National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, we already have laws that prohibit the United States military from carrying out domestic policy on United States soil. This amendment would prohibit evidence obtained by the military in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act from being used in a court or other legal proceedings.

While I am actually sympathetic and believe this issue is one that is worthy of our consideration in its current form, I urge opposition. The issue is simply too complex to rush through here without careful consideration and deliberation in regular order.

The implications of this amendment are also unclear. We have a crisis on our southern border, a crisis that continues to be ignored by Democrats and is continually getting worse. What happens, for example, if the continued failures of the Biden policies cause the situation at our southern border to become so dire that our military is called to secure our border and the military obtains evidence of trafficking or smuggling or some other crime?

We simply do not know enough about changing this longstanding legal document here today to jam it into a National Defense Authorization Act. This is an issue that needs to go through a more robust process where the committees of jurisdiction can hold hearings and fully explore all possible consequences.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose the motion, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, who has the right to close?

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, in closing, I would just say the gentleman in his introduction of the amendment said that while President Trump-- he talked about President Trump and the riots that took place last summer--he said, well, I would just point out that while President Trump was talking about deploying the military to deal with the riots that were happening in so many major urban areas around our great country, what were Democrats doing?

What were Democrats doing?

They were defunding the police, and they were raising money to bail the very rioters out who were destroying property and attacking police officers to raise money to bail those individuals out of jail. And now here tonight we have some policy that hasn't been through committee and hasn't been through any process trying to be put into the National Defense Authorization Act.

Again, Madam Speaker, I urge opposition to this, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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