Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026

Floor Speech

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Ms. ELFRETH. Madam Chair, I thank Ranking Member Smith and Chairman Rogers for their leadership and sincere and deep commitment to collaboration. As a freshman and new member to this committee, I was thrilled to see that collaboration and bipartisan commitment throughout the 9-month NDAA process, and there are good things in this bill, as we have heard.

Together, we secured language that defends the critical work of university-affiliated research centers that support the Department of Defense, like the Johns Hopkins applied physics lab. We required our military academies to address the very real readiness threats posed by extreme weather and sea-level rise. We delivered $10 million to better track suicide, sexual assault, harassment, and domestic abuse in the military.

Those are just three of the many wins our committee secured through the bipartisan process, which is why I am now pleading with my colleagues to ensure that this process does remain bipartisan.

I am old enough to remember that just 54 days ago, we passed this bill out of committee. We did not cede to the pressure to politicize this bill, and we worked together to support those who make the ultimate sacrifice for our country. That is why we cannot allow these poison pill amendments.

Just a few of those amendments will strip the collective bargaining rights of 400,000 civilian employees of the Department of Defense, collective bargaining rights they have held for 60 years. This bill does nothing to make sure we don't have U.S. troops used on U.S. civilians.

We cannot throw away the 9 months of good faith negotiations.

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