The publication is reproduced in full below:
{time} 1015
REDUCING PENTAGON BUDGET INCREASES
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) for 5 minutes.
Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, today, we will vote on my amendment, Lee 41, to the FY22 National Defense Authorization Act to reduce from this year's bill egregious Pentagon budget increases that were added during the committee markup. Our amendment will reduce no less than $25.5 billion from the bill, trimming back the total level of FY22 NDAA to no more than the amount requested by the President.
I want to thank my cosponsors, starting with Congresswoman Jacobs, who was so kind to manage this amendment on the floor yesterday, for her tremendous leadership. I also thank my co-chair of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, Mr. Pocan, as well as Ms. Ocasio-Cortez for working together to bring this amendment to the floor. I also thank Chairman Smith and Mr. McGovern for their support in helping to make this very important amendment in order.
The President's budget request is one of the largest in American history. For years now, the United States has been peerless in its military spending, exceeding the total spending of the next 11 countries combined. We have numerous glaring examples of waste, fraud, and abuse within our defense establishment. Our 20-year experience in Afghanistan is a stark example where the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction identified billions of dollars--mind you, billions of dollars--wasted or outright stolen over our time there. The taxpayers deserve better.
Yet, Congress insists on piling more money into the Pentagon than our military leaders even ask for, despite DOD routinely returning unspent balances to the Treasury.
Enough is enough. Americans are demanding that Congress rebalance our priorities and invest in the biggest challenges America faces. We face imminent threats from the COVID pandemic, climate change, domestic terrorism, growing economic inequality, and systemic racial and ethnic inequities.
While I personally support a much larger reduction in Pentagon spending, we need to draw the line somewhere. This amendment is a good place to start. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, to send the message that Congress won't endorse constant inflation of the Pentagon budget.
Also, let me just cite amendment No. 40, offered again this year by Mr. Pocan and myself, for a 10 percent cut. I thank our colleague, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, for her bold leadership and for managing this amendment during the floor debate.
Mr. Speaker, the House stands again poised to pour three-quarters of a trillion dollars into a defense establishment that is unauditable, unaccountable, and does little to answer the biggest threats to the safety and welfare of our people.
The Pentagon is the only Federal department that has never passed an audit. I worked to get a requirement that DOD passes an audit written into permanent law a couple of years ago, with the help of Chairman Smith and my colleague, Dr. Burgess. Yet, still, the Pentagon says it won't be able to pass an audit for almost another decade.
It is not hard to find places to cut at the Pentagon. Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of organizations identified $80 billion in savings that could be achieved just by implementing some efficiencies and eliminating obsolete weapons, weapons like Cold War-era bombs and missiles designed and built in the last century that are totally unsuited for the challenges of this century.
We see tremendous costs of this runaway spending, not only in the missing priorities, like public health, that are left unfunded, but in a way of thinking that militarizes every single problem in our society and turns peaceful protesters into targets for weapons of war.
Let me just say, this modest reduction that we are proposing, it won't compromise our national security, and it won't take a dollar from our troops. In fact, it will put more resources into enhancing the quality of life for our troops. It will also allow us to reinvest in healthcare, schools, and infrastructure.
This amendment will be a first step in rebalancing our priorities to build a safe, peaceful, prosperous world at home and abroad. I urge my colleagues to join me and to vote ``yes'' on this amendment. Let's start shifting our budget back to things that matter for most of our people.
____________________
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 165
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
House Representatives' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
Alerts Sign-up