Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025

Floor Speech

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Chair, I thank my good colleague for yielding.

Mr. Chair, my colleagues are about to ram through yet another record- breaking military budget, nearly a trillion dollars, packed with bullets, bombs, and giveaways to defense contractors. They also had time to sprinkle in some antiwomen policies.

Mr. Chair, 2023 marks the sixth year in a row that the Pentagon has failed its audit. My colleagues continue to approve record-breaking military budgets, but the Pentagon literally cannot pass an audit. It is absurd. The Navy's LCS ships, with a lifetime cost of $100 billion, Mr. Chair, are literally broken down and rusting in the harbor.

Meanwhile, my residents are worried. They are worried that there is lead in the water they are drinking and toxic chemicals in the air they breathe, all issues that my colleagues claim there isn't enough funding to solve.

On top of that, it is incredibly disturbing that many of my colleagues in this Chamber are actively profiting financially, directly, personally when they vote to pass more funding for weapons in war because they personally own stock in war manufacturing.

Enough is enough. I am proud to oppose this wasteful bill and urge my colleagues to do the same.

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