Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2026

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, as the senior member on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, I am deeply concerned and disappointed by this legislation. This bill was written before the Department of Defense submitted its budgetary needs for fiscal year 2026. Shamefully, the Department still has not provided Congress with a complete request.

Thus, we have been brought to the floor to vote on an incomplete bill, with no complete executive branch submission. This is not only out of order, it is dangerous. Their procrastination yields uncertainty for those who risk their lives in defense of this Nation.

America deserves better than uncertainty and a Defense Department that is missing in action. Our troops can't train on promises. Our allies can't fight with doubt. Our factories can't build American strength without steady support. This bill fails liberty on all counts.

This bill misses crucial opportunities to strengthen America's defense industrial base. Shipbuilding is backed up over 2 years. The Great Lakes region, a cornerstone of American industrial manufacturing, can play a major role in relieving that backup, but all of America is put on hold due to the DOD's damaging budget delays.

We must prioritize investments that rebuild our domestic manufacturing capabilities. Our military should never have to fight with or depend on foreign sources for materials, critical minerals, or key military components. Furthermore, by cutting all funding for Ukraine, this bill dangerously ignores history at our own peril.

At our founding, Patrick Henry heroically proclaimed: ``Give me liberty or give me death.'' He knew liberty's cost and our new Nation's responsibility to uphold the values that our European forebears bequeathed to us, ones that focused on representative government.

Thomas Jefferson knew America does not exist alone on the globe when he wrote the words: ``Our laws, language, religion, politics, and manners are so deeply laid in [European] foundations, that we shall never cease to consider their history as a part of ours.''

More recently, on January 20, 1961, President John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural address, recognized America's fierce dedication to liberty when he said: ``We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.'' Then he warned that those who ride the back of the tiger would end up inside it. He warned against that, and I hope our Nation never goes down that lonely, dark path.

In a contemporary era on June 6, 1984, President Ronald Reagan stood in Normandy, France, commemorating the day in history `` . . . when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. . . . Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history,'' and they did it together.

Mr. Chair, these quotes and sacrificial deeds of our forebears explain why I rise to express my deep opposition to this bill's irresponsible and shortsighted exclusion of any funding for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

Throughout generations, the fundamental purpose of our Nation is to guarantee liberty, to develop the kinds of relationships with our democratic allies who stand with us against tyranny in any form, and to fill our constitutional duty to provide for our Nation's common defense. Common defense, the Constitution says.

Ensuring that the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative is properly funded is essential to fulfilling our charge in defense of liberty on our watch. If you haven't noticed Ukraine's struggle against the spiderweb of tyranny fostered by Russia, China, Iran, Belarus, and North Korea, it is real, and it is lethal.

Ukraine is in a historic fight now, not of her own choosing but for her very survival. The poorest nation in Europe has fought back mightily against the third largest military in the world after Putin's murderous aggression that began in 2014.

Russia and its spiderweb of tyranny are a threat to liberty everywhere, and Ukraine stands on the front line. If support for Ukraine is withdrawn, Russia and its allies' assault on fundamental freedoms will spread.

May no one in this generation become swallowed by the tiger. Those who do not know and study history are doomed to repeat it.

Proper funding in this bill will boost our domestic defense industrial base and affirm critical security and mineral alliances. It supports our NATO partners. It is our privilege and, yes, duty to support our allies and the brave people of Ukraine by appropriating funds for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

My amendment would reinstate funding for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. I include in the Record the text of this amendment.

Ms. Kaptur moves to recommit the bill H.R. 4016 to the Committee on Appropriations with the following amendment:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

Sec. __. Of the amounts appropriated in this Act under the heading ``Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide'', for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, $300,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2027, shall be for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative: Provided, That such funds shall be available to the Secretary of Defense, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, to provide assistance, including training; equipment; lethal assistance; logistics support, supplies and services; salaries and stipends; sustainment; and intelligence support to the military and national security forces of Ukraine, and to other forces or groups recognized by and under the authority of the Government of Ukraine, including governmental entities within Ukraine, engaged in resisting Russian aggression against Ukraine for replacement of any weapons or articles provided to the Government of Ukraine from the inventory of the United States, and to recover or dispose of equipment procured using funds made available in this section in this or prior Acts: Provided further, That the Secretary of Defense shall, not less than 15 days prior to obligating funds made available in this section, notify the congressional defense committees in writing of the details of any such obligation: Provided further, That the Secretary of Defense shall, not more than 60 days after such notification is made, inform such committees if such funds have not been obligated and the reasons therefor: Provided further, That the Secretary of Defense shall consult with such committees in advance of the provision of support provided to other forces or groups recognized by and under the authority of the Government of Ukraine: Provided further, That the United States may accept equipment procured using funds made available in this section in this or prior Acts transferred to the security forces of Ukraine and returned by such forces to the United States: Provided further, That equipment procured using funds made available in this section in this or prior Acts, and not yet transferred to the military or national security forces of Ukraine or to other assisted entities, or returned by such forces or other assisted entities to the United States, may be treated as stocks of the Department of Defense upon written notification to the confessional defense committees: Provided further, That any notification of funds made available in this section shall specify an estimated timeline for the delivery of defense articles and defense services provided and shall identify if any equipment provided requires enhanced end-use monitoring: Provided further, That the Secretary of Defense may accept and retain contributions, including money, personal property, and services, from foreign governments and other entities, to carry out assistance authorized for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative in this section: Provided further, That the Secretary of Defense shall notify the congressional defense committees in writing upon the receipt and upon the obligation of any contribution, delineating the sources and amounts of the funds received and the specific use of such contributions: Provided further, That contributions of money for the purposes provided herein from any foreign government or other entity may be credited to this account, to remain available until September 30, 2027, and used for such purposes: Provided further, That the Secretary of Defense shall provide quarterly reports to the congressional defense committees on the use and status of funds made available in this section.

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