Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, our country has no greater responsibility than to protect and defend this Nation and its Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, and I thank Ranking Member McCollum for yielding me time to speak as a member of the Subcommittee on Defense Appropriations.

I am deeply disappointed, I have to say, overall by the bill that the majority has forced to the Floor today. America and our allies are grappling with an increasingly dynamic and dangerous world. Global challenges include real enemies, as well as the unpredictability of nature and climate change, and we now see artificial intelligence threatening to further destabilize the world that we rely on for liberty and prosperity.

Russia is waging a war of aggression against a neighboring democratic state, while China is outpacing our military development and has positioned itself as a significant geopolitical competitor on many levels.

It is our responsibility and that of the annual Defense Appropriations legislation to ensure we are prepared to surmount these threats. However, the majority's legislation is distracted and consumed by division instead of policies that would ensure the safety of our Nation's most important Defense asset, our brave men and women in uniform.

In another year, I could be proud of important provisions, including support for research, testing and manufacturing of space technologies that would define how our future wars might be fought, many of which, by the way, are being developed in my home State of Ohio.

Instead, this legislation focuses on divisive policies never seen in a Defense Appropriations bill, like banning diversity and inclusion programs in this diverse Nation, targeting women and LGBTQ and servicemembers, and preventing the Department of Defense from addressing the very real dangers of disinformation campaigns and extremist rhetoric in our military.

Enacting these proposals would have disastrous consequences for the morale and readiness of our Armed Forces, worsening the unprecedented recruitment shortfalls they already face. While the legislation maintains funding for many key security commitments to our crucial allies by fully funding key regional security initiatives, it fails to innovate or provide expansion of funding necessary to meet the moment, which is newly defined by the largest war for liberty since World War II, being fought as we speak in the Nation of Ukraine. I could say so much on this.

The Ukrainian people and their east European neighbors----

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Ms. KAPTUR. Might I ask for an additional 10 seconds.

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