Oakland City Wire

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12), senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, on July 13 released a statement on the Democratic amendments blocked by Republicans in the Rules Committee’s consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA):

“The extremists in the Republican party have taken the NDAA and held it hostage to enact their MAGA, right-wing agenda. Despite a record number of amendments being submitted this year; Republicans are allowing less than a quarter of the amendments to go to the floor. It’s disappointing that my amendments to rein in Pentagon spending, address price gouging with defense contractors, and repeal the 2002 AUMF were not made in order. These amendments have either had significant support on the floor, been passed out of committee, our passed both chambers as a standalone bill. There’s no excuse why these would not be included in the NDAA to be considered on the floor in front of the full chamber.

“It’s especially shameful that in place of these amendments, Republicans are including amendments to restrict access to abortion, attack LGBTQ+ service members, prohibit federal funds from being used to address climate change and invest in DEI training – all of which do absolutely nothing to make our country safer. Under Kevin McCarthy and the Freedom Caucus, this is becoming yet another extremely partisan bill that does nothing to improve our national security or support our servicemembers. The GOP’s unique ability to consistently find ways to disenfranchise communities and misguide the priorities of our constituents is pathetic.”

Original source can be found here