National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chair, I thank Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Smith for their leadership on the committee and the work that has been done. Also, a special shout-out to Chairman Waltz, with whom I have the pleasure of working on the Readiness Subcommittee.
Throughout the creation of this bill and the previous four bills, the subcommittee has focused on our core mission: ensuring America's military servicemembers have the resources and training to execute their missions and return home safely to their families.
The bill that advanced from the subcommittee made great strides to improve the housing, childcare, and barracks for the servicemembers and their families; develop resilient installations capable of withstanding the challenges of natural events; reduce the consumption of petroleum fuel and address the impacts of climate change while ensuring our forces are prepared to face the challenges and threats wherever and whenever they may arise.
There are, of course, still areas for improvement. We must do more to fully factor sustainment and maintenance into everything we do. We cannot be distracted by the purchase of shiny, new equipment if that equipment cannot be sustained for the mission when it is needed.
We must also continue to fight price gouging by defense contractors, which takes taxpayer dollars intended to equip our forces and redirects them to corporate profits. We will continue to tackle these issues, but I remain proud of what this committee has done.
I am, however, concerned that the majority has forced into this bill controversial social and political issues that do not advance our national security. Unreasonable demands which roll back efforts to ensure our military reflects the country that it serves or to prepare the military for the future are the absolute wrong direction. I hope that we eliminate these divisive issues and that they will not be included in the final bill.
We will work together, therefore, to prioritize the authorizations that our armed services need and our servicemembers and military families deserve.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source