McCollum: Republicans Advance Extreme Defense Funding Bill

After House Republicans’ Defense funding bill (H.R. 4365) passed the Rules Committee, Congresswoman Betty McCollum (DFL-Minn.), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, released the following statement:

“At every turn, House Republicans have had opportunities to come to the table and negotiate in good faith to develop a Defense funding bill that is bipartisan and can pass both chambers and be signed into law by President Biden,” Ranking Member McCollum said. “Instead, with the fiscal year ending September 30, Speaker McCarthy is wasting precious legislative time pushing through a bill containing extreme social policy riders demanded by the far-right wing of his conference. As Ranking Member, I am concerned that these riders will signal to Americans who want to join our volunteer military that many are not welcome. These totally unnecessary provisions divide us, not unite us, and will have harmful consequences for recruitment and retention across the force. I also disagree with some of the reductions the majority has made: cuts proposed to the civilian workforce will impact military readiness, and will burden service members with additional duties and shift work to an expensive private sector. Cuts to climate resiliency programs will leave the Department more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

“Our task as Appropriators is to write legislation that is laser focused on meeting the needs of the American people—but instead, the majority has decided to use the Appropriations process as an extreme social policy experiment. Rather than cater to the extremist few, the Republican majority should work with us to pass a bipartisan bill that meets the needs of all our service members and their families. There is no time to waste. As this bill now moves to the floor of the House of Representatives, I will strongly oppose its passage and urge my colleagues to do the same.”

Background:

For 2024, the bill provides $826.4 billion. The bill harms readiness with divisive provisions that undermine morale and fail to support our service personnel, by:

• Attacking the LGBTQ+ community with hateful provisions;
• Preventing service personnel from traveling to seek reproductive health care; and
• Banning funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

The legislation:

• Allows disinformation campaigns and extremist views to flourish which undermine our democracy.
• Cuts vital civilian positions at a time when the Department is struggling to meet readiness goals.
• Fails to invest in critical climate change programs that are necessary to protect our installations.

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