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H.R. 4350, NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2022
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HON. PETER A. DeFAZIO
of oregon
in the house of representatives
Monday, September 27, 2021
Mr. DeFAZIO. Madam Speaker, on September 23, I voted in opposition to H.R. 4350, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. While I support several Democratic policy priorities included in this legislation, I also have significant concerns with numerous provisions, including the irresponsibly bloated topline defense spending of $768 billion that this legislation authorizes.
I strongly support the well-deserved 2.7 percent pay raise that this legislation grants our men and women in uniform. This is the very least we can do for those who continue to make extraordinary sacrifices for our country.
This legislation includes additional vital benefits for military servicemembers and their families, such as expanded parental leave, improved mental health care services, a new basic needs allowance for lower income servicemembers, and more.
I also strongly support the provisions included to combat the scourge of sexual assault in the military, including by creating an Office of Special Victim Prosecutor to prosecute these crimes, removing the commanding officer from decisions related to sexual assault, and finally criminalizing sexual harassment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
As a long-time advocate for strengthening Congress's constitutional war powers authorities and limiting executive authority to engage in armed conflict without Congress's consent, I cosponsored an amendment to prohibit unauthorized U.S. participation in the Saudi-led coalition's war in Yemen. I am pleased that this amendment passed the House and will push my colleagues to keep this amendment in the final NOAA conference legislation.
While I strongly support provisions in this year's NDAA, I ultimately voted against it because I believe this legislation should have included additional provisions to rein in our bloated and wasteful defense spending, take back Congress's constitutional war powers authority, and more.
Instead of increasing the defense budget by several billion dollars for yet another year in a row, I strongly believe this legislation could have made responsible cuts to our defense budget without jeopardizing the safety of our troops or undermining our national security. It's beyond time for us to invest in domestic priorities for Oregonians and the American people here at home.
That's why I supported an amendment to responsibly reduce the Pentagon budget while retaining exceptions to protect service members, civilian employees, and the vital Defense Health Program from this reduction. Unfortunately, this amendment failed to pass the House.
For years, Congress has continued to increase the Pentagon's budget despite overwhelming evidence of its waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer money. It's absolutely ridiculous and irresponsible to continue throwing increasing amounts of taxpayer money at the Pentagon and lining the pockets of greedy defense contractors and special interests every year, when the Pentagon cannot even account for where this money goes.
I have long supported a financial audit of the Pentagon. Unlike every other federal agency, the DOD has yet to ever pass a financial audit. For three years in a row, the Pentagon has spectacularly failed full audits, each of which highlighted numerous examples of waste and abuse. It is ridiculous to provide the Pentagon a massive spending increase--
as this bill does--when the Pentagon cannot even account for how it spends taxpayer money. That's why I'm a cosponsor of legislation to require and incentivize every component of the DOD to finally pass an audit.
This legislation should have included more provisions to take back Congress's constitutional war powers authority, including repealing the long-outdated 2001 and 2002 authorizations for the use of military force (AUMFs). I also cosponsored and voted in favor of an amendment to end unauthorized U.S. military involvement in Syria. TI1e U.S. military has maintained a years-long presence in Syria without congressional approval, in contravention of the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution of 1973. While this amendment unfortunately failed, I will continue fighting to stop this unauthorized, endless war.
I am also disappointed that amendments I supported either failed to pass the House or were not made in order. This includes amendments to curb the irresponsible expansion of U.S. nuclear weapons, to strengthen Buy America provisions to ensure the military supports U.S. manufacturers, to ensure veterans who were wrongfully dishonorably discharged for their sexual orientation are able to receive the veterans benefits they earned, and more.
I also strongly oppose provisions in this legislation that would expand military draft registration to all Americans aged 18-25, including women. I have long opposed military draft registration and have introduced legislation to repeal the Selective Service System
(SSS) altogether. The SSS is an archaic, unnecessary, unwanted, and wasteful bureaucracy that violates Americans' civil liberties and subjects Americans who fail to register--largely through no fault of their own--with unnecessarily severe, lifelong penalties, all without due process. These penalties can include denial of employment, job training, educational benefits, student loans, grants, citizenship, driver's licenses, and more--at both the federal and state levels--and they disproportionately affect low income individuals and people of color.
The military itself and presidents of both parties have consistently agreed there is no military or national security imperative to ever reinstate a draft.
That's why I co-led amendments to repeal military draft registration and eliminate these extrajudicial penalties. While these amendments were not made in order, I will continue fighting to repeal the SSS and end military draft registration. No American, regardless of gender, should ever be subject to or forced to register for an obsolete military draft.
The bottom line is that fiscal responsibility and accountability at the DOD would allow for taxpayer funds to be better spent supporting the needs of our troops, meeting our obligations to veterans, and ensuring our legitimate defense needs are prioritized while also bolstering long-underfunded domestic priorities. I will continue fighting to responsibly lower our bloated defense spending and finally put an end to our endless wars.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 168
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