[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 84 (Thursday, May 26, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E800-E801]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                FY17 NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

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                           HON. STEVE ISRAEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 26, 2016

  Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my disappointment 
with the way the Majority has undermined the welfare of our troops

[[Page E801]]

by inserting poisonous language into the National Defense Authorization 
Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2017.
   Last week I unfortunately had to vote against the FY 17 NDAA. I want 
to state that it pained me to take that vote. Throughout my career I 
have supported our service members in every respect. I have worked 
tirelessly on veterans issues. I have worked closely with Department of 
Defense leadership to ensure our troops on the front lines have had 
every resource they needed to be successful and that our troops and 
their families at home were well taken care of.
   Last week, the Majority injected their reckless ideology into the 
bill: a provision that would explicitly allow defense contractors to 
discriminate against LGBT employees. The language seeks to nullify an 
executive order prohibiting federal contractors from laying off or 
otherwise punishing employees because of their sexual orientation. 
Instead of passing a bill supporting our troops, they hid behind our 
troops in opposing LGBT Americans.
   In doing this, the Majority placed the welfare of our troops in 
jeopardy, potentially robbing them of much needed resources, and 
undermined protections for LGBT employees of federal contractors 
created by a Presidential Executive Order.
   As I stated earlier, this was a difficult vote to cast. However, I 
also know that this was the correct vote to cast. This body should not 
be risking national security nor sanctioning discrimination.
   I urge the Republican Majority to delete this language in a House-
Senate conference. They should not play politics with our national 
security.

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