle lady's amendment. The Hight Amendment is a clear federal ban on abortion funding except in the cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother. It's been in place every appropriation cycle for 40 years.
▶ 2:49:03And I've I've been here. I've heard a lot of talk about partisanship and how this should not be a partisan bill. But this is a completely partisan amendment, whereas the height amendment has been a bipartisan consensus for four decades. uh the 2022 DoD policies an end run around the hide amendment via travel leave and reimbursement policy.
▶ 2:49:28But in 1980, Scotas in Harris v McCrae said the government isn't obligated to fund obligated to fund or facilitate abortions. And this is a policy that clearly facilitates abortions. And it's not about reproductive care for women. It's about using the ability as the federal government to tax and spend to force Americans to pay for something that they are morally opposed to.
▶ 2:49:57Post the DOS decision, federal policy is neutrality, not federal imposition. The federal government must exercise restraint and respect diverse moral values of American This amendment is not in the spirit of that neutrality, not in the spirit of the DOS decision or the height amendment.
▶ 2:50:18Uh my colleagues amendment not only violates that neutrality, but it touches on something else we've been talking about a lot here, article one This would allow the DoD to make federal abortion policy that isn't in keeping with what Congress has done through the height amendment. And that's a path that I don't think we should start to go Federal abortion policy should be uniform like it has been for 40 years through bipartisan consensus in the Hight amendment.
▶ 2:50:49Abortions, including abortion travel or enhanced leave policies designed to facilitate abortions, have no place in this bill. And for that reason, Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment and I yield the rest of my time. Thanks, gentle lady. Uh the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Bishop, is recognized to address the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 2:51:12Uh, and let me thank Congresswoman McCollum for presenting this important issue regarding a female service members's right to reproductive health. Unlike veterans, active duty service members do not have the ability to choose where they're stationed.
▶ 2:51:30This lack of agency was manageable prior to the Supreme Court's decision in Row versus Wade in Even after that ruling, the Department of Defense took deliberate steps to mitigate the impact by ensuring continued access to reproductive health care, including policies that supported travel for medical services not available in certain states. These efforts signaled a clear commitment to the well-being and the autonomy of women serving in uniform.
▶ 2:52:01However, as legislation increasingly seeks to restrict not only reproductive health care access, but also the ability to travel for that care, the burden on women's service members becomes If a service member is stationed in a state that prohibits reproductive health care and is simultaneously denied the option to seek treatment elsewhere, replacing them in an impossible and unacceptable situation, forced to serve while their fundamental health care needs go
▶ 2:52:31unmet. States with some of the most restrictive reproductive health care laws are home to significant military installations. Alabama, six military installations. Arizona, six military installations. Florida, 14 military installations or headquarters. Georgia, 12 military installations. Tennessee, eight military installations. Texas, 19 military installations.
▶ 2:53:00Collectively, these states host a large portion of our active duty forces. Yet approximately 8,000 women service members currently serve in locations where their access to reproductive health care is limited or banned outright. This is not a question of ideology. It is a question of readiness, morale, and equity. We entrust these women to serve our country with honor, to deploy into combat zones, and to operate under the harshest conditions.
▶ 2:53:30We should afford them the same respect and autonomy when it comes to their personal medical decisions. Denying them access as essential health care to essential health care while simultaneously demanding the highest level of sacrifice is not only unjust, it is a failure in leadership and support.
▶ 2:53:50If we cannot guarantee access to comprehensive medical care, we must re-evaluate the fairness and ethics of stationing them in states where their health and rights are systematically restricted. I urge the adoption of this amendment. I thank the general lady for offering it and I urge the committee to adopt it. I thank the gentleman. Before I move to our next speaker, I just want to advise the committee.
▶ 2:54:19There's pizza available courtesy of Chairman Calvert across the hall. We uh will not be interrupting obviously, but any of you that want to slip out and catch something to eat at some time appropriate. Uh Senator or Chairman Calbert's made that available. Uh with that, uh the gentle lady from Illinois, Miss Underwood, is recognized to respond to the amendment.
▶ 2:54:50Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of Ranking Member McCullum's amendment to strike bill language that would make growing a family more difficult and more expensive for our service members. In early 2024, following the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that threatened IVF access, the Biden administration publicly reaffirmed its commitment to supporting service members access to the full range of reproductive health care that they need, reimbursing them for expenses from traveling to specialty medical care
▶ 2:55:21not available where they are stationed. This included life-saving care like abortion, but it also covered travel to access the full range of fertility care and services, things like IVF, IUI, cryopreservation, and needed This is especially important for service members because Triricare only pays for fertility treatment if you have a service connected need.
▶ 2:55:50Everything else is out of pocket. But when Donald Trump came in, he reversed that reimbursement policy within his first month. Although DoD has since restored it with full regard, I'm sorry, with regard to fertility services, this has exposed how vulnerable our service members and their families are to the whims of this administration and this committee. Because Republicans in Congress are going even further than Donald Trump.
▶ 2:56:19Last year, Republicans scrambled to tout their support for IVF. Their actions say otherwise. Not only have Senate Republicans blocked passage of IVF protection legislation, but more than eight and 10 House Republicans have signed their names on legislation that would codify fetal personhood, effectively banning IVF nationwide.
▶ 2:56:41And now Republicans on this committee are continuing their war on fertility services by banning any reimbursement for service members. It also bans DoD from putting any similar policies in place to help service members pay for their fertility services and make sure that they can get time off. A single cycle of IVF can cost upward of $20,000.
▶ 2:57:07And for many, the journey to parenthood requires multiple cycles. Easing the cost of travel to receive this care is the bare minimum that we should offer to our service members. This policy plays a huge role in making the dream of starting a family a reality for more of our service members who often delay parenthood in order to serve our country. IVF is not elective for many service members.
▶ 2:57:36It can be the only viable path to parenthood after service related trauma such as combat injuries, chemotherapy for service connected cancers or exposure to toxic substances during deployment. Without the safeguards that this policy provided, service members are losing control over their bodies and their future families. They may be limited by the bans on reproductive health care in the localities that they are stationed in.
▶ 2:58:05They may be denied permission from their command to seek care off base. They may simply not be able to afford to seek the care that they need. This is unforgivable after all that they have done to serve our country. It is cruel and dehumanizing to strip away uh their right to make their own healthc care decisions from military families.
▶ 2:58:30And it is also cruel to add to their costs at a time when kitchen table issues and costs are on the rise. This is yet another betrayal of our promise to our service members. I stand alongside my colleague, Congresswoman McCullum, in firm opposition to this assault on their healthcare. I hope my colleagues across the aisle will join me and I yield back. Thank gentle lady. The gentle lady from Florida, Miss Frankle's recognized to speak to the amendment.
▶ 2:59:02Go again. Okay. There are about 218,000 women of reproductive age that are an active military and they don't get to choose where they serve. There are bases or at least a base in every state in this country. Half of our states either severely restrict or ban abortion. Now, we've said this before, many of us, and we I'll say it again.
▶ 2:59:32A woman a woman, not a politician, not the people in this room, should make the very personal decision if when or if to grow a family. So, here's what I have to say. My my my enlisted in the military should not mean signing up for a forced pregnancy. That's not bipartisanship, folks. I'm not going to go along with that. Are you? He's not either.
▶ 3:00:03But but listen, and this especially in light of the fact we have it's unbelievable the rampant sexual uh assaults that go on in this military. Well, that's another story. But act obviously this is a very very personal decision for women. We trust them to fly the Blackhawks, right?
▶ 3:00:24They do a lot of dangerous things, a lot of important things and we should trust them to make their own personal decisions about their health care and they they are standing to protect our freedom and we should protect their freedom and I yield back. Thank gentle lady. The gentle lady from Iowa, Miss Henson, recognized to speak to the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
▶ 3:00:54Uh I rise today in opposition to the gentle ladies amendment. Um the underlying legislation here in the bill restores the uh long-standing Department of Defense policies that were, as we know, reversed by the Biden administration. And these are, as my colleague from Utah already described, policies that have t typically been bipartisan um across multiple administrations. And I'm hopeful we're able to to get back to that with the height amendment going forward for many more appropriation cycles. Uh but the amendment attempts to un undo a common sense provision.
▶ 3:01:25It is really disconnected from this long-standing president of this committee, and I think it's inappropriate for taxpayer dollars to be used to cover travel expenses related to abortion. Abortion is not life-saving care. It's life-ending care. And we need to redirect those resources to make sure that they are going to help our service women get um the health care that they need for their lives. Uh for years, this committee has maintained these protections in line with the hight amendment.
▶ 3:01:52Um I don't think I should be compelled to fund abortion travel with their hard-earned tax dollars. And so I urge my colleagues to join me in um opposing this amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield back. Thank you. I thank gentle lady gentle lady from Texas, Miss Escobar is recognized to speak to the Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 3:02:13And I'd like to thank the ranking member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee for this uh I've mentioned before in my statements to this committee that I was so proud and remain so proud to have served three terms on the House Armed Services Committee.
▶ 3:02:33And I was incredibly privileged and lucky to be able to work with our former colleague Jackie Spear on an effort to overhaul a system that worked against women in the military who had suffered sexual assault and sexual harassment. And we ushered in some great reforms. not enough, but we ushered in some reforms that I that I am very proud of.
▶ 3:03:03I have because I have a military installation in my community and because I was on the House Armed Services Committee, I've met with a lot of active duty service members over my term in Congress, both here and those who are stationed abroad. I always meet with the women in um in service because things are different for women who serve in the military than they are for the men who serve in our military.
▶ 3:03:33And if you haven't had roundts with women who serve in the military, I would highly encourage you to do that because what you will hear from them will really inform your perspective on how they are treated by Congress. I have I I I have always told the women that I meet with who serve in in the service that Congress wants them.
▶ 3:04:00Congress needs them, that their leadership is valued, that their service and their sacrifice is valued. But I will tell you sometimes honestly I question that. And the fact that we would bar women from accessing the reproductive health care that they need is what gives me pause about whether or not Congress really values women in service.
▶ 3:04:27I live in a state that has effectively banned abortion. The state of Texas has not only banned abortion, but puts a bounty, passed a law that puts a bounty on the head of anyone who helps a woman who needs access to reproductive health care.
▶ 3:04:48Basically in Texas, there's like a vigilante system that was approved by the state legislature um to not just ban abortion, but to threaten people who would think or consider of helping a loved one who needs access to reproductive health care.
▶ 3:05:06So given that context of my state and the situation for women in my state, the day that the DOS decision was leaked, I know we all remember that day when we understood what the Supreme Court was about to do when it came to women's reproductive healthcare.
▶ 3:05:24My office was flooded with calls from women in active duty military who don't have a choice of what military installation um they end up being sent to. They don't have a choice as to which state they serve in. I remember speaking to one woman in service in particular who was crying on the phone with me and said, "I, you know, I'm not from Texas.
▶ 3:05:55I I don't know that I would live in Texas. I wouldn't choose normally to live in Texas, but I love serving my country." And through her sobs, she explained to me, "What will happen to me if I, like many of the women I've come to know, is and ends up pregnant and I have to make a choice between serving my nation or getting
▶ 3:06:26access to the care that I need." I will never forget that conversation. So I would not describe the hide amendment as consensus first of all but second of all we all really need to ask ourselves whether we truly believe that that what Congress is doing is supporting women who make the sacrifice to serve our nation. Miss McCollum, thank you for this amendment.
▶ 3:06:57I um am eager to vote yes in favor it in favor of it. I yield back. Thank gentle lady. Are there other members wishing to address the amendment? Gentleman from Maryland is recognized. Briefly I'm I'm strong support this amendment. Uh you hear a lot about choice in a different context of schools and things of this nature. Women have no choice where they're going to be deployed. That point has already been made.
▶ 3:07:27We also rendered them with no choice that they legally have under the Supreme Court finding jobs. And therefore, I think this amendment is a critically important one. And it was an important policy for us to pursue on behalf of our daughters, our sisters, our wives, our friends who are women. And I yield uh the balance of my time to the distinguished ranking member. Thank gentlemen.
▶ 3:07:57Are there other members wishing to address the amen? Oh, yield. Okay. Because I would need more than a minute to close and I want to be respectful of the the time. This is a situation in which sometimes we find it most comfortable to talk about it in black and white terms. Sometimes women don't know that they're expecting in the first six weeks. they just don't their period doesn't stop.
▶ 3:08:27They're still spotting or if they're in extreme great athletic condition as many of our our service uh women are, um your your menstrual cycles off. So, you don't know within the first six weeks that you're pregnant and and it's legal in the first six weeks, but if you don't know to go get a pregnancy test, all of a sudden you're week seven, you're week So, there's there's that consideration.
▶ 3:08:53And then there's the women that I've spoken to both uh military and neighbors and friends and even family members and people I know very very personally who have celebrated finding out they're pregnant. It was the most wondrous news only to find out a couple months later that everything is going wrong. Going wrong.
▶ 3:09:21doctors are are saying, you know, um your health is going to deteriorate. Um but maybe you're still testing as pregnant and you know, states different ultrasounds or different heartbeats or whatever. And all of a sudden, when you've received some of the most horrific news in your life, this has been a planned and wanted pregnancy.
▶ 3:09:45the federal government steps in between you and your doctor and your person of faith to tell you when, where, how, and oh, you're going to have to pay to travel if you're wearing the uniform of this country. And you're probably going to have to pay for it yourself. This amendment just allows that freedom of travel.
▶ 3:10:10And I'm standing up for many, many reasons why women seek to terminate a pregnancy. But I'm standing up for those women I know personally have received the most terrible news in their life who are wearing our uniform and they're out there that we will pay for them to travel even if we won't pay for the medical procedure because you know it may or may not be questionable because it's a DNC and you know the government wants to you know get
▶ 3:10:40your doctor's report and examine that you haven't done anything wrong. I'm not a fan of the hight amendment, but I made crystal clear I didn't do anything in the hight amendment to to change it. So I think we know what the outcome of this is going to be. But this is not as black and white as we would like it to be.
▶ 3:11:00People's lives and decisions and doctors and people of faith can sometimes know you have to choose between the lesser of two evils. And for many women, that's being able to become pregnant again or just remain alive. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. Go back. Thank the gentleman and gentle lady. Are there other members wishing to address the amendment?
▶ 3:11:32Seeing none, the questions now on the amendment offered by the gentle lady from Minnesota. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed? Oh, you have a minute to close, but I thought you had. Well, Mr. Chair, I said I was going to take it in there, so you heard me right. And I'm done closing. I thank the gentle lady. Um, I'll just start from the beginning again, just to be clear. Uh, all those in favor of the amendment say I. I.
▶ 3:12:02All those opposed say no. The opinion of the chair, the nos have it. Roll call has been requested. Sufficient number of hands have been raised. The clerk will call the role. Mr. Adhalt. Mr. Agular. Mr. Alford. Mr. Alford. No. Mr. Ammedday. Mr.
▶ 3:12:32Amade. No. Mrs. Bice. Mr. Bishop. Yes, Mr. Bishop. I Mr. Calvert. No, Mr. Calbertt. No, Mr. Mr. Casease. Mr. Casease. I Mr. Sisammani. Mr. Sisammani. No. Mr. Klene. Mr.
▶ 3:13:02Klene. No. Mr. Cloud. Mr. Cloud. No. Mr. Klyurn. Hi. Mr. Klyurn. I Mr. Clyde. Negative. Mr. Clyde. No. Mr. Cole. No. Mr. Cole. No. Mr. Quayar. Miss Dean. Miss Dean. I Mr. Lauro. I Mr. Lauro. I Mr.
▶ 3:13:32Diaz Mr. Edwards. No. Mr. Edwards. No. Mr. Mr. Elie. No. Miss Escobar. Miss Escobar. I Mr. Espayot. Mr. Flechman. Mr. Flechman. No. Miss. Frankle.
▶ 3:14:03Miss. Frank. I. Mr. Franklin. Mr. Franklin, no. Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Gonzalez, no. Mr. Guest, Mr. Guest, no. Mr. Harter, I. Mr. Harter, I Dr. Harris. Dr. Harris, no. Mrs. Henson, Mrs. Henson, no. Mr. Hoyer, I. Mr. Hoyer, I Mr. Ivy, Mr.
▶ 3:14:32Ivy, I, Mr. Joyce. No. Mr. Joyce. No. Miss Captor. I. Miss Captor. I Mr. Loa. No. Mr. Loa. No. Miss Lee. Miss Lee. I Miss Llo. Miss Llo. No. Mr. Levan. Mr. Levan. I. Miss. Malloy. Miss Malloy. No. Miss McCullum. I.
▶ 3:15:03Miss. McCullum. I Miss Ming. I Miss Ming. I Mr. Molinar. No, Mr. Molinar. No Mr. Moore. Mr. Moore. No Mr. Morelli. I Mr. Morelli. I Mr. Mvan. I Mr. Mvan. I Mr. New House. Mr. New House. No. Miss. Perez. I Miss Perez. I Miss Pingri. I. Miss Pingri.
▶ 3:15:32I Mr. Pokean, Mr. Pokean. I Mr. Quigley. Mr. Rashenthaler. Mr. Russianthaler. No. Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers. No. Mr. Rutherford. Mr. Rutherford. No. Mr. Simpson. Mr. Simpson. No. Mr. Strong. Mr. Strong. No. Mrs. Torres. Mrs. Torres.
▶ 3:16:03I Miss Underwood. Thank you for your help. Mr. Underwood. I Mr. Valido. Mr. Valido. No. Miss Washerman Schultz. Miss Washman Schultz. I Mrs. Watson Coleman. Mrs. Watson Coleman. I Mr. WAC. Mr. Wac. No. Mr. Zinci. Are there any members wishing to record their vote or change their vote?
▶ 3:16:32The gentleman from New York. I do not believe the gentleman is Gentleman from California. I gentleman from California. Gentleman from Alabama. Mr. Holt. No. Gentleman from Florida. No. Mr. Diaz Bolard. Gentle lady. Gentle lady from Oklahoma. Mrs. Bice. No. Gentleman from Texas.
▶ 3:17:04Mr. Carter. No. Are there others? Mr. Qu Mr. Quay has not voted. Are there others wishing to be recorded change their vote? Seeing none, clerical tally.
▶ 3:18:38You next. On this vote, the eyes are 26, the nose are 34. The amendment is not adopted. Gentleman from or gentle lady from Minnesota, Mr. Cullums recognized for an amendment.
▶ 3:19:09Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is my last amendment at the desk. I ask the reading be dispensed with with unanimous consent. Without objection, the reading of the amendment is dispensed with. The gentle lady's recognized for remarks on her amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise to offer an amendment that would restore funding for several diseases that have been removed from the congressionally directed medical research programs in this bill. Funding for each of these programs provides vital research for our military personnel.
▶ 3:19:39Let me give you a couple examples. for bone marrow failure disorder known as MDS. It is a rare disease that increases the risk of developing acute malia uh leukemia, a fast growing cancer of the blood.
▶ 3:19:56Exposure to benzene, which is what causes MDS, has been detected in military personnel through exposure to agent orange and toxic wellwater at camp $8 million was cut for that in this research bill. Spinal cord research, was also cut.
▶ 3:20:20Between 2000 and 2009, at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there were nearly 6,000 new spinal cord injuries reported in the military. The rate of injury was nearly eight times that of the US general S CI is a devastating condition and is likely to occur in younger individuals aged 19 through 30.
▶ 3:20:45Often injuries happen in areas where immediate access to neurosurgical and trauma care may be delayed. With additional funds, researchers will be able to investigate treatments that might minimize the impact of injury to service members until they can receive the appropriate military treatment. Linking the connection of these afflictions directly to military services is the primary reason why we have invested funds into these diseases.
▶ 3:21:13Now unfortunately are we u not only facing cuts to the diseases in this bill but also the administration has uh request in labor age and human services bill to the tune of $9 billion cuts to NIH research. That would be a 39% cut to their medical research funding. Each of these medical research programs across the federal government brings their own unique perspective to the research.
▶ 3:21:40Without investing in all of these programs, our nation will lose vital insights to dis uh to discovering their cures. My amendment would also include funding for the defense bill research treatment that has remedies for alcohol and substance abuse orders. Something we talked a lot about in the VA bill to reduce um not only uh personal uh tragedy and trauma and families that come along with these these abuse disorders, but also to prevent suicide. It caught early.
▶ 3:22:10We know we can cut uh stop the number of suicides and alcohol was something my father treated himself with when he came back from World War II. Epilepsy, hearing uh dis uh disorders, lupus, melanoma, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's and and vision issues. So, Mr.
▶ 3:22:30Chairman, I know you're aware, you heard in opening statements, and we both received letters uh this year signed on by over 100 of our colleagues, and I know there's more letters coming endorsing robust funding for all of these afflections. And Mr. Chair, I know it's your desire to try to work some things out sometimes.
▶ 3:22:51And so rather than have people at this committee take a vote that would be I think very uncomfortable for many of us because I probably listed a disease here that somebody wouldn't want to vote against. I would like to work with you through the process to try to do what we can to restore this funding to ensure our military personnel know that they will be cared for no matter what the matter of the challenge that they face. So Mr.
▶ 3:23:18Chair, I will I I could yield to you now or just let you have your own time. What would you prefer? The gentle lady would just yield for a second. I'll I would love to yield to my friend and colleague. I would be happy to work with you through conference to see if we can find some additional funds for these things. I thought that was the case that all of us collectively would want to make that happen. With that, I yield back and I thank the gentleman and I withdraw the amendment. Mr.
▶ 3:23:40uh Chairman Chairman, I have an amendment at the One moment just before I recognize you, I just want to assure the gentle lady, I'll look forward to working with you on that, too. You bet. Gentleman from Michigan is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have an amendment at the desk and I ask for unanimous consent to dispense with the reading.
▶ 3:24:10Without objection, the reading of the amendment is dispensed with. The gentleman from Michigan is recognized for remarks on his amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My amendment bars the Department of Defense funding from going to US universities who operate STEM joint institutes with Chinese It is important that we protect our nation's research security and the taxpayer funded work happening at universities across our country.
▶ 3:24:38Joint institutes are just one of the ways the Chinese Communist Party takes advantage of our openness and our willingness to These institutions have developed technology with Department of Defense research dollars. That technology has transferred to the People's Republic of China, benefiting the People's Liberation Army.
▶ 3:25:01When American universities partner with a university in China, many of them choose one directly linked to the PLA. For instance, Berkeley's joint institute did research on LAR, robotics, and other cuttingedge fields. In fact, its research priority list closely mirrored the priorities of the PRC's 13th 5-year plan. In some cases, almost word for word.
▶ 3:25:28University of Michigan chose a university in Shanghai that makes significant contributions to the PRC's most sensitive defense programs, including rockets, satellites, and In another frightening example, Georgia Tech announced that researchers in its PRC joint institute had created the word world's first functional graphine This technology has significant military applications,
▶ 3:25:58including quantum computing and advanced autonomous weapons systems. Thankfully, through the work of the China Select Committee, we have already been successful in getting Berkeley, Michigan, Georgia Tech, and four more universities to end their joint There are many more to go, though, and they need to know that the law will no longer allow them to continue playing both sides.
▶ 3:26:23It's unacceptable to work with our defense dollars and then turn around and partner with the PRC on a joint institute. It would be shameful if one day our men and women in uniform are harmed by technology that was developed by us and transferred to the PRC through a joint institute.
▶ 3:26:43These joint institutes are simply a way for China to take advantage of our willingness to engage, to take advantage of our innovations and cutting edge research and to catch up and surpass us for the technologies of the future. Stopping this is common sense. It protects our country and helps ensure the research that we are doing benefits the American people and not the PRC.
▶ 3:27:09I greatly appreciate Chairman Calbertt and his team for working with me on this critical issue and I look forward to working on this as we go forward and continue our appropriations process. Uh thank you and with that I withdraw my
▶ 3:27:40Gentle lady from Ohio, Miss Captor is recognized for an amendment. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, my amendment. Uh, gentle lady, would gentle lady like to dispense with the reading of the amendment? I would like to dispense with the reading of the amendment. Mr. Without objection, the reading of the amendment is dispensed with. The gentle lady's recognized for remarks on her amendment.
▶ 3:28:08My amendment appro uh proposes to appropriate $300 million for the Ukraine security initiative. I believe this amendment is a moral imperative. We're going to hold up a map here showing you the size of Ukraine compared to Russia. Russia with 11 time zones and what the nation of Ukraine is fighting for her liberty.
▶ 3:28:33But in offering this amendment, I ask you to think a little bit today about America's history and walk with me along the mall here in Washington. We consider the founding of our country and the fact that uh in the 18th century uh George Washington and our founders Thomas Jefferson actually adopted in creating a republic the legal set of values that we inherited
▶ 3:29:03from France on the worth of every human being. So that Washington monument along the mall represents this republic. And then in the next century, the greatest achievement was the preservation of the union. Still our most costly war. Over 600,000 people died in fighting for the rights of human beings and whether we would be a union or be divided. And then in the 20th century, what was its greatest achievement?
▶ 3:29:33the li the victory of liberty over tyranny. And we lost on the European continent in World Wars one and two over 400,000 of our precious citizens. Now, defeating Nazism and partly the Soviet regime left other places unattended.
▶ 3:30:00And I ask myself the question in this 21st century, what will be our generation's greatest gifts to this Ukraine comes into focus because is the unfinished business of the last century. My friends, no place on earth, no place has suffered as much as Ukraine. I view her soils as sacred. How many died there? No one really knows.
▶ 3:30:30The Soviets and the Nazis obliterated human beings at massive scale. We estimate 11 million to 15 million people right here. Right here. Some of them were shipped up to in Siberia. But in so many places, their names are lost to history. They were shot to death in cuten forest.
▶ 3:30:58Black raven squads from Stalin came into their villages and took them in the night, buried them in churches in graves all over there. Nazis also invaded. They went up to Lennengrad, remember that? And uh at Babiar, they murdered Jews from across Europe. They starved to death. We don't know how many. I visited the villages where they were starved to death in the woods.
▶ 3:31:24uh the the graves are unmarked and I ask myself for the millions of peasants and ordinary people who died in silence what will be our generation's gift are we going to reward the Lenins and the Hitlers and the Stalins and the Putins or are we going to stand as a world together with our NATO allies with Churchill and Roosevelt Truman and Eisenhower Nixon and Kennedy
▶ 3:31:54Reagan, both Bushes, Clinton, Obama, and Biden. Are we going to stand with what this 20th century bequathed to us? And so today, I'm asking you to give very serious consideration because when the war in Ukraine began in the world was distracted by the Soviet and Putin just rolled right into Crimea. Okay.
▶ 3:32:24And then when he thought he was doing better in 2021, he just rolled in with the tanks just like he did to Hungary. Russia's history is expansionism. They controlled threequarters of Europe. This is a moment like none other.
▶ 3:32:40And I'll tell you, for myself and for my relatives who fought and were wounded, going back to fighting the Boleviks right after World War I, as one American, I'm standing up and saying, "This is our moment. This isn't just about Ukraine. This is about the future of our allies that we have fought side by side during our lifetimes. Make your choice. I'm asking you to please support.
▶ 3:33:10If we can't find $300 million, 75% of which will be spent on buying ammunition that they need, let's help arm them to win. My god, they are so brave. Could you do what they are doing and what they just did with drones? We can benefit as a free world from learning from them at the same time as they are dying for the very liberty that our people have fought for. Thank you so very much.
▶ 3:33:36asked for consideration of the captor amendment for $300 million, not billion, not billion, to help them arm themselves to win. I yield back. I thank gentle lady. Uh chair recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. Calbert, to respond to the amendment. I rise in reluctant opposition to this amendment. However, I certainly support Ukraine's efforts to defend itself from Russia aggression.
▶ 3:34:04That's why I voted for the Ukraine security supplemental appropri appropriations act which included 13.8 billion for Ukraine's security assistant initiative. In fact, I managed the bill on the floor. And so u uh right now um as we move through this process uh we will look to see what we can do to continue to assist uh assist Ukraine in its efforts.
▶ 3:34:31The administration is also actively providing assistance to Ukraine as as we speak using previously appropriated Um, however, as of last month, the Department of Defense had about $2 billion of unobligated funds for Ukraine. That doesn't include the 300 million that we we just appropriated in Further, the April in April, the Europeans pledged another 24 billion for on top of the nearly 8 billion they've provided since January.
▶ 3:35:00of the 24 uh over half of that's coming from Germany. It's great to see Germany finally uh stepping up to this and another six billion is coming from the United Kingdom. Uh and it's important that the Europeans uh do more uh to help uh in that neighborhood especially against uh that uh because uh obviously the United States has put significant resources into this effort to this point and continue to
▶ 3:35:30assist in other ways which we have been doing which I can't get into here but the Ukrainians wouldn't be as successful as they have been without the assistance of of the United States. So, while I support Ukraine, there's other priorities we need to address in this bill, obviously, especially as it comes to to China.
▶ 3:35:55And uh and so we we hope that the Europeans will do more to uh to assist us in this. I want to point out since this war started three years and four months ago, 250,000 Russians have died. About 750,000 Russians have been injured. About a 100,000 Ukrainians have died and about 300,000 injured. About 1,300,000 people in a war in Europe have either died or been injured.
▶ 3:36:25I want also point out these injuries are horrific. In an artillery war, it's arms, legs, amputations, brain injuries. Uh it's horrific. The suicide rate on both sides of these soldiers, these young people that are put in harm's way is skyhigh. There's no, in spite of our problems with the VA that we may think we have, they have no VA.
▶ 3:36:52They have no help to help these soldiers with post-traumatic stress syndrome and the rest. And so hopefully I think we all would agree that a a just peace can come soon because this meat grinder is going on and on and on and quite frankly the Ukrainians are running out of soldiers.
▶ 3:37:15And so hopefully we can come to a resolution of this as quickly as possible that the Ukrainians can accept and the world can accept. And uh but with that, I appreciate the gentle lady's amendment and we'll work as we go through this process to make sure we help the Ukrainians in a just cause. Thank you. Uh gentle lady, the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Deluro is very good. Absolutely. All right.
▶ 3:37:46I keep doing this. Gentle lady's recognized. just gives us more time to talk to each other during the committee. Mr. Chair, I enjoy uh I rise in support of this amendment. Today marks 1,24 days of Russia's invasion into Ukraine. For context, the United States involvement in World War II lasted 1,347 days, and we fought alongside many allies. Ukraine fights alone.
▶ 3:38:15Yes, she has some support, but she's out there, her men and women, fighting alone. Two weeks ago, the world witnessed a stunning attack by the Ukrainians deep inside of Russia territory. The Russians didn't know what hit him. Ukrainian drones costing between $400 and $600 each, cost the Russians approximately $7 billion in damage, disabling onethird of Russians cruise missile bombers.
▶ 3:38:39This attack was so revolutionary that the United States is now trying to defend itself against similar attacks that other state actors or terrorists might be thinking about. Ukraine continues, as Miss Captor pointed out, surprise all of us. But this is only happening because we have been invested in supporting Ukraine. So we need to continue that support. Since the start of the war, I've continued to speak with our allies in Europe.
▶ 3:39:06The Baltic nations in particular fear if Putin wins in Ukraine, they're next in line for evasion from Russia. The chair and I and other members were just in um in the Baltics uh a few weeks ago and we saw what they're doing as a population as a civil defense on high alert every day to keep that from happening. But there's a group and I and I totally agree with what U.
▶ 3:39:32Chairman Calbertt said earlier about the number of loss of lives, post-traumatic stress syndrome and and what's happening to the men and women who are fighting this war. But there's another group that we don't talk about very often and that's the children and um the Ukrainians um actually have an open letter in the Wall Street Journal. I have a copy of it, Mr. Chair. I'm going to put this in the record with with without objection from you later.
▶ 3:39:58Since February 24th, 2022, thousands, 20 thousands of Ukrainian children have been forcibly removed from their homes. They were not lost to war. They were taken. They were kidnapped. They were taken by an occupying army. And what are they doing to those children? They are re-educating them to help Russia.
▶ 3:40:27They are turning those children against their language, their culture, their parents. They're being That's a war crime. That's a crime against humanity. And that needs to stop, too.
▶ 3:40:42But the other thing that could happen is article five being of chapter being triggered, a mistaken missile hitting Poland, Russia making a bold move and deciding that the United States is pulling out and wants to capture more territory. Maybe it's the Baltic nations next. They're certainly concerned about that and preparing for that. But what does a war between Russia and NATO mean for us?
▶ 3:41:11because I don't think we'd stand down from invoking Article 5. At least I hope not. But it is something we can work on as a country to avoid that from even taking place, even having that be a thought that Russia would be so careless, so foolish, so bold. But something happened last week that has me concerned.
▶ 3:41:38The Ukrainian Defense Contract Group, a gathering of countries that support Ukraine, met to express their continuing support for Ukraine. The United States was absent. We weren't there. The Secretary of Defense did not attend the meeting with other European defense For me, that's an alarming signal from the Trump administration to send to Ukraine and to our NATO allies. An alarming signal to send to Russia.
▶ 3:42:06By voting for this amendment, we together as a committee would be publicly showing our support for Ukraine and showing the administration that Congress gets a vote in this, too. So, Mr. Chair, I heard what you said about working with and if this amendment fails, I know that you will be true to your word and we will work together on this. But I would really like to send a message today to Russia. I'd like to send a message to those parents of those 20,000 children. You're not alone.
▶ 3:42:34We're going to bring those hostages as well as work to bring other hostages around the world. Those um that have been uh suffered from the October attack in Israel. We're going to bring all the hostages home. We're going to bring these children home, too. With that, I yield back. Thank the gentle lady for what she had say. Chair recognizes himself to address this issue and probably do what I should never do, and that's talk practical politics uh when we're also debating policy.
▶ 3:43:03Um, let's be real. If this amendment is part of the defense bill, many of you that support the amendment aren't going to vote for that defense bill. And I understand why you have some philosophical objection, maybe the abortion issue, may disagree somewhere else. But the reality is majority of Democrats at this stage will not be voting for this defense bill. It will cost us votes because Ukraine is an issue. And I say this, somebody's consistently supported Ukraine.
▶ 3:43:31I I wrote the bill for the largest single aid package and my opinion on this has not changed. But the politics is just practical. I want to get a defense bill done. Uh and I'm not interested in dividing those who will support it initially by adding an issue that to them is very important and they feel very strongly about. And that's really the deal here. If you put this in here, you're going to end up voting against it yourself.
▶ 3:43:59In many many cases, you will vote against the bill that carried the amendment that you supported and you will expect the people that disagree with you on that amendment to vote for the bill and they probably won't or might not. So, uh you know, again, this there's a variety of is ways to uh address this issue. We've done it before as a Congress. We've actually separated this out before, put it in a rule package or, you know, not in a rule package, but made it a separate vote and then merved it back later.
▶ 3:44:28There's conference. There's a whole variety of ways to deal with it. Um, and and please vote for it if that's have no problem with that at all, but just recognize that in the bill it'll jeopardize its passage. Outside, there'll be other ways. And those of us that oppose you on the amendment may not oppose you on the issue. Uh and we'll work with you on the issue.
▶ 3:44:53But again, you're for the amendment and you're going to vote against a defense bill on the first time out. Hopefully, we'll go through conference. That's usually where we work these things out. We get something. We come back with a package that we can put plenty of Democrats and plenty of Republicans behind because we all want to defend the country. uh we all care about defending the United States and again this is an issue that is just at this moment in time very divisive issue.
▶ 3:45:22So I just say that uh so that those of you that support the amendments perfectly fine amendment uh you know recognize some of us may vote the other way on the amendment that are not going to be opposed to you in the final outcome and we'll work with you uh to try and achieve those objectives.
▶ 3:45:39So, uh, with that, I mean, I I will follow the lead of my cardinal as I always do in these matters, uh, because I try to vote with my team and I asked, uh, you know, these the cardinal, the chairman, uh, when the roles reversed, same thing on your side, have to make a lot of tough calls. They got to figure out the tradeoffs. Pretty easy in the minority because, you know, having been there many times myself, you just normally vote no on the first bill. Fair enough. We all do it.
▶ 3:46:08Uh but in the end you want to get something done and this is an issue that at this moment incredibly divisive. I also want to associate myself if I may uh with Chairman Calp point. Uh we need to end this war because it turns into a war of attrition. If you think the good guys are going to win, they're probably not. I hope they do. Wish them well. Couldn't agree more with what my friend Miss McCullum had to say.
▶ 3:46:35I can't think of anything more horrific than taking children away from their parents and take him into this is a very brutal war. Uh and so I I don't quibble with people that try to end it and my guess is it ends sort of like Korea on some line nobody really wanted it to end on because the two sides have fought themselves to exhaustion and a lot of people are dying right now and I agree very much with President Trump about that. Not much is being accomplished.
▶ 3:47:02Uh and I also think it's been a horrific defeat for Russia to this point. the casualty rates, forcing Sweden and Finland into NATO, uh, everything else that's come from. Anybody think this is strategic victory for Russia at this? I would beg to disagree, but I don't want it to become that either. I certainly agree with my friend about who needs support.
▶ 3:47:22It's not hard to figure out who the good guys and the bad guys are here, who invaded whom, who started this, and how the war has been conducted, who's hitting military targets and who's hitting civilian targets. pretty blindingly clear. So with that, uh I leave each of you to work this out as you see fit and I recognize that because we come at this even when we agree sometimes from different directions.
▶ 3:47:47So uh I would just invite you to do what we do pretty well the appropriations process whatever happens today and we find ways to work together down the road which we have so many times before and I think really critical that we do this year. Uh so with that, I'll be voting with my chairman on this particular issue. Uh but I'll be working with some of my friends that may vote the other way down the road on this particular topic.
▶ 3:48:14So with that, I yield back and uh I now recognize my friend from Illinois, Mr. Quigley, to address the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate everything you said and I appreciate I have traveled to Ukraine five times since the war started. Met President Zullinsky seven times. Uh, and I've traveled with members I respect in this room who I know whose heart and mind is in the right place here.
▶ 3:48:43Um, what concerns me, and I get the issue that we we sometimes vote for amendments but don't like the first bill. We both have to do that. But you know, when I got when I got sworn in, it was a special election.
▶ 3:48:58Mark Kirk came up to me, the first person that came up to me after I got sworn in, and he said, "You're going to get a lot of advice, but the best advice is everything that gets done that's any good gets done in the middle." My response to what you say respectfully is we're not starting anywhere in the middle near the middle with with some of these bills.
▶ 3:49:25So it makes harder it harder for us to to dance with you all and I and I want to because a compromise can't can't go all the way over there. And when we talk about this issue in Ukraine, I can't help but think about there's music to my words. Good recovery. I can't think about this in the context of the the Reagan doctrine, right?
▶ 3:49:53We will do everything to support our allies in defense of at the time Soviet aggression. It it concerned me then because this should be a unifying issue. And when the last supplemental was voted on, it lost close, but it lost on the Republican side. So that ought to be the uniting issue that that you reference here.
▶ 3:50:19Well, I think the mistake that the Biden administration made was by saying as long as it takes. And it gets to the point that I think you were addressing, this war can't go on forever. What President Zalinsky was saying when he was here was uh thank you but help us win quickly and and I think we aired at times not doing some things as quickly as we should have tore that in.
▶ 3:50:44But for us to now say the war has to end with the de facto Russian ownership of not just Crimea but other land that that is a green light to autocrats everywhere and those who would be cheering not just in in Russia but in Beijing and and others who would look at this and say those are opportunities because when push comes to shove there's no FDR over there anymore.
▶ 3:51:14So, it concerns me and I I just don't think that we're going to get to a resolution that's just and fair and tells the rest of the world we still care if we say, "Well, we just want to end the war." If in the end, what we've done is reward Putin by saying, "Okay, you can keep what you have." Because we all know if they had taken 10 states here and occupied them some other country and another country said well why don't you let them stay in four because we don't want people to keep
▶ 3:51:44dying. We wouldn't want that and we wouldn't want that for our good friends in Ukraine. So I think Putin understands one thing and that is strength. So if the president wants to end the war and he recogni and he tells Putin, we're going to help Ukraine and help them win as quickly as possible, that's when Putin pays attention. Thank you for listening. Would the gentleman yield for just one minute? Certainly. And I would love to continue this dialogue.
▶ 3:52:11It's not a very good forum to do that, but we can certainly do that. We've done it before over other issues. And I'm not using this to cast historical blame or anything like that. Ukraine was invaded in 2014. Obama administration didn't do anything. First person to send arms to send arms to Ukraine was actually Donald Trump. Yes.
▶ 3:52:39So I don't again I don't want to get into this in a debate sense at all because I that's not what I mean. I'm just saying it's a complex thing. It roots are deep. Uh I I think my friend and I probably share the same objectives uh in this regard, but it's a lot more complex than you think in European history, particularly in this part of Europe.
▶ 3:52:59I say this the guy that used to do this for a living uh as a historian is a lot more complex uh you know than most people realize and a lot more brutal. It is a brutal history. It is a hard history uh and uh it is a difficult place to operate and it's a lot closer to our adversary than it is to us. So um again I recognize choices people have to make. I don't have any problem with that whatsoever.
▶ 3:53:29I look forward to working with my friend on this issue in other capacities going forward. And again I would just advise everybody on this issue. I don't take one thing out of context and try and figure out where somebody is. There's usually pretty complex set of reasoning particularly on something like this as to where people end up. What my friend is trying to do and my and my friend is right about the u where you start but where you start in the appropriations process is not where you finish.
▶ 3:53:58Uh as all of us in this chamber that have been here any period of time know. Uh and that's part that's the way it should be. I mean you work these things through in the end it will be a bipartisan product or it won't happen. Mr. Chairman just a second what you said is absolutely true but the reason it's the only one of the reasons it's different now is that the Ukrainians can the Ukrainian army 3 years ago was a heck of a lot different than it was back then.
▶ 3:54:26And and I think we should have done something when they went into Crimea. But the reason it's a different army is because of the Ukraine security assistance initiative. It funded and trained them to be an army that's as competitive as any in the world that push back the bear.
▶ 3:54:45So it it's just this amendment strikes to your point and that is one of the reasons it's different now and we should have done more is because of this funding gave them the ability to fight our fight and they're still fighting our fight today. But thank you for listening. Well, more importantly, thank you for yielding me the time. It was very gracious thing to do. Uh gentle lady from Connecticut, Mr. Deloro is recognized to address the amendment.
▶ 3:55:19Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and uh I appreciated the discussion. I I just wanted to make one point about I do vote for final defense bills. So, I'll stand up here and say that and I have many times in the past on that. So, I've said in my opening comments, I represent a defense dependent state. So, I pick I I make that decision of what to do. don't like everything but I voted for them.
▶ 3:55:42I would just say with regard to that part of the process, there are many people uh uh uh in this in this room here today who introduce amendments, they get them passed and then they do not vote for the appropriations bills. There are whole cadri of people who get their amendments and I I I have the list. I have the list and it's historic. I mean, it's over and over and over again. you get what you want and then you don't vote for the bill.
▶ 3:56:11So people need to take heed with that with regard to uh my colleague Miss Captor and thank you thank you for your leadership on this issue and also to Mr. quickly. But in Tim Steiner's blood book, Bloodlands, 3.3 million victims of Soviet famines in the hodore here, the victims were mostly Ukrainian.
▶ 3:56:33This was the Soviet Union who starved people to death and Stalin wanted to exterminate by famine those Ukrainians and ethnic Poles who resisted a collectivization of the Soviet Union.
▶ 3:56:49So Ukraine has withtood and stood up time and time again to to to fight back to maintain their freedom and to maintain their survival. And they have been just been extraordinary about that. And I might also add in 2019 under Miss Granger and Mr. Freeling Heisen.
▶ 3:57:14We voted for a $250 billion defense appropriation for Ukraine and it was voted out 48-4. 48 to4. I support this amendment.
▶ 3:57:31It restores the funding to support Ukraine that has been part of this bill for nearly 10 years and including in the 2025 continuing resolution which every Republican voted for. The funds are used to build Ukraine's capacity to defend itself from Russia has been central to supporting Ukraine in its fight against the invasion. It has been effective.
▶ 3:57:58Let's not forget that many people, including Putin himself, thought Russia could march straight to Kev and overwhelm the country in a matter of days. We were all in those meetings, and they were not classified meetings. All in the meetings where we heard the leading defense personnel, the generals, etc.
▶ 3:58:17tell us Ukraine is going to be overrun in a week, in a matter of days, three years, and Russia still has not been able to achieve its initial goals. We continue to see how effectively Ukraine's military security service can use the resources that it has. Less than two weeks ago, has been mentioned, Ukraine carried out a stunning coordinated drone strike across multiple far-flung Russia air bases.
▶ 3:58:47Operation Spiderweb destroyed damaged 20 Russian airplanes. Long range bombers used to kill or wound thousands of Ukrainian civilians. Many of the platforms are no longer in production. Severe blow to Russia's bomber fleet that will save countless lives in Ukrainian citizens while also reducing Russia's airborne capacity to threaten the US and our allies. Ukraine's innovation, daring, and determination.
▶ 3:59:13sheer courage has been degrading Russia's war capabilities and changing the shape of warfare in real time. They have proven over and over and over again the Ukrainians deserve our support. You know, the Trump administration talks about peace through strength. The the Ukrainian people have proven their strength. No greater strength.
▶ 3:59:37We should be supporting Ukraine's soldiers and its citizens so that they can stand up to an authoritarian regime like Russia who seeks to undermine peace, security, democracy, and freedom that ultimately serves the US interests. That is what this amendment is about.
▶ 3:59:56Ukraine needs continued security assistance funding, critical capabilities, air defense, artillery, long range fires, armored vehicles, maintenance and sustainment needs, and more. Our national security requires this investment, but so does Ukraine. Within the $831.5 billion defense topline, we have the resources to allocate $300 million for Ukraine.
▶ 4:00:27This investment has significantly degraded the capabilities of Russia, a major peer advers adversary. We talk about not letting Russia gain power. The Ukrainian people are fighting for their lives every single day, their identity, their survival, their freedom.
▶ 4:00:49What a terrible message to the Ukrainian people, but to our allies around the world and to supporters of democracy if this amendment would fail. You know, you can't give lip service, the United States, nor can any of us give lip service to standing with our allies, to opposing aggression and invasion of a sovereign nation. That's not where we want to be.
▶ 4:01:17To our commitment to democracy at home and abroad. Ukrainians deserve our support. We should be doing every single thing that we can because if what we say is if democracy fails in Ukraine, it fails in the world. We cannot allow democracy to fail in Ukraine or the rest of the world. I urge my colleagues to stand with Ukraine and vote I on this amendment. Yield back. Thank the gentleman from West Virginia, Mr.
▶ 4:01:47Moore, is recognized for his comments on the amendment. Thank you, Mr. chairman. Um, want to associate my myself with the comments of uh, Mr. Calbertt there.
▶ 4:02:00One of the things that bothers me um, and this has been a consistent and persistent issue with security assistance programs that we've done in this country really dating back to Iraq, Afghanistan, is that we've con we've constantly been eroding State Department authorities in this. This is a title 10 authority that we have right here in this program that goes in concurrence with the state department.
▶ 4:02:27Now a lot of us here I'm assuming know security assistance has been traditionally title 22 authority foreign military sales under the arms export control act foreign assistance act of 1961 that laid out the difference in between military non-military security This is another title 10 authority that is eroding the authority of the state department. So they get notified over there as it relates to this security assistance.
▶ 4:02:56And you want to have the state department actually in the loop and actually taking the lead on this as they do. We talk about you know there's no training available. There's title 22 authorities for training such as IMAT that already exists that's already in law. The arms export control act what dictates foreign military foreign military sales foreign military financing draw down authority all the other security assistance provisions that exist. you.
▶ 4:03:26These are inherently political international security issues and decisions that are being made by the military when the state department should be the lead in that role in my view. Uh second to that is and as the president has said and he's 100% correct as we heard the chairman say, we've got to find peace in this In my personal view, this is not winnable.
▶ 4:03:55It is not winnable. And we're going to continue to expend lives, resources, and capital if we don't find a solution, a peace solution here to this conflict. But this program specifically, and this has happened time and time again, it's like when they started 1206 and 1207 for the combatant commanders, which gave them literally FMF authority, taking that away from the State Department, who still has FMF under Title 22.
▶ 4:04:25But this is another one of these that has gone on. It started right after the invasion of Crimea. And the Defense Department said, "We need this. We need immediate authority for security assistance. I just don't think this is a good way for us to continue to do business as a government to allow the Defense Department to make political international security decisions when it should be the Secretary of State. So with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Thank you. You're not going to change your position. Thank gentlemen. The gentleman from Georgia, Mr.
▶ 4:04:55Bishop, is recognized to address the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I have listened. I was prepared to speak in favor of this amendment and I fully support the amendment and I would urge the adoption of the amendment.
▶ 4:05:11But having listened to the chair, having listened to all of the discussion, uh it seems that uh almost everything has been said, not everybody has said it, but I will be one that will not uh prolong the hour by speaking to it. I support the amendment. I support Ukraine. I urge uh this committee to consider uh the needs for Ukraine and the needs for this funding. I commend the gentle lady uh from Ohio for offering the amendment.
▶ 4:05:41I support it very much. And with that, I will yield back voice. There's many reasons I like my friend, but anybody that saves us time, I I'm just absolutely in love with right now. Uh so, gentle lady from Pennsylvania, Miss Dean's recognized to address the amendment. Mr.
▶ 4:06:03Chairman uh and I thank both chairman uh for your words uh and and your uh very sincere, it's obvious uh concern all these years for Ukraine. Uh I represent suburban Philadelphia and the Philadelphia region has a tremendous number of Ukrainian Americans. My district has several Ukrainian churches, a tremendous number of terrific Ukrainian Americans.
▶ 4:06:27I've learned so much from them uh since 2014, frankly, when I was a state representative and they came to me and explained the the the situation on the ground and what was going on. Uh like you, Mr. Chairman, I I regret that the our administration at the time did not do something uh with the invasion of Ukraine. Uh we should not have been silent in the face of that invasion. Uh I I was thinking um of the very practical thing you said, Mr.
▶ 4:06:55chairman about supporting this amendment and yet not supporting the overall bill, but I don't see I get the practical difference and maybe I feel I wonder if there's even hope uh that this will be voice voted yes because uh this is a statement of values. What's in this bill here is a statement of values. I hope that included in this statement of values is support for Ukraine.
▶ 4:07:22Certainly the omission of the $300 million in security assistance for Ukraine says something and I don't want this statement of values to say that. Uh so I will continue to fight for uh Ukraine to get everything she needs and I fought with the Biden administration on that expression. It must be everything she needs to win. You got to finish the sentence, command it and say everything she needs to win.
▶ 4:07:49Uh, I believe this is about dollars and diplomacy. To the gentleman's point, it is we have to be the diplomatic lead here. And that's what I'm worried about. Let's make sure the dollars are there sending that message that the United States is with Ukraine. Uh, and yet we see this administration. One promise was to end this war on day one. Well, that didn't happen, nor was it practical or possible. Uh, but then a lack of focus whatsoever.
▶ 4:08:17and then a flip-flop saying that uh Ukraine was the aggressor. Uh that Mr. Zalinsky was a dictator. There was this insane rewriting of history briefly by this administration. Uh and I do appreciate that. I think they've walked that back.
▶ 4:08:36But you saw just recently Secretary Rubio who as a senator was so clear on the war crimes uh that the good ranking members have talked about the taking of tens of thousands of children indoctrinating them uh harming them in ways seen and unseen. And yet Mr. Rubio when asked by members of the committee uh foreign affairs committee that is a couple of weeks ago is he guilty? Is Putin guilty of war crimes?
▶ 4:09:06He couldn't say yes. That's a diplomatic failure when a secretary of state knows better and on the world stage can't say of course these are war crimes. And so we are the indispensable nation. I'll end with this. I had the great honor of going on a Kodell the day after we passed the supplemental. I was so proud that we finally passed the supplemental. It took us six months too long, but we passed it. I think it might have been April of last year.
▶ 4:09:35and I went with Mrs. Kain and Moran and Keading and I. We uh went to Poland. We met the 82nd Airborne. So proud to be in the fight getting so much material into Ukraine. And then we took that 10-hour train ride. And we met with Ukrainian soldiers and generals. If they said thank you once, they said thank you a thousand times through translation. It was almost too much to take because we must be in this fight.
▶ 4:10:05We see in Ukraine what we search for in ourselves, the courage, the tenacity to stand up for a vulnerable democracy. And so in the end, uh we need to send a message to our allies because our allies are puzzled. Are we going to stand with Ukraine? Are we going to stand with them as they have stood up uh more uh percentage of funding for defense as they should have? Mr. Trump got that right. More defense spending in Europe.
▶ 4:10:33But I hope it's not sending the message which uh the prime minister uh of uh Denmark said to us. They're very worried about us abandoning Ukraine and abandoning Europe, defense of Europe. And they said that Europe has really made a decision among themselves that by 2030 they be better be able to go it alone because they don't know if they can count on us. It takes dollars and diplomacy.
▶ 4:10:59I ask this administration, I ask us to say yes to this 300 million. It's quite small as we know when you're talking about the uh billions and billions. Uh but also send a message to this administration, get back to the diplomatic table and get to peace. I yield back. I thank the general lady and uh I extend to anybody an invitation over cigars.
▶ 4:11:22these things are best discussed with a different structure and a longer uh uh venue than we have here but always happy to do that. Uh with that recognize my very good friend from why Mr. Case for and to speak to the Thank you Mr. Chair and to both you and to my colleague Mr. Calbertt the chair of the subcommittee. First of all I I deeply appreciate the honest and the authentic discussion.
▶ 4:11:49It's actually a moment of hope uh in the middle of this appropriations process and I I I I'm grateful for that. Um however, I think we do need to continue this discussion in this forum. This is an important forum and this is the most important issue of our day of our time from the immediate requirements of our national defense and I believe that this is our national defense that we're talking about.
▶ 4:12:17First of all, we all want an end to an absolutely horrific war. We want an end though on terms that avoid an even worse war in the future. That is the practical reality that we face here. And that is the lesson of history. Yes.
▶ 4:12:42You cannot fail to do something that's hard when you know that if you don't do it, it's going to be harder in the future. That was the lesson of Neville Chamberlain who came back with peace in our time because he thought he was going to avoid any war. And of course, what he got was far tougher, far harder, far more horrific than anything that it would have taken to to deter Hitler at the time.
▶ 4:13:11And that is the lesson of I think it's important for me to say that fundamentally the problem that I have is that I have the most basic fundamental distrust of this president and his administration from the State Department to the Defense Department to the intelligence community and beyond to get this right on Ukraine.
▶ 4:13:40I don't believe, as I said here, that they will get this right on Ukraine. And it's not based on anything political. It's based on what they've actually said and done over the last couple of months. All I have seen for months and months and months is this president and this administration undermining Ukraine.
▶ 4:14:02Undermining Ukraine both in words, thoughts, deeds, and and not doing anything with Russia. That is not the way to negotiate. I don't think the way to negotiate the peace that we want, the peace that will deter is to undermine the side that we are on or at least we think we're on in order that the other side can prevail in its goals.
▶ 4:14:31That is not the right way to negotiate. So, forgive me if I do not trust this president. If this president acts in a way that is consistent with our values, with our goals, and would do those things, then I would support this president. I don't care what the letter is after their name. This president has not done that. And that colors my judgment on this.
▶ 4:14:53And to be completely honest, I also distrust my colleagues in the majority on acting as a check and balance on this president and exercising your separate independent and co-equal responsibility as a branch of government to try to get this right as well.
▶ 4:15:14And so I have to sit here and ask myself as I listen to the discussion that you say you want to do the right thing that this is early in the appropriations process. Give it time. Give it patience. And yet I look at the bill. The bill doesn't even mention Ukraine except for one small provision that has nothing to do with this discussion. A committee report on an $850 billion bill. Not one word on Ukraine.
▶ 4:15:41I don't think that the way to negotiate this is to start from zero. So, forgive me my skepticism. Also, I respectfully decline the argument that is inconsistent for me to vote for this amendment and against the measure itself. The reality to my friends in the majority is you are in the majority right now. You have the ability to get this right.
▶ 4:16:09It is your responsibility to lead on Ukraine. And I urge you to vote for this whether or not any Democrat votes for this bill because this is amendment is what's in front of you right now. And this amendment is the right thing to do for all of the things for all of the reasons that have already been mentioned. And so do it even if we don't vote for your final bill. I yield back.
▶ 4:16:39Thank the gentleman. The gentleman from Maryland, Mtoriy is recognized to address the amendment. I could not agree with the gentleman who spoke before me more. I will tell my friend from West Virginia, we just had a wonderful little talk last night at about uh 10:30. You sent a message that I think was a harmful message today.
▶ 4:17:10My friend, this is not winnable. I reject that emphatically. It is winnable. Who is Russia confronting? Russia is confronting the United States of America, NATO enhanced by Finland and Sweden.
▶ 4:17:35and much of the free world including Japan and South Korea, Australia and And yet somehow we have been ringing our hands for a long time now with Mr. Trump leading the hand ringing. We can't win this. It's an awful war. We all understand war is awful.
▶ 4:17:58And this is particularly awful because our Ukrainian allies are striking military targets while Putin is striking civilian targets. He is a war criminal. Mr. Hexith, a poor choice for Secretary of Defense, has been saying, "Oh, we can't take back the Ukrainian land.
▶ 4:18:25We can't take back Crimea." and they can't go into NATO. We did not ask permission from Russia for Finland and Norway to join NATO. America said and NATO said we had a little difficulty convincing Hungary, but we got them there. They joined NATO, Finland, and Sweden.
▶ 4:18:51So when we say it's not winnable today, he says says we can't get back that which has been stolen. And I agree The mother of this war is 2014 when the west, not just the United States, United States did not respond effectively. The West did not respond factoly and Putin got the idea.
▶ 4:19:21I can take eastern Ukraine as well. We had a vote just two days ago where we sent a message $188 million, a small sum of money by this defense for infrastructure enhancement for NATO was not specifically for Ukraine and we said
▶ 4:19:51no. Today we have an opportunity to say we are with Ukraine and we are sticking with Ukraine and you are not going to or the message we will send to China and the chairman talked about this place being a long way away. I suggest all of you look on the map and see where Taiwan is.
▶ 4:20:23This is an opportunity today for us to say, as Reagan said, tear down this As John Kennedy said to Kruchev, you get those missiles out of Cuba. Mr. Diaz Bolard.
▶ 4:20:45America stood strong and said, "We're not going to let you do this." Now, very frankly, from my standpoint, I'm not going to vote for this bill.
▶ 4:21:03But in the context of not doing that, I don't want to send a message that it is has anything to do with our lack of resolve to confront the Russian bear, the Russian war criminal, the Russian terrorist, the Russian desperate, that Russian anti-democrat.
▶ 4:21:24Almost all of my career I've been here where Republicans have been at the forefront of fighting, and we're you're still doing it. You're still doing it. Only on one vote did we not get the majority of Republicans on Ukraine. Just one. So, it's not as if we don't have a consensus.
▶ 4:21:51We have for some reason a reluctance to express that consensus on a regular basis. So Putin hears it every because he doesn't hear it from the administration every day. All he hears this a terrible war and I want to stop it. If I'm Putin, they the West, they want to get out of this war. They want to stop this war.
▶ 4:22:14If your enemy thinks you want to not fight, your enemy is going to be really heartened and your enemy is going to be in their willingness to stop the war. This is an opportunity, ladies and gentlemen, to make a statement about this committee's conviction, about winning this war, about preventing the kind of heinous activity that has been pursued by this dictating
▶ 4:22:45dictator. I urge you to vote for this amendment. Gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Bill Khan is recognized to um speak to the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to yield my time to the gentle lady from Ohio, Miss Captor.
▶ 4:23:17Gentle ladies recognized. Of course, gentleman controls the time. You say that, Mr. Chairman. And I thank you very much, Congressman Pokean, for yielding to me. I don't know the gentleman from West Virginia very well, but I know how hard West Virginiaians have fought for liberty uh in world history and especially during World War II. Uh some very heroic soldiers came out of West Virginia. And so I respect your state.
▶ 4:23:43I um wanted to mention that um I was in uh it's it's tragic that when Russia first invaded Ukraine, there was some hesitancy. I think it came as such a shock that perhaps the free world wasn't ready quite for that.
▶ 4:24:03But again, as I said in my opening statement, what was going on at that time was all of the advertisers in the world, right, were at the social Olympics and Putin was there in the stands and they were distracted. The attention of the world was distracted. Putin is very smart, very smart at um subliminal warfare and at information warfare. And that's one of our enemies right now. Messaging is very important.
▶ 4:24:31So, I caution my colleagues, be careful what you say in public because you don't want to give sucker to the enemy. To the enemy. And Russia isn't alone in her quest to um undermine around the world. She's befriended North Korea.
▶ 4:24:54North Koreans are fighting against Meanwhile, if you look at what's happening in the Middle East, in Syria and the Russian bases there, uh what she is doing to move her oil because that is her main source of money in this war, you have to follow her spiderweb around the world, including even some of their ships coming back to Cuba and taking Cuban conscripts now into the war zone.
▶ 4:25:25So, uh, the this isn't just about Ukraine. This is about a spiderweb of tyranny that continues to expand where it can. And we must stand up to this. And can we win? Absolutely. Can the Ukrainians win? Absolutely. I have such a different point of view. My first trip there was in 1973, before you were born, probably.
▶ 4:25:51And uh what was interesting though we were followed everywhere and we were denied access and so many things happened to us at that time mom and I we were there and I didn't speak the language but she spoke Polish and she could understand what they were saying as we left the Two border guards came up to us and they said in English, "Can you send us books?" Soviet border Oh books. we could hardly get in here.
▶ 4:26:21How are we going to get books in here? How are we could how could we even send them in? And their answer, I said, "What kind of books?" They said, "Philosophy and psychology under the Soviet system." They were already beginning to question the dictatorship under which their rights were denied. They didn't fully understand the outside world because it was blocked from them. But the conditions were terrible. Everything we saw, I won't go into all of that.
▶ 4:26:49I was there in 2014 when a new president Porhenko was elected and for his installation. And what I saw at that moment was so different than what I saw in 1973 because I saw the young people of Ukraine and I saw they weren't looking down anymore. They were looking up. I saw hope and I still see hope as hard as they are fighting. You cannot deny that hope.
▶ 4:27:16And I'll say this to those of you who hold a faith expression. I happen to hold one. I'm in one of the many Christian denominations. But to go to Ukraine today or to go to the national prayer breakfast and to see the delegates from Ukraine who with full faith believe that we will stand with them. It is so powerful. You will leave a changed person. But what the Russian regime does, it has no tolerance for religious expression.
▶ 4:27:46Zero tolerance. And so as you travel through Ukraine, you will see abandoned churches being reborn. Uh if you recall when the Soviet Union fell, what was one of the first things that happened? US citizens who held faith expressions went to Russia to try to rebuild. And some of them were killed because of their religious vocation. because of what they believed in. They were not Catholic like myself.
▶ 4:28:12So, I'm just saying that we need to express hope and I would be care of what one says publicly because Putin is listening to you and we have to have a united front to win. We have to be on freedom's team, on Liberty's team, and anything that is said publicly will be right on Russian TV and on their outlets around the world.
▶ 4:28:35So, I would be happy to meet with the gentleman and meet his concerns about the State Department, but right now we're talking about the defense of liberty halfway around the world and we must meet our commitments. Thank you very much. I yield back, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Gentleman from Texas, Mr. Cloud, is recognized to address the amendment. Thank you, Chairman.
▶ 4:29:03you know, I have to say when I looked at the amendment list, I didn't think that this is the one we would spend the most time on. Certainly, what's going on in Ukraine and Russia is important, but our responsibility is certainly our military and what we need to do to prepare against the threats against this And there are evil here. It's not winnable on public on TV. Can we have order, sir?
▶ 4:29:41There there is certainly evil all over the world. There's dictators all over the world. There's people being hunted, persecuted in countries all over the world. We afford at this point to be the policeman of the world and still survive fiscally as a nation and be able to defend our interest.
▶ 4:30:07It's interesting because you know when I came on this committee you heard about how collegial everything everyone is and we hear that sometimes but I hope we're taking notes because there's a collegial attitude across this aisle when we agree but when we're not the vitriol coming this way is that we're immoral we're evil it's not just that we see it differently maybe we see a different way to find peace and security for Ukraine to today the trade secretary and the administration's working on a peace deal that would bring economic
▶ 4:30:37stability to Ukraine and they would projected have three times a larger economy maybe in 20 years than than Russia which would provide them a a pretty good sense of So there's different ways to get to a goal other than us joining every single We talk about not trusting the president, not trusting the members on this side of the aisle and then at the same time say we were upset that the US didn't
▶ 4:31:07respond when Russia invaded Crimea. Well, who was in the White House at the time? That was Obama. When did Putin invade Ukraine? That was under Biden. Okay, let's be honest about this.
▶ 4:31:24If we're going to talk about the moral capacity, maybe we don't want to fund every war that your administrations allow and start from weakness in leadership in the White We didn't have to be in this war. We don't want to be in a war. And for goodness sakes, we spent so much time on this.
▶ 4:31:44When are when are you all going to start caring about the American Some of us don't want to send our sons to war across the country if we don't have or across the world if we don't have to. We don't want to send our tax dollars there. We are up against a fiscal wall. Look at what's happening in the bond markets. Look at what's happening. We our our credit rating was just downgraded.
▶ 4:32:06We cannot continue to afford every war and survive as a There's other reasons why we need to find a different way to peace than continue to send our dollars, our military dollars that we need to use to rebuild our own military for all the other threats that would actually affect our nation even more. So, please let's stop with the moral defane moral high ground on this issue.
▶ 4:32:38It's it's ridiculous. Some of us just really care about America first. It's more than a talking point. We actually care about the citizenry. We actually care about our kids. We want our kids to have a future. We want this nation to be fiscally sound and be able to pass on the blessings of liberty and the prosperity we've known to our kids and our grandkids. Thank you. I yield back. Appreciate gentleman's comments.
▶ 4:33:07Uh, are there others wishing to address the amendment? A gentleman from North Hello. Oh, okay. M Mr. Chair, thanks for giving me a couple minutes to uh my friends over here. I apologize for making this go any longer.
▶ 4:33:33I just uh I just can't help but say to the folks on the other side of the room here how hypocritical that I hear your comments. I've been to Russia. Excuse me. I've been to Ukraine.
▶ 4:33:48I looked into the eyes of weeping widows as they told me the story through an interpreter of how they witnessed Russian soldiers shoot their husbands and sons and throw them into cars and watch them burn. You're right. Every comment over there was right. There's unbelievable immoral evil taking place over there right now.
▶ 4:34:18Vladimir Putin is a war criminal. He's an evil man and we should be behind the people of Ukraine. And I know that it's not our war up close and personal, but we are the United States of America. We have a responsibility in this world. It's going to be unpopular for me to support this amendment with a lot of people back at home, but by George, I'm going to vote for it.
▶ 4:34:47I'm going to have the courage to stand up and do what's right. Why will you not to listen to all this pontification about morality and doing what's right and then you're going to turn around and vote against this bill? That's a That's about as cowardly a stance as I have ever seen take place in the time that I've been up here. I could go on.
▶ 4:35:16I'm not going to waste any more time. I will support this amendment. I hope that you will, too. And I hope you'll vote for the bill. If you mean what you said about doing what's right, vote for the amendment and then vote for the bill. Thank you. I yield back. Thank gentlemen for his comments. The gentle lady from Washington, Miss Perez, is recognized to address the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
▶ 4:35:47It is a true maxim that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I support this amendment because I support America. It is in our national interest that a desperate is not given free reign. That the geopolitical order that supports our children's security is advanced pound for pound.
▶ 4:36:14This is one of the best investments we could make in our national security. Time is long, but life is short. And let's not confuse those two things. We have got to position Ukraine to persist in their righteous fight and the long work of opposing desperatism in negotiating and into this war in the best strategic position they can be in to win the
▶ 4:36:44next fight and win the next fight and win the next fight because as any historian will tell you, this is a long fight. as then he when he reads the Bible will tell you this is a long struggle and and let's not forget woe to those who cry peace peace when there is no peace is not bought cheaply and and I I have deepest admiration for the Ukrainians who are suffering
▶ 4:37:15immensely who are losing their children their husbands the horrors my colleague is pointing towards And many of you have apartments being shot down, sleeping people murdered with Iranian drones shot by Russians in the middle of the night. There's there is a clear there there's a clear difference in the way this fight is being waged on different sides.
▶ 4:37:41I was at a I was at a church service honoring Holamir and I met a constituent whose father had been imprisoned for 40 years by the Soviets for having a Bible for keeping a church open. Those are the same people who are now bombing and operating drone strikes on on on hospitals and schools in Ukraine.
▶ 4:38:08We have got to position Ukraine to end this war in the best strategic position for the long work of peace. And that's why I'm supporting this amendment. Thank Thank you. Are there other members wishing to address the amendment? Uh gentleman from Florida is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 4:38:30I I've been listening with great interest on this and this debate, but some of the things that I've heard today are a little rich. I have great respect and admiration for Mr. Hoyer and you know that mean that sir I do. Uh but it's kind of hard to swallow this not you Mr.
▶ 4:38:54lawyer some of the other things said um about how this is you know the life and and the fight for good and evil when some of the same people saying that have been supported Biden administration's efforts to help even Ukraine's largest supporter and ally 90 miles away from the United
▶ 4:39:25Miss Captor was mentioned in her speech how there's Cubans fighting for Russia about 20,000 Cuban troops fighting in Ukraine for Russia.
▶ 4:39:40And yet some of the folks that have lectured us here today have publicly been supporting and supported the Biden administration's to help the Cuban regime and now we're supposed to believe that they now have had this change of heart and they believe that this is the most important thing in the world. So I respect everybody's point of view.
▶ 4:40:10I am going to follow the lead of the chairman of the defense committee who has a very difficult task of getting a bill that we can pass that can pass the floor so that we can fund our military.
▶ 4:40:25But I would just let everybody people here if you could just take a step back and those of you who are lecturing about the evils of Putin and I disagree I agree that he's evil were less when it was Biden who was supporting and helping got rid of sanctions took the Castro regime off the list of sponsors of terrorism while there were 20,000 Cubans fighting
▶ 4:40:57in Ukraine for Russia. With all due it doesn't sound very convincing and very legitimate. With all due respect, I yield back. um are there other members wishing to address uh this amendment? Gentle lady from Florida is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 4:41:26Um, I wasn't going to speak until my dear friend decided to get up and say that and suggest that there's some relationship between the Cuban essentially mandated who are essentially forced to fight on behalf of Russia.
▶ 4:41:49Or you could take it one step further, the doctors that are enslaved by the regime in Cuba and transported and tra trafficked to many different countries around the world, including in our hemisphere.
▶ 4:42:03Um, regard as someone who has, I would say, a pristine and determined and adamant record against the Cuban regime and has voted alongside my friend from Florida in every at every single opportunity.
▶ 4:42:26I can most definitely say that even though I disagree with colleagues who have not aligned with us on making sure that we can dismantle the regime in Cuba and restore democracy to Cuba. Um that has nothing whatsoever to do.
▶ 4:42:46So, so because you might not align on some issues related to combating the Cuban regime, which frankly most members have not had an opportunity to uh to actually vote on any of those issues, my friend, as you know, because those haven't come up on the floor um in in most recent years. Uh at the end of the day, Russia here here are some basic truths.
▶ 4:43:16Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. They are illegally trying to subsume Ukraine. And Putin's goal is not just to keep Crimea, not just to encroach a little bit more on the rest of Ukraine. it is to take Ukraine into Russia because he has never believed that Ukraine deserves sovereignty or to remain as an independent nation.
▶ 4:43:45And besides the war crimes that he's committed, which have all been described over the course of this this debate, we should be for democracy and we should be for sovereignty no matter where it has been impinged.
▶ 4:44:02And so it it it's just it's just disingenuous to suggest that you wouldn't believe in the uh in the genuine commitment of colleagues who are fighting and have been fighting for sovereignty and democracy and freedom in Ukraine simply because there are some disagreements that I also disagree with on the relationship between the United States and another country. So that just doesn't hold water.
▶ 4:44:32It doesn't make sense. You're either for making sure that Ukraine is able to remain a sovereign nation and the United States should be able to maintain and increase our commitment. By the way, we're not putting troops uh we have not put troops on the ground or boots on the ground um in Ukraine.
▶ 4:44:50We we have simply provided them with defense capability and uh in some cases proactive military capability which we should continue to do because we have article 5 responsibilities to the rest of the nations in NATO uh that we need to live up to. You're either for that or against that and it has nothing to do with the issue that you and I uh my friend from Florida passionately agree on. Thank you. I yield back and urge support of the amendment.
▶ 4:45:22Thank you, gentle lady. Are there uh other members wishing to address the amendment? Gentle lady from Nevada, Miss Lee. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. I I wasn't going to speak on this, but I've just sat here for the last few minutes and have been called a hypocrite with members on this side of the aisle by the very people who are standing up now for fiscal responsibility.
▶ 4:45:46yet just a few weeks ago voted for a bill that will add $2.8 trillion, that's the low end, to our national debt. And with that, I yield. Are there other members wishing to address the amendment? Seeing none, the question now is on the amendment. Oh, I'm They've like circled this and pointed arrows at it several times.
▶ 4:46:15Uh, and so I apologize to my friend from Ohio. The gentle lady from Ohio is recognized for one minute to close. First of all, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members. Thank you for an important debate as we move into this new century. And um, I just thank you for your genuiness, whatever you might feel. This truly is a pivotal moment in world history. The United States does not stand alone.
▶ 4:46:43We have 340 million people in this country. China has a billion and a half. Russia has 130 million. Without our allies in Europe and without strength in the NATO relationship, we cannot stand alone in the world. We need to balance the budget. Nobody wants to do that more than I do. It's one of the reasons I ran for Congress. So, we'll work on those issues, but that we don't play the piano on one key at a time.
▶ 4:47:11We have to do all of the above and that includes standing with our hardfought global relationships that give us the security umbrella so we can have a next generation of young people and their follow on progeny in this country. That is all at stake at this moment. I thank you for your seriousness. I thank the leadership of the committee uh on the majority side and the minority side for allowing this debate to occur.
▶ 4:47:38I am very proud of all of you because we are an open country. We do not stifle debate. We learn how to work together and in the end we produce working majorities and that's what makes America the leader of liberty globally. Please support this amendment. Support liberty halfway around the world on which our security depends as well because of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
▶ 4:48:05our security umbrella now into this new era. Thank you. I yield back. Thank the gentle lady. The question is now on the amendment offered by the gentle lady from Ohio. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say no. No. Opinion of the chair. The nos have it.
▶ 4:48:41The gentleman from Texas, Mr. Quayar, is recognized for an amendment. I have an amendment at the desk and I ask that we dispense with a reading of the amendment. Without objection, the reading of the amendment is dispensed with and the gentleman from Texas is recognized for remarks on his amendment. Thank you, Mr. chairman for the courtesy and uh all of the members. Uh my amendment is the amendment that I'm asking that we add to every uh uh bill.
▶ 4:49:10Uh it's a very simple, straightforward. I've talked to a lot of the cardinals and the ranking members. This amendment requires that the Department of Defense conduct performance and regulatory efficiency reviews. It also calls uh that we uh ensure prompt and competitive procurement and contracting. Uh that they submit quarterly oversight reports and that they develop updated performance measures.
▶ 4:49:40Uh just four quick points uh members as Mr. Simpson had asked me to keep this short uh so he can add this to his uh bill. Number one uh we have to measure what matters so we can do what works. we can't manage what we cannot measure.
▶ 4:49:56Uh this requires outcomebased reviews, cutting outdated red tape and uh making sure that if we're going to talk about cutting waste uh duplication uh that we actually have something that we can point out because everybody talks about cutting waste and duplication, but you tell me if you can point to one particular provision in the appropriation that does that and this uh provides that. So that's number one.
▶ 4:50:26Number two, more competition, more accountability, therefore better results. Uh what we want to make sure that that all contracts are openly competed tied to real results. And if we can't have a contract, and I can tell you in every single uh bill that we have, we have contracts that are not on time and are not on budget.
▶ 4:50:52And if they're not on time and in budget, we should provide severe penalties to make sure that they're on budget and on time. Number three, uh technology and transparency. You know, as this world moves in a digital pace and speed, we got we can't track progress still using paper trails. And if you look at the a lot of the agencies, they still have paper uh trails and we have to change that.
▶ 4:51:23So this uh amendment demands that we have modern system that can follow every dollar real time oversight, verified outcome and making sure that we have a clear audit trail. And finally uh a government that works be uh better not just bigger. uh we want to make sure that we have quarterly reports, updated performance measures and real consequences if they fall behind on the measures that we set. Uh so, Mr.
▶ 4:51:52Chairman, I know I've talked to uh the cardinal and ranking and uh I will withdraw my amendment so we can give the uh uh the cardinal and the ranking member and their staff time to review this common sense, straightforward. And members, if you want to point to something that gets rid of quote waste, look at this amendment, I ask you without due respect to consider that. And with that, uh, Mr.
▶ 4:52:19Chairman and members, I offer and withdraw my amendment. Thank you so much. I thank I thank the gentleman so much and I'm I'm wouldn't presume to speak for the chairman, but I bet he's grateful and looking carefully. Uh, so I certainly am. I thank the gentleman for the time he saved us. Uh with that, the gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Pokean, is recognized for the purposes of an amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 4:52:47I have an amendment at the desk and I ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading. Without objection, the reading of the amendment is dispensed with and the gentleman's recognized for remarks on his amendment. Right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, we just had a very, uh, serious debate about real things within the Department of Defense, uh, talking about Ukraine and Russia.
▶ 4:53:07And then, uh, unfortunately, this current defense secretary has put lots of his time into other things that maybe are a little less weighty when it comes to what we would expect from the Department of Defense, but nonetheless uh, need to be addressed. And my amendment would prohibit any funds in this bill from being used to unilaterally change the names of eight Navy ships that were named after American civil rights leaders, including six John Lewis class replenishment oilers and two Lewis and Clark class dry cargo ships.
▶ 4:53:37Um last week it was announced that uh Secretary Hegsth was going to rename a ship that was named after Harvey Mil. Uh Harvey Mil uh is a LGBTQ uh icon. Um but he also was in the military. He was a Navy reserve officer. He served as an operations officer on two different ships uh during the Korean War. But he was forced out of service uh simply because he was an outgay man and he had to accept an other than honorable discharge.
▶ 4:54:07And he went on to get elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors being the first openly gay official in California. uh and unfortunately his life was taken by one of his colleagues at the time when discrimination was still uh quite rampant and because he has such a significant uh place in history for the LGBTQ movement um he was named uh they named a ship after him.
▶ 4:54:32Now it takes a certain kind of special to do that at the first week of Pride Month. Clearly, Secretary Haggath has so much free time between signal chats and everything else that he decided to do something this dishonorable uh at a time period he knew that it would uh get the woke reaction that I guess he was looking for.
▶ 4:54:54But he also said he might go after other ship names including after Dolores Wuerta, uh, Cesar Chavez, Harriet Tubman, uh, Thug Good Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Lucy Stone, and Megar Evers. Three of those folks uh, served in the military. C Caesar Chavez.
▶ 4:55:14Um Harriet Tubman in particular uh enlisted in the Yumi Union Army as a nurse and later became a scout and a spy for the army helping to free over 750 people. These are all people that have significant um merits to what they've done. And now uh for really nothing more than anti-woke ideology uh the secretary of defense is going after this at a time we have much bigger things.
▶ 4:55:43Look I understand project 2025 is very big on CRT and DEI. Now we live in CTT instead. uh critical Trump theory. And granted, that's to make us as less diverse as possible, but seriously, what are we going to rename ships after? Are we going to have a USNS Elon Musk, a USNS Jeffrey Epstein? Um, if we really want to be diverse, how about a USNS George Santos?
▶ 4:56:12Because then the ship could also pretend to be an airplane and a weapon system, right? I mean, but the reality is this is as ridiculous as I just made it to be having this kind of a conversation about the Department of Defense. So, um, this simply would say, let's not play games. We have real things to deal with. And most recently now we're dealing with things in California, much less in the Middle East, much less in Russia and Ukraine.
▶ 4:56:40and to take time to just for really highly political reasons renaming ships after people who've served the country who are icons in many ways with respective um parts of our country and to respect our military. The bottom line is our military is far more diverse than the people we name ships after. Um I think there's about 17.5% of the military are women. About 31.2% 2% selfidentify as a racial minority.
▶ 4:57:11And yet, if you look at the ship names we currently have, there's only under 20, I think they're named after women, under 10 named after people of color, out of 470, 480 in and out of commission ships. So rather than having an incredibly stupid debate, which I know we all love to have at times, it would just make more sense to say no funding from this bill should go to continue what seems to be started by the Secretary of Defense and instead let's get to the more meaty issues
▶ 4:57:42like we just had a debate on the floor, but let's not waste money just trying to prove that we can be as anti-woke as possible. And Mr. Chairman, I urge a yes vote on the amendment and I yield back. Thank the gentleman. The gentleman from California, Mr. Calbert's recognized to respond to the amendment. I thank you, chairman. I rise in opposition. The gentleman's amendment naming and renaming ships is the prerogative of the executive branch.
▶ 4:58:08The authority to name or rename US Navy ships belongs to the Secretary of the Navy acting under direction of the President of the United States. This administration, like the one before it, should have the flexibility to reconsider past naming decisions. I oppose the amendment and urge a no vote. Yield back. gentle lady from Minnesota, Mr. Collins, recognized to address the amendment. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of this amendment.
▶ 4:58:38As has been pointed out last week, Secretary Hexet ordered that the USS Naval Ship Hel be renamed. He was a powerful voice uh for the rights of gay, lesbian, transgender uh Americans. And as is pointed out, he honorably served in the Navy. He's a dear friend I went to high school with who served under don't ask don't tell. Mr. Milk's contributions as well as Larry's to make America a more just and equal nation. They should be celebrated, not ignored.
▶ 4:59:08And that's what I think the naming of the ship does. It welcomes, it includes, and it recognizes the diversity. It's also reported that the Department of Defense is looking at reviewing other names, the John Lewis class ships that honor prominent civil rights leaders and activists. We all celebrated when John Lewis had a ship named after him.
▶ 4:59:30I was on a I was on a on a ship uh shortly after uh It had been named after one of the first Hispanic uh people in in the Navy to have a ship named after him. And I'll tell you, all the sailors were so proud. They were all wearing their hats and they and they they were proud to be on a ship that was one of the first. So, I'm very disappointed in Secretary Hegs um you know, re renaming the military bases. In my opinion, has been too cute by far.
▶ 5:00:01uh spending the money he's doing to do this uh simply to diminish and and erase achievements of minorities, men and women, because of things he's written in books and and that. So, he's entitled to his opinion, but I don't think he's entitled to changing the name of of ships that that are out there. So, let's honor all of our Americans who dedicated their lives to the cause of freedom from all backgrounds and all walks of life. And as was pointed out, our nation does face some very real threats.
▶ 5:00:29So, we've got some things that we're going to be discussing um in the next couple of amendments. Um so, I have to say from knowing people who served during don't ask don't tell um anybody who had the moral fortitude to put their life on the line and lead such a um a life where they couldn't be who fully where they wanted to be with being open on how they are.
▶ 5:00:57um they are people I admire and um so the for me personally seeing um taking away the acknowledgement of the diversity not honoring um Mr. Milk's legis uh you know service to our nation is really really um not the right thing to do.
▶ 5:01:18So, let's support civil rights leaders that other um presidents, other leaders, other DoD uh people have chosen uh to um be honored by having the name of those ships and not let's not, you know, go back and take it away. So, I support this amendment and I think Larry would want me to do the same. I yield Thank the gentle lady. Uh gentle lady from Illinois, Miss Underwood is recognized to speak to the amendment.
▶ 5:01:54Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of Mr. Pokehan's amendment. To kick off Pride Monk, Secretary Hegsth directed the United States Navy to rename an oil tanker known as the USNS Harvey Mil. The ship's namesake Harvey Mil served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as one of the first openly gay-eleed officials in our nation's history until his assassination. A Pentagon spokesperson explained that this plan change is quote reflective of the commanderin-chief's priorities.
▶ 5:02:23I am uncertain why President Trump in his capacity as commander-in-chief has chosen to prioritize changing the names of ships over improving suicide prevention for service members, medical research, quality of life for military families, stopping the Secretary of Defense from leaking war plans in group chats with his friends, or any number of other projects. And the president's priorities don't stop at disrespecting Harvey Mil.
▶ 5:02:52His administration has since revealed plans to rename seven more Navy ships within the John Lewis class of oil tankers. Coincidentally, all the ships in this class are named for civil rights leaders.
▶ 5:03:06The other namesakes that Secretary Hexath has deemed unworthy of this honor include Megar Evers, a US Army veteran who served in World War II, challenged the racial segregation of the University of Mississippi and other public institutions and facilities and like Harvey Mil was ultimately assassinated.
▶ 5:03:29Dolores Werta and Caesar Chavez, co-founders of the union that would become the United Farm Workers, who fought for the safety, well-being, and dignity of agricultural laborers. And even Harriet Tubman, an abolitionist and suffragist who escaped slavery, went back repeatedly to help around 70 more enslaved people escape, and served in the Union Army as a scout and spy in the Civil War.
▶ 5:03:56Once again, it is painfully clear that the real goal here is to make sure certain service members feel unwelcome in our military and erase any history that doesn't reflect Pete Hex identity or heritage. That doesn't help us recruit and retain a skilled and effective force. It makes us less safe. I urge my colleagues in joining me in voting yes on this amendment and I wish them all a happy pride.
▶ 5:04:26I yield back. Thank you. Uh gentle lady from Ohio, Miss Captor is recognized to speak to the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I rise in support of this amendment uh but wanted to use it as an opportunity to place the story of someone uh that I came to know in my district who's no longer living who served in the China Burma India campaign during World War II and was one of the extraordinary Americans who
▶ 5:04:56helped load the atomic bomb onto the Boeing B29. They called it the little boy. uh what they dropped and uh I never knew his He was so kind to my mother and myself because uh her brother my uncle had fought in the uh China Burma India theater which was horrible.
▶ 5:05:18And uh there was an association in our community where they all belonged and I was invited as a congresswoman on the veterans committee to go to all the dinners and they kindly invited my mother and it was a great comfort to her to be able to speak to people veterans who served our country at such a pivotal moment in world history. And um I attended his funeral, Earl Earl Hoffsis.
▶ 5:05:41And uh I was totally taken aback walking into the funeral when his partner came up to me and said, "You know, Earl always appreciated what you did, uh Congresswoman. He was very proud of your service." I said, "I was proud of his." and he was one of the men that had helped load that onto the Anolay on August 6, 1945. Uh, as Hiroshima happened and the end of World War II Earl never talked to me about his partner.
▶ 5:06:10He never I had no idea. He never brought him to the dinners. Uh, it was unheard of. But I just think of him at a moment like this. And so in his honor, in his memory, uh of someone who had to hide who he was and served our community so nobly and was just the nicest man um and such a veteran uh that we live in an age and an era where people can be what they are and they don't need to hide.
▶ 5:06:39And so I just thank you for the moment and you congressman Pokean for offering this amendment and uh as America becomes a better place. Thank you. Thank you and I yield back. Thank the gentle lady. Are there any others wishing to address the amendment? Gentleman from South Carolina. Thank you very much.
▶ 5:07:00Uh college students. Uh we met at the second meeting of what became known as the student nonviolent coordinating committee.
▶ 5:07:22John and I became fast friends and uh we had no idea back then that we would end up serving in the United States Congress Uh had no idea that we would both uh grow up marry uh librarians. they became fast friends.
▶ 5:07:44John meant a lot to me and when I saw his name um on a list to be removed from a ship. I thought to myself, what are we coming to? What are we coming to? I guess Robert Smalls is gonna be next.
▶ 5:08:07It was my great honor several years ago to go to the Baltimore Harbor and keynote the launching of the USS Robert Smalls, the only real hero of the Civil War, who served in this Congress for 10 served in the South Carolina State Legislature for 10 years, all after having been in born enslaved.
▶ 5:08:38He was the author of the amendment that gave this country its first free public education for all. That was Robert Smalls that did that. He himself had been denied an education. He died still wanting to be educated. I see Megan Ever's name on a list.
▶ 5:09:09You know, I wonder when will Colon Powell's name go on the list? When will Colon Powell names go on the list? This is not about partisan politics. Colon, who I knew very well, thought of himself as a Republican. I wonder when Chappie James names going to go on the list.
▶ 5:09:37The first fourstar African-American general. Nobody lowered the standards for Chappie They put in place DEI, a program to include Chaps because he had been excluded.
▶ 5:10:00from learning how to fly those planes that he became an ace at and became so good until he was the first African-American to get a four-star general to be a four-star general. I wonder when Lloyd Fig Newton name's going to go on the list. He lives in my congressional district. Well, I think he attends church in my district.
▶ 5:10:29He lives a little bit outside of it. I think they drew the line between his house and his church in Jasper County, South Carolina. Fig Newton, who became the first to fly with the Thunderbirds. He still lives today. I still see him very often. I wonder when his name is going on the list.
▶ 5:10:56And what we're doing now is wiping the names of all of these people off of the website for the US Army and Air Force. Something is wrong here. Something is wrong. Are we returning to the day when my eight predecessors, there were eight African-American serving Congress from South Carolina before me.
▶ 5:11:26The problem, Mr. Chairman, is there are 95 years between number eight and yours truly number nine. Why? because of what this administration is doing today, trying to wipe all of these contributions off the plate and then say, "Y'all have never done anything." I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say to me and my colleagues, "What have and in debate just two
▶ 5:11:56weeks ago, a congress member made reference to the fact that people of color never made any significant contributions to this country." That's is that's happening now. What are we coming to? I yield back. Gentleman yields back. Uh, Mr. Bishop, you're recognized.
▶ 5:12:27Thank you. I appreciate this Uh, and I wanted to thank Representative Pokead for denouncing this administration for their egregious order in renaming the Harvey Milk.
▶ 5:12:46Uh as a Navy veteran, pioneer for gay rights and one of the first openly gay men to be elected to public office, uh Harvey Mil displayed a courage that inspires Americans across the political spectrum, civilians as well as those who serve our country in uniform and office.
▶ 5:13:04By waiting until the start of Pride Month to announce this naming, the secretary belittle the service and the sacrifices of LGBTQ service members. It doesn't improve morale of our troops.
▶ 5:13:22It doesn't improve our wartime It only weakens us as a military and it wastes our time and financial resources and it divides Americans against each other.
▶ 5:13:41This administration has once again shown itself to believe that anyone who does not think, act, or look like themselves is somehow less American. The administration is attempting to reverse decades of progress for civil rights, moving our country backwards into a darker, more oppressive, and less free history.
▶ 5:14:12It seems that this administration will not stop with the renaming of a single They've threatened to rename ship by ship, base by base in a broader effort to erase the historical memory of the diverse United States of America. I associate myself with remarks of Mr.
▶ 5:14:42and others who have spoken in support of the great diversity that is this country, the United States of America. It is our national ethos and in our founding ideals that all people are created equal, that out of many we are one. That's our great quest.
▶ 5:15:12That's what we strive for. And I urge my colleagues that we must direct our armed forces focus back to the real threats that we face, the threats that we face from our who mean us harm.
▶ 5:15:33So I urge our colleagues and I urge us to oppose this divisive and to preserve the true legacy of America's heroes. All of our heroes and our sheer. We are one.
▶ 5:15:58We may look different, but we have the same values, the same ethos, the same desire for a better life under our great flag, the United States of America. With that, I yield back and urge the adoption of this amendment. Thank the gentlemen.
▶ 5:16:27Uh the gentle lady, Miss Dean, is recognized to address the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the Pokean amendment, and I thank you for bringing it forward. Sad that you would even have to draft such an amendment. Uh and I rise uh for reasons, three reasons that I think everybody on the other side of this room uh really prizes. Uh the elimination of waste, fraud, and abuse.
▶ 5:16:53That's what we're dealing with here with this declaration to try to strip away these names and the their rich history, our common humanity uh in this place. Think about it. What a waste of the Department of Defense's time. What a waste of the secretary's resources to try to strip ships and other uh material of the names of heroes.
▶ 5:17:22What an utter waste of our It's a waste of taxpayer dollars. It's a fraud. This is an active fraud trying to rewrite history to try to whitewash history. I go to Kate May, New Jersey. My kids and my grandkids go there. We love it.
▶ 5:17:41In the last couple of years, they just opened a Harriet Tub Tubman Museum because she worked she worked in several states as you all know, but she worked and came through Kate May, New Jersey saving people as after she had escaped slavery. I love reading to my grandchildren about Harriet Tubman. I guess if this administration had its way, they'd shut that house down and they'd strip her name off the building. Are you kidding me?
▶ 5:18:11Do we want to be devoid of our history, of our common humanity, as Mr. Bishop just described? They are trying to defraud us and the American public, of our rich history of heroes. And finally, it is an abuse of authority. Honest to God, Mr. Secretary, we knew you were not up to this task. But what an abuse of your authority.
▶ 5:18:35What a disgrace to our nation's history and to the servicemen and women who are honored with their names on these ships. What an abuse. Waste fraud and abuse. But I guess since Elon's gone, you're not focused on that. I yield. Gentleman from Maryland's recognized to address the amendment.
▶ 5:19:05like u Jim Clyurn John Lewis I I knew very well. I walked across the Edund Pettis Bridge. Some of you know what the Edmond Pettis Bridge was and is. Some 15 or 16 times I was holding his hand seven of those times.
▶ 5:19:29I'm not sure why this on CRT on DEI.
▶ 5:19:45When we put our hands over our hearts, we pledge allegiance to one nation under God, pledging that all of our citizens are indivisible, not that some of our citizens are which this seems to be an
▶ 5:20:15attempt to Last year I spoke of a movie that I all of you ought to see. It's called The Help.
▶ 5:20:31It's about posts slavery but deeply segregated America the help essentially was the help not Mary or John or but the help not a named person not a seen person but a person who was experienced for what they were doing for
▶ 5:21:05the majority race in America. 1619 the first slaves came to America and we are still trying to overcome that shame, that sinful act and to take an action which in effect wipes away people who are different than
▶ 5:21:35we are, whoever we are. If we are indivisible, we are Americans. That's who we are. And if as so many of the people that Jim Clron mentioned that are on this list in this amendment who have done such honor to our country not withstanding what their country did to them,
▶ 5:22:05then we're lesser people in a lesser I certainly hope this amendment is I hope that all of us believe that we are indivisible, that each of us is entitled to the respect and dignity which we earn not as a color but because
▶ 5:22:35of our So I would I said it on the last amendment. We send messages. Send a message of indivisibility of inclusion not exclusion of togetherness not a partners.
▶ 5:23:01vote I excuse me uh thank gentlemen the gentleman from New York Mr. Espat recognized to address the amendment thank you Mr.
▶ 5:23:21Chairman, this is uh really uh an act uh of and authoritative have one common behavior.
▶ 5:23:41uh they first go after the centers people that they may perceive to be the They try to erase every important name that could be associated with disscent. But at the root of it a perverse sense of intolerance.
▶ 5:24:12Just as we speak here today, right now, just a few minutes ago, Senator Alex Padilla from the state of I believe, assaulted uh as he enter a press conference with Secretary Gnome of DHS Secretary Gnome in California to express his point of view
▶ 5:24:42to ask a question as a a citizens a citizen of this United States of America and he was pushed back and roughed up and looking at the film footage I believe he was assaulted.
▶ 5:24:58That is also perverse This uh amendment calls out an attempt to erase the names of notable and important Americans that have contributed to our history.
▶ 5:25:23But there's also simultaneously an attempt to silence us to silence dissent which is so important in democracy. I think it is just as important as the majority opinion. It is a balance.
▶ 5:25:41It creates a balance, a healthy balance that guarantees So during this time where we're watching a sitting senator of the United States Senate be assaulted simply by attempting to express his We should be supporting this bill and reaffirming
▶ 5:26:12our commitment to democracy and the ability to descent to preserve it. I yield back, Mr. Chairman. Thank gentlemen. Are there other members wishing to address the amendment? Seeing none, the question is now on the a Oh, excuse me. Oh, I'm sorry. Gentleman from Georgia is recognized to address the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 5:26:43as a 28-year US Navy combat veteran, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment regarding the renaming of US Navy ships. Um, first might I add to my colleagues that the name of John Lewis is not on the list. Um, but this amendment would hinder the Secretary of Defense from prioritizing and refocusing the Pentagon's mission on the war fighter.
▶ 5:27:07ultimately undermining the morale, the readiness, and the cohesion of our armed forces at a time when such unity is more critical than ever. The naming of Navy ships is a sacred tradition, one that honors our nation's heroes, historic battles, and enduring values. Our ship's names should inspire unity and strength, not serve as platforms for social agendas.
▶ 5:27:28While many great Americans have been honored with Navy ship names, it is more fitting for naval vessels to reflect in advance our nation's proud military tradition. I have served on three incredible combat ships, all with iconic names. The USS Enterprise, the USS Midway, the USS Saratoga.
▶ 5:27:53The USS Enterprise, a name that the Navy has used now eight times and goes all the way back to 1775 when we captured a British vessel and called her Enterprise. The USS Midway, named after the famous 1942 Battle of Midway, where we defeated the Japanese fleet. It was the turning point of World War II. And then the USS Saratoga, named after another famous US victory, the Battle of Saratoga during the War of Independence. Again, that was the turning point in that war.
▶ 5:28:22These names showcase naval tradition, warrior ethos, and inspire our sailors. However, naming ships after partisan activists like the USNS Harvey Mil politicizes this tradition and sends the wrong message to our service members. As a Navy veteran, I know firsthand the importance of a cohesive fighting force. Unfortunately, under the Biden Harris administration, we witnessed a troubling shift toward prioritizing political agendas over military preparedness.
▶ 5:28:53From DEI mandates and transgender policies to COVID vaccine requirements that sidelined dedicated service members, the Department of Defense lost focus of its core mission, ensuring readiness and maintaining the world's mo most lethal fighting force. The decision to name a Navy ship after a partisan activist Harry Mil exemplifies this misplaced focus.
▶ 5:29:16Such deliberate intention on a divisive social issue has realworld You know, I was incensed and actually very embarrassed when my Navy during the Obama administration then named a supply ship, an oiler actually, after Harvey Mil. He was a disgraced Navy reserve officer who was thrown out of the Navy with an other than honorable discharge. That's right. His military service was not honorable.
▶ 5:29:46Yet, a Navy ship was given his name because of his stance on a divisive social issue. In the last few years, we have seen Such deliberate intention on divisive social issues has real world consequences. As I said, in the last few years, we have seen recruiting reach historic lows. Lows that the Trump administration's leadership is swiftly reversing by returning the Pentagon's mission to our war fighters.
▶ 5:30:17Given recent progress in military recruitment, admissid flaring tensions across the globe, we cannot afford to maintain ships names that distract from combat readiness. This amendment would tie the secretary's hands, preventing efforts to depoliticize our military and to shift focus away from activism toward the needs of our sailors and the readiness of our fleet.
▶ 5:30:42Instead of debate de debating ships names, we should be focusing on investing in modernizing our capabilities, our shipyards, and ensuring that our navy has the resources to counter our adversaries, particularly the Chinese Communist Party's massive naval buildup. Readiness, not politics, must be our focus. I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment and send a clear message. The US Navy exists to defend our nation, not to advance divisiveness or activist causes.
▶ 5:31:09Let's honor our sailors, our veterans, and the proud tradition of our service by keeping politics out of our ship's names. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back. Thank gentlemen. Uh, are there other members wishing to address the amendment? Gentleman from Maryland's recognized. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Uh, I rise just to associate my remarks with the gentleman from Georgia. Can't say it as eloquently as he did. as a former naval officer.
▶ 5:31:36Purpose of the Navy and our military is not a woke agenda. It's to kill enemy. That's it. I'm sorry. It's an inconvenient truth. And anything that moves us away from that objective is a danger to this country. Now, I will tell you, I I come from Maryland.
▶ 5:31:56I don't represent the Naval Academy, but I will tell you when I first came to Congress, we would frequently have between 40 and 50 high school seniors who want to get a nomination to the Naval Academy. It dropped off once the woke military started and it well I anybody who doubts I can send you the figures.
▶ 5:32:22That's like That's like a poll of your district about what you Oh, yes it is, sir. Oh, yes it is. Believe me, as a former naval officer, I will tell you that is a poll of your district as the people in your district think about the military and its role and the danger of sending your child into a military where they where woke is the goal.
▶ 5:32:48Not defending the country, not killing enemy, not defending yourself, not defending the person next to you, but woke is the goal. And having served in uniform, I can tell you that. I don't know. Maybe you served in uniform, too. I don't know. But when two people get up and say, "We served in uniform for that branch on and tell you this is a problem. This is a problem." Now, this may not be the best solution. Renaming the ship.
▶ 5:33:13It might not be, but I will tell you it's a problem. The recruitment, we want objective figures. Let's look at recruitment across every branch but the Marines. Well, the gentleman, the year for a question. No, I won't. Okay. No, I won't. That's my five minutes. You add yours, I get mine. That's the way. Mr.
▶ 5:33:42Chairman, can you call the committee to order? The gentleman has the time. The gentleman's entitled to speak. See, people across the aisle don't have respect for military at all. at all. You should you should our military for gentle lady will be seated.
▶ 5:34:12The gentle lady will be seated. This is not your time. Nobody. No. Gentle lady from California will refrain. This is not your time. Nobody interrupted you in your time. I have not. No, nobody interrupt the gentle lady. This is the gentleman's time. He's allowed to say what he thinks just as everybody else is and has. The gentleman controls the time.
▶ 5:34:52Look, I know it's inconvenient to hear. I know it's inconvenient to hear that decisions made might affect our the the ability of our fighting forces to win a But the facts are the facts. Again, I don't know if this is the right way to correct that problem, but I will tell you a woke military is a problem. I guarantee you that the Russians and the Chinese do not have DEI departments in their military.
▶ 5:35:22And there's a reason why. Because they are single focused on one thing. And I would suggest that's what our military should be single focused on. With that, I will tell it is the gentleman's time. When the gentleman finishes, it's the gentleman's time. I have no I would not let anybody interrupt any of you. Any of you. It is the gentleman's time. He's allowed to finish his time. He's been repeatedly interrupted.
▶ 5:35:53The gentle I have a parliamentary inquiry. It's the gentleman's time. You can hold your parliamentary inquiry when the gentle as long as my question is not ineligible. My motion is not ineligible once the gentleman sits down. That is why I am asking for a parliamentary inquiry. I would prefer the gentleman be allowed to finish his time. Then I will come to the gentleman.
▶ 5:36:15As long as I can pre preserve the opportunity to make the motion that I would like to make and it is not ineligible once the gentleman Would the gentleman remain standing after he finishes his remarks? If not, just sit down. I I certainly will and I'll address it right now. The rules of the house are pretty clear that unless you talk about motive of a single member that the chair does not cannot take down. I know I know that's what the request is going to be.
▶ 5:36:46I want to make chairman I will I will be happy to recognize the gentle lady. Look, I can't read into the future. It's the gentleman's time he's allowed to finish his remarks. You know, Mr. Chairman, I just don't want my motion to be ineligible. This is regular order. If I have a motion, do not think this is regular order. It's a gentleman's time.
▶ 5:37:12I'm not going to rule on a parliamentary motion off the cuff that I know nothing about. I'm not going to sit down. I'm not going to sit down because the gentleman impugned our entire group of members on our side of the aisle and said point blank that we do not support the military and that is a wildly inappropriate unacceptable remark.
▶ 5:37:34It is not part of decorum and I would like order I would ask the general lady be seated allow the gentleman this initi and then I have a motion Mr. You certainly may lodge a motion at that time. It's the gentleman's time. The gentleman is recognized. Thank you very much. And I will only briefly re uh relate that when CBS News broke this story that we were contacted immediately by the news. Harriet Tubman's on a list.
▶ 5:38:04He said, "Okay, where's the list?" Oh, CBS News didn't actually show anybody the list. They said a list never been confirmed by any other source and the allegation that this is that the secretaries this is a list the secretary is somehow is just simply not true.
▶ 5:38:24Now the Harvey Milk is true and again how we how they deal with that may be appropriate maybe inappropriate through this mechanism but the rest of the list is certainly not at secretary level and having been in the military I know how this goes. You come up with an idea. You say, "Oh, let's think about renaming some ships." Some person pretty low down in the pecking order gets it, puts something down on paper, hands it to you, and you go, "Well, this is ridiculous.
▶ 5:38:52That piece of paper exists." That's what I think happened here because I don't think they're going to rename Harriet, you know, the And Harry Tubman, of course, has not been built. It's only been projected. They're not going to rename it. But I will tell you the Harvey Milk naming was the biggest was the best example of the woke military. The most objective example. It's harmful to the nation's defense. This is an appropriate move. We should not tie the secretary's hands. I yield.
▶ 5:39:20Actually, I'm going to stay standing because the gentle lady wants to make a request to the chair. Yes, I do. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move to I move that the gentleman's words be taken down. Yes, son. If the gentleman will suspend, the general lady will we will immediately suspend time and we have a a process to deal with this to review the record.
▶ 5:39:49So, we are in recess. We have a process to deal with this.
▶ 6:07:35Committee will come to order. Give everybody a chance to take their The clerk will report the words. See, people across the aisle don't have respect for military at all at all. The chair finds the gentleman's words are in order and the gentleman may continue. I yield back my time. Mr.
▶ 6:08:04Chairman, gentleman has yield back his time. Gentle lady's recognized. I move to override the ruling of the chair. What? I can overturn. Not a valid Mr. Chairman. I'm aware that on the House floor we're able to move to o to to over I move to appeal the ruling of the chair. Forgive me.
▶ 6:08:34I move that we table the mot to to appeal the chair. All those in favor say I. Oh I. All those opposed say no. No opinion of the chair. The eyes have it. Roll call, Mr. Chairman. Roll call. Happy to have a roll call. Hands. Got 10. Yeah.
▶ 6:09:04Sufficient number of them raise their hands. Okay. Call the names. Okay. Clerk will call the role. Mr. Adhalt. Mr. Aguilar Mr. Alfred that's correct Mr. Alford I Mr. Ammedday Mrs. Bice Mr.
▶ 6:09:34Bishop no Mr. Bishop no Mr. Calbertt I Mr. Calvert I Mr. Carter. Mr. Casease. Mr. Casease. No. Mr. Sisammani. I Mr. Sisammani. I Mr. Klene. Mr. Klene. I Mr. Cloud. I. Mr. Cloud. I Mr. Klyber. No. Mr. Klyber. No. Mr. Clyde. I. Mr.
▶ 6:10:04Clyde. I Mr. Cole. I. Mr. Cole. I. Mr. Quayar. Mr. Mr. Quayart. No. Miss Dean. Mr. Lauro. Mr. Diaz Bolard. Hi. Mr. Diaz Bolard. I Mr. Edwards. Hi. Mr. Edwards. I Mr. Ellie. Mr. Ellie. I Miss Escobar. Mr. Espayat. Mr. Fleshman. Miss Frankle. Miss Frankle. No. Mr.
▶ 6:10:34Franklin. Mr. Franklin. I. Mr. Gonzalez. Mr. Guest Mr. Guest I Mr. Harter Dr. Harris Dr. Harris I Mrs. Henson Mrs. Henson I Mr. Hoyer Mr. Hoyer Mr. Ivy Mr. Joyce I Mr. Joyce I Miss Captor Mr.
▶ 6:11:04Loa Mr. Loa. I Miss Lee. Miss Lee. No Miss Lllo. Miss Latlo. I Mr. Leven. Miss Mallaloy. Miss McCullum. Miss Ming. Miss Ming. No. Mr. Molinar. Mr. Moore. Mr. Morelli. Mr. Morelli. No. Mr. Mr. Morvan. No. Mr. New House.
▶ 6:11:34Mr. New House. I Miss Perez Miss Pingri Miss Pingri no Mr. Pokean Mr. Pokean no Mr. Quigley Mr. Quigley no Mr. Rashenthaler Mr. Rogers Mr. Rutherford I Mr. Ruford I Mr. Simpson Mr. Simpson I Mr. Strong Mr. Strong I Mrs. Torres Miss Underwood Miss Underwood no Mr.
▶ 6:12:05Mr. Valado I Miss Wasserman Schultz Miss Wasserman Schultz no Mrs. Watson Coleman Mrs. Watson Coleman no Mr. Wac Mr. WAC I Mr. Zinci Mr. Zinci I Are there any members who wish to change their rule or excuse their vote or record their vote? Uh gentleman from California Mr. Gentle lady from Washington. Miss Perez, no. Gentle lady from Minnesota.
▶ 6:12:35Miss McCullum. No. Are there any other members who wish to record their vote or change their vote? Seeing none, the clerk will tally. Gentleman is not recorded. Please sir. gentleman from Michigan is not recorded.
▶ 6:13:06Mr. Mullen are I and Mr. Fleman. Uh gentleman from Texas is not recorded. Mr. Carter votes I.
▶ 6:13:53Uh, no it's not. Gentle lady is not Gentleman from Texas is also not And the gentle lady from Oklahoma. Uh gentleman is not recorded. Mr. Yeah, he was.
▶ 6:15:00We have two more members. gentleman from California and the gentle lady from Texas.
▶ 6:15:47On this vote, the eyes are 30, the nose are 20. The motion is agreed to. With that, we'll immediately go into recess so members can vote. Committee stands in recess subject to call of the chair.
▶ 7:18:19Committee will come to order. Uh we're going to resume here in a minute. Couple things. We'll resume amendment which is where we recessed I want to be careful how I word this just in the sense I don't want to I want you to do what you want to do. I really do. We're going to recess sometime between 5:15 and 5:30 so members can go to the picnic.
▶ 7:18:46We're advised that's the time they'll need because they shut down access to the, you know, when the president's coming at some point. So, if they're going to make it, we're going to do that. we get everything done uh at that point, then I'll just let everybody go. If not, you'll be coming back at um what would it be? 8:30. Well, they the picnic runs till 9. You guys want to stay for the whole picnic? The whole picnic, Stephanie?
▶ 7:19:17The whole Let's say is 8:30. Okay? Does that give you enough time to mix mingle? Nah. Come on. All right. Because we got family. Okay. We'll say nine o'clock. All right. So, that's that's the deal. If we can get done, great. If not, I'll bring you back at 9ine. We'll finish the defense bill at that point. Okay. Chairman. Yes, ma'am. I might just speak on this issue. Yes, ma'am.
▶ 7:19:45The picnic starts at seven, So, why don't we work as close as possible to seven? We are working the 545 is not well it is if I mean we're gonna compromise here. We're talking about well here's the problem. They close access to the White House. They shut it down an hour ahead of time for security for the president so they can do the whole room. So they don't have till 7. They got to be there by 6.
▶ 7:20:16Uh and they've got to get through Washington traffic to get there. So that's I mean that's just the security reality of the situation. Every effort to finish beforehand. Yeah. Yeah. No, if we can finish beforehand, believe me, nobody's happier than me. Okay. All right. With that, we're going to again resume on Mr. Banan's amendment. Uh Mr. Quigley of Illinois is Mr. Quickigley, you are recognized to address the amendment.
▶ 7:20:46Look, as we take our breath and take a beat on all these things, let's just remember a few things. Uh, patriotic Americans from the LGBTQ plus community have served and fought and died for our country. And to suggest that supporting them is woke. uh and and to suggest that that's the reason recruitment is down. You know, nobody who comes before me and says, "I want to go to West Point.
▶ 7:21:16I want to go to the Naval Academy, but we have a ship named Milk, so I don't want to go is is outrageous." Uh there's real reasons. Competition with the private sector. Uh the defense department estimates that only 23% of Americans aged 17 to 24 would qualify for military service. Uh there's a whole lot of other reasons that they and others have have quantified. It's it's not because we're quote woke.
▶ 7:21:47Um and and we recognize those who serve with us now who have served valiantly. Um, and of course, uh, we we always re reference, uh, Mr. Matt Mattelovich, Sergeant Matt Leovich, and I was at his grave when President Obama signed the repeal of don't ask don't tell.
▶ 7:22:09Uh, Medal of Honor went, I mean, Bronze Star, purple heart, and on his tombstone he said, uh, they gave me a medal for killing people and, um, they kicked me out of the service for loving a man. So let's put all this in perspective and remember that um at times when we say things it's certain to a flame inflame either side. We can't question the patriotism of those who care about the military.
▶ 7:22:40We clearly all do and we're tired and we haven't had a lot of sleep. So maybe it's even more important to recognize we are patriots of people who have served here on both sides in uh current and in our history and that there in the end there should be more that unites us than divides us when it comes to supporting our military. Thank you. Thank gentlemen.
▶ 7:23:07Gentle lady from New Jersey, Miss Watson Coleman is recognized to address the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh I want to echo some of the same things that Mr. Quickley has said. I have tremendous respect for our military. I feel badly that our military is being weaponized to be used on in in uh Los Angeles or suggested to be used in in internally to this United States of America for reasons that are totally unnecessary.
▶ 7:23:36But needless to say, I still do respect our military. I am support in support of Mr. Pokehan's um uh amendment because the gentleman who was rec recognized was a hero on so many different levels including his service in in the service as well as his public service outside of the service.
▶ 7:24:01And for for folks to think that his name should be removed from a um a ship that carries our soldiers u suggests to me that the problem is with them. It is not with Harvey Mil. It has nothing to do with whether or not he's deserving. It has to do with whether or not uh we are we are being guided and uh controlled by a bunch of homophobes. And that's unfortunate.
▶ 7:24:31this country is is we are experiencing such really tough evil times right now. And I think that this as an as a committee that typically is bipartisan and typically decent to one another could set an example for our Congress and for our country. And so I'd like to yield the rest of my time to Mr. And thank you, gentle lady, for yielding me this time.
▶ 7:25:01I was a bit disturbed earlier when I heard heard the reference made to this side as being I was married to the same woman for 58 When I got elected to Congress, we sat down and she said to me, "Whatever committees you serve on, I want you to serve on the Veterans Affairs
▶ 7:25:33And I did what she asked me to do. Well, she asked me that because her uncle, Joseph Henry was in the Navy.
▶ 7:25:48Joseph Washington was on the USS Arizona on that fateful day, December 7th, That's not having disrespect for the military. She had high respect. And um I had to take her uh to Pearl Harbor.
▶ 7:26:17and she wanted to go to Pearl Harbor because she wanted to see the book that she heard existed to make sure that her mother's brother's name was on that book. Now, Joseph Henry Washington would never discuss with me, and I don't know what, but I do know some of you may may remember uh the TV show Ralph Edwards, This is Your Life.
▶ 7:26:49Joseph Henry Washington was on that He was on that show, but he would never talk to me about his experiences in the He just said to me one time, "Now, James, they were too painful to share with you." We know that history. We know what those men went through.
▶ 7:27:16And when he came back from that war, he could not get the GI to build a house. He could not get the GI Bill to go to college and he never did. But he got a job at the Brooklyn Navy shipyard now closed.
▶ 7:27:39He never married, never had children, but he literally adopted my late wife and her sister and educated them. That's not any disrespect of the military. He loved the military, but he had experiences that we all know about. And we shouldn't disrespect those I campaigned with Jackie Robinson.
▶ 7:28:09I knew Jackie when he was VP of Chalk Full of Nuts. We campaigned together. He shared with me about his experiences in the military. He shared with me about his experiences uh with BR Richard when he broke the color barrier. He was bitter about those experiences we were never show.
▶ 7:28:34And so when you remove his name from the website that is showing disrespect. Then you say to the most dec one of the most decorated soldiers ever, CQ Brown, the second person. Now a lot of people think Colon Power uh was the first four star general. No, it was Chappie James.
▶ 7:29:05Before Coen Power was Chappie James before CQ Power, CQ Brown, it was Colon We should not disrespect these guys experiences. We ought to be honoring them.
▶ 7:29:23and for one of the least qualified secretaries of state to remove fire one of the most qualified generals ever to serve CQ Brown and say he's not deserving of being honored. That's what disrespect is.
▶ 7:29:52Not people over here who see their sons, their parents, their siblings, their relatives so disrespected in history and not be able to benefit from the GI bill that was supposed to have them get reaclimated to this country. And you all heard me give this statistic the other day.
▶ 7:30:16The first 3,252 of those awards given out, only two meant to people of color. So they can pass on to their children the equity in those homes that white soldiers got. And we sit here as if that should be treated as normal.
▶ 7:30:39And so I just want to say as I close, when I studied the history of this I mentioned I'm number nine. Number six, seven and eight who served in this body all got indicted and all went to jail. Everybody talk about Robert Smalls. Robert Smalls was imprisoned.
▶ 7:31:07As one of his opponents said to him, "Smalls, we don't want to hurt you, but we got to have this seat. You leave the seat and you'll be fine." That's what he went through. And you going to tell me that we're going to sit here and disrespect, disregard those sacrifices so that you and I can sit here free? They all went to jail on trumped up charges.
▶ 7:31:40Number nine, eight, who I succeeded, died in Chicago having skipped bail to keep from spending five years in jail for nothing. Let's respect those sacrifices and stop pretending nothing like that ever happened. It did happen. I'll give back. Thank gentlemen. Are there other members wishing to address the amendment?
▶ 7:32:11Not gentleman's recognized for one minute to close. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, this isn't about owning the libs or owning people. This is about respecting our troops. Um, the way you respect our troops, as you recognize, 17.5% are women, 31.2% are racial minorities, and additionally 18.4% 4% identify as Hispanic or Latino and we have 6 to 8% of our ships that represent those folks. All the rest are for straight white men.
▶ 7:32:41And uh this move is something that disrespects a large number of our troops. And just to the idea that somehow someone wouldn't join the Navy because there's a ship named after Harvey Mil. The next time you go to a Donald Trump event, perhaps the picnic tonight and they're playing YW.CA UCA or YMCA. Um, that is a song by a gay band about gay men hooking up romantically.
▶ 7:33:07And while you're dancing to it, if it doesn't turn you off from Trump events, I think the same logic is true. You can still join the Navy if a ship is named after Harvey Mil. And I yield back, Mr. Chairman. Thank gentlemen. The question is now on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Wisconsin. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say no. No. The opinion of the chair, the nose have it and the amendments not agreed to.
▶ 7:33:48Gentleman from California, Mr. Lean, is recognized for an amendment. I have an amendment at the desk and I ask for unanimous consent that the reading of this amendment be dispensed with. Without objection, the reading of the amendment is dispensed with. The gentleman from California is recognized for remarks on his amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise today to offer a simple amendment, one that reaffirms the rule of law in our constitutional boundaries.
▶ 7:34:12It states that no funds in this bill may be used in contravention of the Posi Kamatus Act, a law that has stood for nearly 150 years protecting this republic from the misuse of military power on American soil. Passed in 1878, the Posi Commitatus Act is not some relic of a bygone era. It's a cornerstone of civilian governance. It says that our military cannot be used for domestic law enforcement except where specifically authorized by Congress or the Constitution. The principle is simple.
▶ 7:34:42We do not turn our war fighters into police officers. Our founders were deeply wary of standing armies and how they could be used to enforce the will of the powerful over the rights of the people. That's why the constitution gives Congress, not the president, the authority to raise armies and set the rules for their use.
▶ 7:35:00When Congress debated the Posi Kamatatus Act all the way back in the 1870s, one member of this institution put it plainly and I quote, "The purpose of this bill is to place the army where it belongs in the service of the nation, not in the affairs of the people." End quote. This wasn't about politics. It was about preserving liberty.
▶ 7:35:20President Rutherford Behazes, who signed the bill into law, said, and I quote, "The military ought not to be used except in cases of extreme necessity, and then only when authorized by law." End quote. That principle has stood the test of time, and for good reason, because when we send active duty troops into the heart of domestic life, when we use war fighters trained for battle to enforce civilian law, we cross a constitutional line. We risk turning a democracy into something it was never meant to be.
▶ 7:35:48Make no mistake, this is not about weakening law enforcement. It's about protecting the separation between civilian and military roles, a line that defines the very character of the American republic. There are rare exceptions like the Insurrection Act, but they must be invoked sparingly, lawfully, and with full accountability to Congress and the American people. This amendment doesn't create new law. It enforces existing law.
▶ 7:36:12It upholds a principle that every generation of Americans has relied on that the military defends the nation but does not police it. James Madison warned us that I quote, "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary in the same hands may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." End quote. Let us not h hand that kind of power to any one branch, especially through silence. This vote should not divide us. It should unite us in defense of our constitution.
▶ 7:36:41I urge my colleagues to support the amendment and I yield back. Mr. Chair, would the chair entertain a motion? Um, we're actually in the middle of the debate. Okay. So, I would prefer to finish the debate. Gentleman has a motion. We can deal with it after that. Fine. Thank you very much. Uh, gentleman from California, Mr. Calbert's recognized to respond to the amendment. Thank you. I rise in opposition of the gentleman's amendment.
▶ 7:37:09interesting on on the history of the Posi Kamatatus since you brought it up. Posi Kamatatus, as you probably know, put into law at a time in the 1870s, as a gentleman's correct to remove the Union Army from the former Confederate States because they were protecting the black population in those states. And that was the beginning of the rise of the Ku Klux Clan in Bedford Forest.
▶ 7:37:36and what happened after that is of historical record. So the history of posi commitatus is uh is not good. But saying that I support posi commitatus. We shouldn't use that unless an extreme situation has been used very rarely and I support posi commitatus and I think most people in this room if not everyone feels the same way.
▶ 7:38:00So, um, there's no room for vandalism that we've seen, uh, in LA or in other places in the United States. The Guard is there to protect the law enforcement or enforcing the law. LAPD is not able to protect every square inch of LA. Having the National Guard protect federal properties can provide relief so LAPD can focus on their efforts on ensuring the rule of law is enforced. Uh, with that I urge a no vote on this amendment and I yield back the balance of my time.
▶ 7:38:31Thank gentlemen. The gentle lady from Minnesota, Miss McComem's recognized to address the amendment. I've said this publicly. Um, I was disturbed to hear that the president had decided to activate 4,000 National Guard to quell the situation in Los Angeles.
▶ 7:38:55I believe it was premature and was an escalatory decision not only to employ the National Guard troops in Los Angeles when not having been requested by the governor. Governor would have called him up if he needed him. Um but then the the discussion to do active duty Marines as well. Everyone knows I'm from Minnesota. I was in the Twin Cities during the riots that followed the murder of George Floyd. They took place in my district.
▶ 7:39:23We had people come from all over the nation to disrupt our peaceful protests. Tens of thousands of protesters did take to the streets. And when some bad apples got in there and vandalized and broke the law, we wanted our law enforcement to arrest him and to bring peace.
▶ 7:39:42When our governor knew that our police departments needed help, immediately he made the decision to call up the Minnesota National Guard to protect um life and liberty, but also to protect federal installations. At no point did we need Marines to be deployed. Our state and local law enforcement trained in crowd control, worked handin glove with the National Guard.
▶ 7:40:06It was seamless because we were prepared to do this and because the governor was able to do the unified control. So, um the fact that there's active duty Marines that have been deployed in in in America is is just is disturbing. So I think the re the reaffirmation what the gentleman from California just said there is a role that could be properly used but it needs to be used judiciously and it needs to follow the law.
▶ 7:40:37Is not the role of the military unless you're the military police and you wear it on your thing or your shore patrol to be doing any policing and then they're only policing military. So I rise in uh in uh support of this. Um and and the other thing that that I'm concerned about uh with this as well, Mr.
▶ 7:40:57Chair, and I mentioned this earlier in my remarks, just just the use of this without consulting Congress, without having clear and present, um deployment, uh goals, objectives, and that that Congress has signed off on. This is going to put a hole into our budget with what the Secretary of Defense has been talking about. So let let's just take a deep breath. Let's go back. Let's support this amendment and then we can have a discussion on how to move forward in the future.
▶ 7:41:24If the gentle if the general lady will yield, I'm just looking through the language on on this amendment. And uh just for the rest of the members to to to understand that none of the funds appropriated by this act shall be used in contravention to the posiccomatus act of 1878 as amended. I agree with that quite frankly. So if that's as simple as the language is uh and I don't think anyone here uh is going to rewrite posi kamatata.
▶ 7:41:53So if that's simply what it says then then uh then I'm prepared to sub the amendment. Well Mr. Chair that that was my point. It's it's to make sure that that I just want to make a point United States Marine Corps has not been deployed. They are on standby and if they are deployed as I understand it from the Marines are they they're only going to use the Marines to guard federal facilities. But at this point, they don't believe that it may not be necessary. But we'll see. Well, Mr.
▶ 7:42:17Chair, I appreciate that and I and I think that gives us a chance to um to uh take take this in the seriousness in which it's met and and uh I appreciate that and I'll leave it up to the authors of the amendment. You accept the Given the fact the gentleman going to accept the amendment, is the gentleman still want to speak to the amendment? There's no way, Mr. Chairman. Wind's a win, man. Thank I thank the gentleman very much. Thank you, Mr.
▶ 7:42:46amendment is accepted, Mr. Chair. Well, actually, let me voice vote. All in favor of accepting the amendment say I. I. Opposed. Amendments accepted. Mr. Chair, uh, gentlemen, I have actually two motions now. Uh, my first motion, Commission Chair, would to motion to reduce the speaking time to three minutes. save for the close which would be one minute.
▶ 7:43:12Uh that would be fine by me but this I I'll put this again to the committee. Uh all those are you fine with that? Three three minutes for any of the five minute speeches obviously the normal one minute close and that sort of thing. Mr. Chairman I I'll second that and I'll encourage my colleagues to to say yes.
▶ 7:43:34However, there is one chair and you are the chair and we need to respect that you were the chair to enforce this. Other members trying to enforce time, banging their phone against the table to try to enforce time should also not be allowed. So, I'm fine with three minutes, but let's make sure that there's one chair in the room at any given time. I appreciate the gentleman's sentiment. I think there is one chair in the house.
▶ 7:44:04So, if the gentleman uh uh let's just leave it at that. I'm uh quite confident I'm the chairman. Mr. Chair, that move to I have a second uh motion, sir. Well, I will uh would you entertain that? Okay. I I actually will ask this as an expression of the sentiment because I'm not going to force anybody to do something in terms of time limits that they don't want to do. That's exactly what we did last night.
▶ 7:44:33And I know there's bipartisan support on this. So if you're all in favor of limiting us to three minutes and one minute, please say I. I. Opposed say no. Okay. The eyes clearly have it. Mr. Chair, my second motion, if you will entertain this, please. It's my understanding that the chair of our subcommittee on defense uh is in support of number 11, the tourist number one, in support of case number one.
▶ 7:45:03Uh that is number 12 on our sheet and the zinci number one that has support for that as well. Uh I would call for a voice vote on those. No, I think that the whoever is offering the amendments has an opportunity to to offer that amendment. Uh and then the gentleman can speak for himself. All right. So I'm going to deny that motion and uh I am removing withdrawing our amendment number 16. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Where are we at?
▶ 7:45:38Okay. The gentle lady from California, Miss Torres, is recognized for an amendment. Mr. Chairman, um I ask for unanimous consent to dispense with a reading of the amendment. Without objection, the reading of the amendment is dispensed with. The gentle lady is recognized for remarks uh on her amendment. Mr.
▶ 7:45:57Chairman, I rise today urging support for a very simple amendment to ensure civilian DoD employees working overseas are provided with rape kits after they have been This March, a policy change at DoD directed our medical personnel to stop providing rape kits to many civilian DoD employees working overseas. Who suffers from this change?
▶ 7:46:25Well, our DoD intelligence officers, law enforcement personnel, nurses and teachers, cooks, and many more in Iraq and Syria, and so many other places abroad where DoD civilians serve with our uniform military personnel. This committee must show our young civilian employees that we have their back, that their country has not abandoned them when they are raped.
▶ 7:46:53Every day this policy remains in place. We're telling brave Americans that their service doesn't matter enough to guarantee them basic care when they become victims of violent crime. I urge the committee to support this important amendment and I yield back. Thank the gentle lady. The gentleman from California is recognized to address the amendment. I thank the gentle lady for the amendment and it's a good amendment. I accept it. Goodbye.
▶ 7:47:22gentle lady from Minnesota fine with that? I I think that that's a fabulous idea and we're gonna we're gonna we're we're showing we can work together when we have great amendments. Amendments been seconded and uh but you still have the opportunity to vote. Gentlemen, the opportunity to close. I yield back to the chair. Thank you. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed.
▶ 7:47:43Amendment is Uh, gentleman from Hawaii, Mr. Case is recognized for an amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have an amendment at the desk and ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading. Without objection, the reading of the amendment is dispensed with and the gentleman's recognized for remarks on his amendment. Thank you.
▶ 7:48:08On March 15th of this year, senior US national security officials including Vice President Vance, Secretary Heg Hegsth, NSA Director Waltz, CIA Director Ratcliffe, DNI Gabbard, and Secretary Rubio used a signal group chat dubbed quote Houthy PC small group to coordinate an air strike operation in Yemen.
▶ 7:48:31Messages published by The Atlantic revealed Hexa's account posted detailed strike information such as launch times for F-18s and MQ9 drones, Tomahawk missile deployments, and a targets quote known location unquote mayor hours before the strikes occurred. Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added to the chat, giving him access to the planning discussion. Secretary Hixith also participated in a second signal chat with his wife, brother, and personal lawyer.
▶ 7:49:01I stand today to offer an amendment within the jurisdiction of this committee to try to prevent such events from occurring again. My amendment will prevent any funds from this bill to be used for the transmitt of classified information or war or operational plans to be transmitted over unsecured networks. Classified information exists to protect national security interests.
▶ 7:49:23Transmitting such material over unsecured networks fundamentally undermines that purpose and creates unacceptable risk and disastrous Adversaries like China, Russia, Iran and non-seed actors aggressively target US communications infrastructure. Using unsecure channels offers them a direct window into sensitive US national security information. There are very clear federal rules under executive order 13526.
▶ 7:49:52NISPOM and DoD directives that prohibit handling classified material outside of approved encrypted and monitored systems such as Cypernnet and JWIX. Violations of these are not just procedural, they are potentially criminal. Consumer messaging apps like Signaler or WhatsApp even when encrypted endtoend are not approved for handling or communicating classified information or warrant operational plans.
▶ 7:50:17These platforms cannot provide the full suite of protections required by law and It is frankly questionable whether all of those on these communications knew all of this. But if they did, that's even worse.
▶ 7:50:32There is a also a disturbing pattern of selective enforcement under which junior personnel guilty of these uh discretions are punished severely while senior officials have thus far escaped any real The rules around classified information are not just suggestions. They are mandates.
▶ 7:50:52My amendment offers all of us as members of Congress a separate independent and co-equal branch of government responsible for oversight of the executive branch and culpable where we fail that responsibility to confirm and reinforce all of this. I ask for its passage. I yield back. Back the gentleman. The gentleman from California. Mr. Calbert is recognized to address the amendment.
▶ 7:51:19I've served on I've served on intelligence committees since I've been here in Congress and uh classified sensitive operational information should always always be handled properly and should not be communicated over uh uh areas where you do not have secure and approved networks. uh and uh so I have no disagreement with the gentleman at all on this and uh it was a mistake.
▶ 7:51:45Hopefully that mistake will never be made again, but I'll be happy to accept your amendment to help ensure that that continues to be the case. Thank you. Gentleman's entitled to close. I have nothing further. I totally appreciate uh my chair's uh full understanding on this. It's an important lesson that we all need to learn and reinforce uh to those that committed this in this situation. So, appreciate it very much. I not have an opportunity. Gentle lady from Minnesota, I'm sorry I missed the card.
▶ 7:52:16I think I think everybody's doing really great right now. I'm good. I think I sense the school teacher coming back out uh in you. Uh again, without uh all those in favor accepting the amendment say I. I. All opposed. Thank you very much. Uh, gentle lady from Illinois, Miss Underwood is recognized for an Mr.
▶ 7:52:46Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk. Underwood one, and I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. The without objection, the reading of the amendment is dispensed with, and the gentle lady's recognized for remarks on her amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer an amendment that I hope will appeal to every single member of this committee, especially my colleagues across the aisle who sought to champion government efficiency and fiscal responsibility.
▶ 7:53:14My amendment requires a public report itemizing all the costs associated with the president's military parade this upcoming Saturday in celebration of his birthday. This amendment is especially important to include in a bill that cuts over $400 million from the health programs at DoD.
▶ 7:53:36Because in case my colleagues are not aware, Donald Trump's taxpayer funded birthday party is estimated to cost the Army between 25 and $45 million. That's before potential damage to the city streets and other infrastructure cleanup and the necessary police presence. And that's just from the army. We know that other government agencies are paying for this parade, too.
▶ 7:54:02For example, the Secret Service reported that this single day, just one day on Saturday, will cost them an additional $13 million. The president has called the cost of the parade quote peanuts compared to the value. So why haven't we, the appropriations committee, been able to get a full accounting of the expected costs?
▶ 7:54:28I encourage my colleagues to vote yes on this amendment to improve transparency and fiscal responsibility. The American people have a right to know how their tax dollars are being spent so they can make informed choices about whether they'd rather be funding health programs for our troops or a birthday parade for an adult man. I yield back. Thank you, gentle lady. Gentleman from California, Mr. Calvich, recognized to respond to the amendment.
▶ 7:54:57I know every member of this committee is committed to ensuring our service members have the support they need to support this nation. And I know every member of this committee is proud to recognize the Army's 250th birthday this weekend and to honor the countless soldiers that have proudly served this nation. And uh I I think that includes the Marine Corps and the Navy, every all the military is as we're very proud of them.
▶ 7:55:23And uh the bill we've written includes language to ensure that no parade is going on to cause any issues that members on the other side of the aisle are worried about. I I think this is going to be a great parade. It be something we can all be proud of. And by the way, I have no problem letting the American people know how much this parade is going to cost. I think that's what we're all about. I agree with the general lady. I think there should be appropriate accounting that that be done and and let people know what it costs and it's uh and I think it's worth every nickel.
▶ 7:55:54So, we may disagree about the outcome and why it's there, but we certainly agree that it should be transparent and the American public, the American public can make their own determination whether it was worth it or not. So, with that, if that's all the gentle lady's asking for is an accounting of of uh the cost of this parade, I have no problem with that. I would approve it. I would agree with it. So, gentle lady from Minnesota, I think you don't think it ought to be public.
▶ 7:56:20I think we can all agree and all together let's wish the uh the United States Army a happy a happy birthday. Happy birthday United States Army who with that I yield back. Thank the gentle lady. Um so the gentleman accepts amendment. All those in favor say oh I'm sorry ladies has one minute to close. Thank you so much Mr. Chairman and I'd like to thank Mr.
▶ 7:56:45Calbertt for being so agreeable to ensure that uh full accounting is provided to this committee and the American people. I would ask uh Chairman Calvert's assistance to ensure that this provision makes it not only through the floor but through a conference committee into final passage of a final bill whether that's a CR or an omni because this provision and accounting is going to be so essential for the American people. Oh, I so appreciate Mr. Calbert's agreement in front of our committee this afternoon.
▶ 7:57:14Um, and you know, I'm so delighted that we can recognize the 250th birthday of the Army and the president entering his 80th year. With that, happy birthday. And I yield back. Well, and I understand it's Mr. Hoyer's birthday, too. So, I mean, I think this is great. And I did back, but it's also Mr. Amade's birthday. And I want to say happy birthday to our great chairman.
▶ 7:57:37Thank My god, this is just fantastic. Okay. Um, all those in favor say I. I. Opposed? The eyes have it. Let the record reflect. I am not. Okay. Can I debate that?
▶ 7:58:10gentle gentle lady from Illinois is recognized for an amendment. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk underwood 2 and I ask unanimous consent that the reading be dispensed with. Without objection, the reading of the amendment is dispensed with and the gentle lady's recognized for remarks on her amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 7:58:30I rise to offer an amendment to preserve the history of decorated United States service members and to ensure that our service academy students and all Americans can benefit from learning about their accomplishments. President Trump and Secretary Hexath have taken it upon themselves to purge the Department of Defense's websites and education curricula of information honoring some of our country's heroes.
▶ 7:58:56In the last few months, dozens of articles and web pages detailing the honorable service of service members throughout our nation's history have abruptly disappeared. This included the impressive achievements of veterans, including the 688 Central Postal Directory Battalion, known as the 68, I'm sorry, the 68, a core of black women, who devised a faster system for delivering mail to troops in World War II.
▶ 7:59:24the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment, a black infantry regiment that fought courageously for the Union in the Civil War, and the Tuskegee Airmen, a squadron of black military pilots who not only fought the Nazis in World War II, but also paved the way for the desegregation of the military. Secretary Hexath has declared that diversity, equity, and inclusion is dead at the Department of Defense because it conflicts with his vision of a warrior ethos.
▶ 7:59:54But who embodies the warrior ethos better than the Tuskegee airmen who helped defeat Nazi Germany while also battling hostility and discrimination from their own brothers in arms. And if Peak Heads wants to learn more about warriors, I suggest he educate himself on the men of the 54th who survived slavery and live to fight the traitors of the Confederacy. And of course, it's not only black service members who are being erased here.
▶ 8:00:23It's also Native Americans like the Navajo code talkers I mentioned in my opening remarks. It's women of all backgrounds like pioneering Civil War nurses and the women Air Force service pilots or Wasps in World War II. I'm looking at this list of veterans whose accomplishments are being purged from the schools and scrubbed from the websites. And at this rate, it seems the only people safe from Pete Hexath's vision are the ones that look like Pete Hexth.
▶ 8:00:55And that's what this crusade against DEI is really about. Because the opposite of DEI is not a warrior ethos. The opposite of diversity is homogeneity. The opposite of equity is unequal The opposite of inclusion, friends, is exclusion. We already know that a fighting force that reflects our diverse country is critical to the security mission of the Department of Defense.
▶ 8:01:22We urgently need to recruit and retain all kinds of warriors, and our service academy students learn all the lessons that they can from those who served before them. But right now, Pete Hex's relentless dehumanization of veterans he does not care for is hampering the Department of Defense's ability to fulfill its mission. My amendment would help stop him. I ask my colleagues to vote yes and I yield back. Thank gentle lady. The gentleman from California, Mr. Calbert's recognized to address the amendment.
▶ 8:01:52I rise in opposition to the gentle lady's amendment. The department moved quickly to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs distracted from the mission of protecting our country. I know many of us support those efforts and believe that the department should be laser focused on modernization of our forces with the right equipment, ensuring that our service members have the support that's necessary.
▶ 8:02:15In instances where the department moved too quickly and inadvertently removed a reference to the honorable accomplishments of someone or some organization that served in the past, uh they have moved just as quickly to fix that and and that process is continuing and rightfully will restore uh those materials as quickly as possible. With that, I urge a no vote on this amendment and I yield back the balance of my time. Thank gentlemen. The gentle lady from Minnesota, Mr. McCullum's recognized to address the amendment. Well, thank you.
▶ 8:02:44I rise in support of the amendment and um I almost called you by your first name, Mr. Chair Calbertt. There's more work to be done. So, in in kind of preparing for this, I you know, I did a little bit of research. So, I wanted to see what the Department of Defense had up about women. So, the Department of Defense has a page that you can see and it says Military Celebrates Women's History Month.
▶ 8:03:12and Women's History Month was in March and that's when I was looking and then I went to click on the link and it's dead. So I thought, well, maybe it's me. I'm not great with my, you know, clicks and all that sometimes. Tried it again. It was dead. So then I came in and I talked to the staff and I said, let's find out if there's something wrong with this page. We couldn't get it to work here either. So then I made an inquiry weeks ago. No response.
▶ 8:03:42So, I'm going to support the amendment, but I'm going to tell you something that you might have read if you could have got on the page. Any of you know about the Hello Girls World War I Persian? Well, as Persian was going through during World War I, he had this problem.
▶ 8:03:57the guys were laying all this uh you know communications equipment that the telephone operators but the guys couldn't speak French and English very well and war plans and things were getting all all messed up so Persian said find me people can speak French and English so they went and found women AT&T operators so they took an oath um and then they were told that they were uh after they took the oath for the army then They were told that
▶ 8:04:27there was this internal memo that they were civilian employees, but they never signed a contract saying that the women were required to purchase their own kits, including uniforms, shoes, hats, and insignas between $250 and $350 because they were told because um they didn't have uniforms to fit them that they would have to buy their own. And by the way, their monthly salary was $60.
▶ 8:04:55They wore US Army uniforms. They were subject to army regulations. They were given honorable discharges. They were given honorable discharges because they were considered in civilians. Congress fixed that. We went back and we recognized the Hello Girls and we've done a lot of things to put them forward. But that's just an example of things that, you know, our our our curiosity and how we've come farther and that website's gone.
▶ 8:05:24So, I support the gentle uh woman's amendment from Illinois because I'm not a historian. You're you're steeped in you've got your PhD. I just have a four-year degree in in American history. But we we should be able to access that. We should be able to share it. I should as a history teacher be able to go out on the website and find things like that. So, now you know something about Persian. He loved the women.
▶ 8:05:50He even took them to the front line after he was told not to because he did not want to lose the war. With that, I yield back. Thank gentle lady. Are there other members wishing to address the amendment? Gentleman from Maryland's Thank you, M. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I I appreciate that. I support the amendment. I I'll be brief.
▶ 8:06:11Um uh I I take the the chairman's comments about efforts to correct and and uh I assume that is going forward, but um some of the things I've seen really make you pause. Um for example, the Naval Academy library had pulled um Maya Angelo uh I know why the cage bird sings from their shelves. They left mine conf on the shelves.
▶ 8:06:34Um, they left a book called The Bell Curve on the shelf, which is, you might not remember, but about, I don't know, 35 years ago, it was a book that came out and talked about um, African-American mental inferiority to whites. Um, the critique of the bell curve was pulled from the shelves, too. Now, whatever's motivating all of that, I'm not really sure because it really doesn't make any sense. Uh, I think we're supposed to believe in the free market of ideas and giving the competition, the truth will emerge.
▶ 8:07:04At least that's the hope. Uh, but certainly pulling those books, pulling history from the shelves, uh, certainly isn't helpful to upcoming generations. Not knowing their history, not knowing what's happened, not knowing the truth really doesn't make any sense, and I think it's frankly indefensible. So, um, let's support this amendment. Let's make sure we have all the information on the shelves. Uh let's make sure that future generations can read and learn for themselves and draw their own conclusions.
▶ 8:07:33Um and let's get the military off of this I don't know distorting whitewashing of history because that's really not the main goal of the military. That's not their main mission and it's not helpful to the American people one way or the other. So I support the amendment. I hope all of you will support it as well. Are there other members who wish to uh address the amendment? A gentleman from Georgia.
▶ 8:08:04Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to thank uh Mr. Underwood for addressing the blatant removal of key, influential, and heroic service members because they minorities.
▶ 8:08:20de and of course she referenced the uh 68 uh which uh all of us have been moved and excited as we saw the betrayals on the Netflix movie uh which has gotten great rave reviews reflecting the great contribution that uh these ladies made uh to our nation's efforts in World War II.
▶ 8:08:43Um unfortunately the administration has taken deliberate steps to erase this history. Uh units leaders who represent the diversity uh colon pow tusk airman cold talkers um and others have been systematically removed from our educational and commemorative materials.
▶ 8:09:07Now, I uh am fortunate to serve on the board of visitors for the United States Military Academy. Uh and chairman uh uh the chairman is here. Um Mr. Wac uh and there's some incredible young people there and the leadership and curriculum there is just stellar.
▶ 8:09:30Uh but the department of defense is now prohibiting students at the servicemies including the sergeant majors academy West Point and the siege of services colleges from writing papers on women and minority figures. Uh this is not only unacceptable, it's a disservice to every service member who deserves to see themselves reflected in the stories we tell and the leaders we promote.
▶ 8:09:56uh representation matters particularly in an institution like United States Department of Defense. One of Secretary first actions was to remove leaders who embodied and represented this diversity. Result, not only is our history being erased, so are the present day leaders who carry the legacy forward.
▶ 8:10:22and our service members are being told explicitly that they cannot honor or even study the contributions of We have to ask ourselves who will be erased next. Diversity is not a threat, it's a strength. We should be embracing our full history and not censoring the parts that make some folks uncomfortable.
▶ 8:10:49The sacrifices and the achievements of all who have served should be celebrated and not sad land. Uh this amendment is vital and a vote in favor sends a clear and unequivocal message. We see you, we value you, and we will not forget you regardless of your race, your religion, your gender, or your background. Oh yes.
▶ 8:11:18Let's stand for inclusion. Let's stand for truth for every American who has worn the uniform with pride. This is, I believe, our obligation uh to those who have served and to those who are serving and to those who will serve in the future.
▶ 8:11:41We need to create an environment of inclusion that represents and reflects the diversity of this great country, the greatest country on the face of the earth. I urge the adoption of this Thank the gentleman. Gentleman from Texas, Mr. Cloud is recognized to address the amendment. Question. Call the question.
▶ 8:12:11I don't think you can call the question while we're in debate. So yeah. So are there other members wishing to address the amendment? Seeing none. Oh, okay. Seeing none, the questions now on the amendment offered. What? Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, again I'm sorry, gentle lady, I'm sorry.
▶ 8:12:41Gentle lady is recognized for one minute to close. Well, colleagues, we've had a really robust discussion today about the way that we honor incredible American heroes and who gets to be honored and have their legacy live on in the pages of I understand we're in a political moment where my colleagues across the aisle may not want to stick their necks out for these American heroes, veterans who have so capably and aly
▶ 8:13:11put it all on the line for the American people and the freedoms that we all enjoy. But one day we will have to stand up. And I look forward to voting yes. I encourage everyone else to do the same. Uh because we cannot be a nation where only some get to be recognized for their heroism, for their valor, for their sacrifice while others are called to serve and sacrifice.
▶ 8:13:41And there it goes overlooked. I hope you will join me in voting yes. I yield back. Question is now on the amendment offered by the gentle lady from Illinois. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say no. No. Pairment of the chair. The nos have it. Roll call has been requested. The sufficient hands having been raised. The clerk will call the role. Mr. Adhalt. Mr. Adher. No. Mr. Aguular. Mr. Aguular. I. Mr. Alfred.
▶ 8:14:12Mr. Alford. No. Mr. Amday. Mr. Ammedday. No. Miss Bice. Mrs. Bice. Mrs. Bice. No. Mr. Bishop. Mr. Bishop. I. Mr. Calbert. Mr. Mr. Calbert. No. Mr. Carter. Mr. Carter. No. Mr. Casease. Mr. Casease. I Mr. Sisammani. Mr. Sisammani. I Mr. Klene. Mr. Klein. No. Mr. Cloud. Mr. Cloud. No. Mr. Klyber. Mr. Klyber. I Mr. Clyde. Mr. Clyde. No. Mr. Cole. Mr. Cole. No. Mr. Quaar. Mr.
▶ 8:14:42Quay. I. Miss Dean. Miss Dean. I. M. Deloro. Hi. Mr. Lauro. I. Mr. Diazart. Mr. Diaz. No. Mr. Edwards. Mr. Elie Mr. Elzie No. Miss Escobar. Miss Escobar. I Mr. Espayat. M. Mr. Espay. I Mr. Fleshman. Miss Frankle. Miss. Frank. I. Mr. Franklin. Mr. Franklin. No. Mr. Gonzalez. Mr. Gonzalez. No. Mr. Guest.
▶ 8:15:12Mr. Guest. No. Mr. Harter. Hi. Mr. Harter. I. Dr. Harris. Dr. Harris. No. Mrs. Henson. Mrs. Henson. No. Mr. Mr. Hoyer Mr. Hoyer I Mr. Ivy Mr. Ivy I Mr. Joyce Mr. Joyce No Miss Captor Miss Captor I Mr. Loa Mr. Loa No Miss Lee Miss Lee I Miss Lelo Miss Lelo no Mr. Lean Mr.
▶ 8:15:37Eleven I Miss Malloy Miss Mallaloy no Miss McCllum I Miss McCllum I miss Ming Miss Ming I Mr. Molinar Mr. Molinar no Mr. Moore. No. Mr. Moore. No. Mr. Morelli. Hi. Mr. Mr. I. Mr. Mvan. Hi. Mr. Murvan. I Mr. New House. Mr. New House. No. Miss. Miss Pingri. Yes. Miss Pingri. I Mr. Pokean. Mr. Pokean.
▶ 8:16:08I Mr. Quigley. Mr. Quigley. I Mr. Rashenthaler. Mr. Rashenthaler. No. Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers. No. Mr. Rutherford. Mr. Rutherford. No. Mr. Simpson. Mr. Simpson. No. Mr. Strong. Mr. Strong. No. Mrs. Torres. Mrs. Torres. I. Miss. Underwood. M. Underwood. I. Mr. Valido. Mr. Valido. I. Miss. Wasserman Schultz. Miss. Wasserman Schultz. I Mrs. Watson Coleman. Mrs. Watson Coleman. I.
▶ 8:16:38Mr. No. Mr. WAC. No. Mr. Zinci. Mr. Zinci. Uh, do any members wish to record their vote or change their vote? Gentleman from Tennessee. Gentleman from Gentleman from North Thank you again. Are there any others?
▶ 8:17:10All right. Good points. I know
▶ 8:18:00On this vote, the eyes are 29, the nose are 33, and the amendment is not Uh, just, uh, so people know, we have one remaining amendment, then we have the vote on the full bill, get through that. Uh, I will let you loose and we will not see one another again for a while. Unless you guys want to stop at 216 for a celebratory drink and cigar with my friend the uh the chairman of defense of probes. With that, Mr.
▶ 8:18:29Zinci is recognized for an amendment. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at desk and request the reading be dispensed. Without objection, the reading of the amendment is dispensed with. The uh gentleman is recognized for remarks on his amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and for support and the staff. Uh for those who don't know about the the irregular warfare center, it started out as a think tank and then it went a coordinating authority with with SOCOM and now they're involved in operations on the classified side about 63 countries.
▶ 8:18:58What they do on the unclassified side, regular warfare, uh they look at target analysis, vulnerability, hardened sites, infrastructure. They go to the different theaters, they make sure the troops understand and the COCOM commanders also understand. They sit under the DSA, which is Defense Cooperation uh agency. That's not a good place for them. They're working that on the on the other side of it. But all this bill does is make sure that the money they have aotted doesn't get siphoned.
▶ 8:19:27And because we don't have the Jbooks, it just simply protects the $12 million budget that they have. With that, I'll yield. Thank you. It is operational. I thank the gentleman. Uh gentleman from California, Mr. Calbert, is recognized to address the amendment. Thank you, Mr. chairman, if anybody understands irregular warfare, uh it's a former commander of SEAL team 6. So, I I will uh I will take uh I will take his word for it and I accept his amendment and uh I think it's a good amendment.
▶ 8:19:57Appreciate that. All those in favor of the gentleman's gentle, the gentleman is actually I just wanted to know I do it on both sides. The gentleman uh is recognized for one minute to close. Close. Oh, okay. Mr. Chair, you're taking away a great opportunity for the two of us to bond. I regret that. Gentleman, Mr. Chairman, I do not oppose the gentleman's amendment, but I'm concerned that it might not fully address the problem he's describing.
▶ 8:20:26So, I look forward to working with the chair on that. And on another note, um, Congressman Zinci, I do look forward for us to be able to work on something together in total unity. Um, we've we've had our disagreements in the interior committee and with that I I wish us all great success and I yield back. Speech of the day. On on a gentleman's behalf. He's pretty good on Indians.
▶ 8:20:52Uh, with that uh question is now on the amendment offered by Mr. Zini. All those in favor say I. Opposed. Amendment is agreed to. Seeing no further amendments, I now recognize Mr. At I now recognize Mr. Rogers for a motion. Mr.
▶ 8:21:17Chair, I move to favorably report the fiscal year 2026 defense appropriations bill to the house. Questions? Now on the motion favor to favorably report fiscal year 2026 defense appropriations bill to the house. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say no. In the opinion of the chair, the eyes have it. Recorded vote has been requested. Seeing a sufficient number of hands.
▶ 8:21:47Uh, a recorded vote is ordered. The clerk will call the role. Mr. Adder Mr. Adder Holt. Mr. Yes. Mr. Mr. Adhold. I Mr. Aguilar. Mr. Aguular. No. Mr. Alford. Hi. Mr. Alfred. I. Mr. Ammedday. Mr. Ammedday. I Mrs. Bice. Yes. Mrs. Bice. I Mr. Bishop. Mr. Bishop. No. Mr. Calbert. Mr. Calbert. I Mr. Carter. Mr. Carter. I Mr. Casease. Mr. Case. No. Mr. Sisammani.
▶ 8:22:18Mr. Ciscomani. Yes. Mr. Ciscomani. I Mr. Klene. Mr. Klein. I Mr. Cloud. Mr. Cloud. I Mr. Klyber. Mr. Klyber. No. Mr. Clyde. Yes. Mr. Clyde. I Mr. Cole. Hi. Mr. Cole. I Mr. Mr. Quay. No. Miss Dean. Miss Dean. No. M. Deloro. Mr. Deloro. No. Mr. Diaz Bolard. Mr. Diaz Bolard. I. Mr. Edwards. Mr. Edwards. I. Mr. Ellie.
▶ 8:22:48Mr. Ellie. I. Mr. Escobar. Oh, Miss Escobar. I'm sorry. Miss Escobar. No. Mr. Espay. Mr. Espott. No. Mr. Fleshman. Hi. Mr. Fleshman. I. Miss. Frankle. Miss. Frankle. No. Mr. Franklin. Mr. Franklin. I Mr. Gonzalez. Mr. Gonzalez. I Mr. Guest. Mr. Guest. I Mr. Harter. Mr. Harter. No. Dr. Harris. Dr. Harris. I Mrs. Henson. Mrs. Henson. I Mr. Hoyer.
▶ 8:23:20Mr. Hoyer. No. Mr. Ivy. Mr. Ivy. No. Mr. Joyce. Mr. Joyce. I. Miss Captor. Miss Captor. Just please hold down the noise. So members Miss Captor. No. Mr. Loa. Mr. Lo. I Miss Lee. Miss Lee. No. Miss Lllo. Miss Lllo. I Mr. Lean. Mr. Lean. No. Miss Malloy. Miss Malloy. I Miss McCollum. No. Thank you.
▶ 8:23:50Miss McCullum. No. Mrs. Ming. Miss Ming. No. Mr. Molinar. Mr. Molinar. I. Mr. Moore. Mr. Moore. I. Miss. Morelli. No. Mr. Morelli, no. Mr. Morvan, Mr. Murvan, no. Mr. New House, Mr. New House, I. Miss Perez, yes. Miss Perez, I Miss Pingri, Miss Pingri, no. Mr. Pokean, Mr. Pokean, no. Mr. Quigley, Mr. Quigley, no. Mr. Rashenthaler, Mr. Rashenthaler. I Mr. Rogers. Mr.
▶ 8:24:20Rogers. I Mr. Rutherford. Mr. Rutherford. I Mr. Simpson. Mr. Simpson. I Mr. Strong. Mr. Strong. I Miss Torres. Mrs. Torres. No. Miss Underwood. Miss Underwood. No. Mr. Valido. Mr. Valido. I Miss Wasserman Schultz. Miss Wasserman Schultz. No. Mrs. Watson Coleman. Mrs. Watson Coleman. No. Mr. Wac. Mr. Wack. I. Mr. Zinci. Mr. Zinci. I.
▶ 8:24:50Do any members uh wish to record their vote or change their vote? Gentle lady is recorded as yes. No. Gentle lady's record is no. Somebody somebody with a little more spoke up. I tell you to go home, but you don't have one to go home.
▶ 8:25:23Nice job, by the way. Glad you finally got a building. At least we got it to the floor. I got What's that? Secretary of that. Yeah, we'll come finish it back. But first, we have I got to look at the schedule now, but we know it can get done.
▶ 8:25:53That's what we will do. Go back and see on this vote. The eyes are 36, the nose are 27. The motion is agreed to. I ask unanimous consent that staff be permitted to make technical and conforming changes to the bill and report just approved. Three days.
▶ 8:26:19Seeing no objection, so There being no further business, the committee stands adjourned.