Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2026

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ISSA. Madam Chair, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ISSA. Madam Chair, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. LaHood).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ISSA. Madam Chair, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ISSA. Madam Chair, in closing, the gentleman from Florida is entitled to his opinion. It is an opinion he has brought to us not once, but multiple times. Each time this body has voted down, on a broad bipartisan basis, this amendment.

There is reason for that, Madam Chair. It has been voted down repeatedly because, in fact, it is misguided, and it relies on facts that simply aren't facts.

I don't know about the author of this bill, where he got it, but I can tell you this. I have stood in Lebanon with our Special Forces who are training and working on a constant basis with the LAF. I have stood in Lebanon and seen the destruction of Hezbollah caches, massive amounts. More than that, I have met with our ally Israel, and in conversation with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, I asked him: Should we continue to give money to the LAF? His answer was short: Give them more.

Madam Chair, King Abdullah of Jordan has been passing on necessary vehicles to help them do their job better, and Israel created the opportunity for them to retake all of Lebanon and rid it of the Iranian influence and Hezbollah once and for all.

Our President; his predecessor, Joe Biden; his predecessor, Donald Trump; his predecessor, Barack Obama; and his predecessor, George W. Bush, don't agree on much, but they agree on this: It has been worth the investment. It is paying dividends. You do not let up just at a point when they are clearing out and making safe for a democracy that, in fact, would work there but for foreign forces with weapons.

Madam Chair, this has been defeated before, but before we didn't have the good news and the support of every neighbor and our President the way we do today.

I ask all Members to vote against this, not because they can't make a point that Lebanon is a country that has been influenced but because they can't make a point that the LAF is anything but the only force that can, in fact, bring an eradication of Hezbollah and keep Iran from reoccupying that, something that Israel supports and we support.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source