The publication is reproduced in full below:
NATIONAL PULSE MEMORIAL
______
speech of
HON. BARBARA LEE
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
Ms. LEE of California. Madam Speaker, I rise to oppose the out-of-
control defense spending contained in this year's National Defense Authorization Act. At a topline level of $768.2, billion, this bill is larger than any previous pentagon spending bill. It's even bigger than what the President asked for by $25 billion.
This excess is particularly egregious when compared to the military spending of our potential adversaries. We spend more on the US military than the next eleven countries combined.
And all this funding is being poured into an agency that is perennially unaccountable to the American public. It has been 30 years since all federal agencies were required to pass audits. And after three decades the Department of Defense (DOD) remains the only agency in the federal government that has so far failed to pass an audit. The most recent prediction from the department for a clean audit is 2028.
Yet we see numerous examples of fraud, waste, and abuse from this department, from legacy weapons systems built for the cold war, to the billions in documented waste in Afghanistan.
The military has rightly identified the climate crisis as one of the biggest and most immediate threats to American lives and interests. And yet the Pentagon still hasn't fully reported on its own greenhouse gas emissions. And every excessive dollar spent on the Pentagon isn't available for the investments we need to make in mitigation and adaptation to protect us and the world from the impacts of climate change.
Especially frustrating to me about this bill is the fact that needed reforms to advance racial justice and combat extremism and white supremacy were excluded in the negotiations that produced this compromise legislation. Our military leaders have been clear about the need to address extremism within the ranks and provide equal justice for Black and Brown servicemen and women. By failing to address these issues adequately in this bill, we don't just let down our men and women in uniform, we let down the country and betray our ideals.
Enough is enough. Americans are demanding that Congress rebalance our priorities and invest in the biggest challenges America faces. We face imminent threats from the COVID pandemic, Climate Change, domestic terrorism, growing economic inequality, and systemic racial and ethnic inequities. It is time to shift our spending priorities to meet these urgent human security priorities. I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 214
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