[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 165 (Thursday, September 23, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H5096-H5097]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
                   REDUCING PENTAGON BUDGET INCREASES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, today, we will vote on my 
amendment, Lee 41, to the FY22 National Defense Authorization Act to 
reduce from this year's bill egregious Pentagon budget increases that 
were added during the committee markup. Our amendment will reduce no 
less than $25.5 billion

[[Page H5097]]

from the bill, trimming back the total level of FY22 NDAA to no more 
than the amount requested by the President.
  I want to thank my cosponsors, starting with Congresswoman Jacobs, 
who was so kind to manage this amendment on the floor yesterday, for 
her tremendous leadership. I also thank my co-chair of the Defense 
Spending Reduction Caucus, Mr. Pocan, as well as Ms. Ocasio-Cortez for 
working together to bring this amendment to the floor. I also thank 
Chairman Smith and Mr. McGovern for their support in helping to make 
this very important amendment in order.
  The President's budget request is one of the largest in American 
history. For years now, the United States has been peerless in its 
military spending, exceeding the total spending of the next 11 
countries combined. We have numerous glaring examples of waste, fraud, 
and abuse within our defense establishment. Our 20-year experience in 
Afghanistan is a stark example where the Special Inspector General for 
Afghan Reconstruction identified billions of dollars--mind you, 
billions of dollars--wasted or outright stolen over our time there. The 
taxpayers deserve better.
  Yet, Congress insists on piling more money into the Pentagon than our 
military leaders even ask for, despite DOD routinely returning unspent 
balances to the Treasury.
  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.
  While I personally support a much larger reduction in Pentagon 
spending, we need to draw the line somewhere. This amendment is a good 
place to start. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, to send 
the message that Congress won't endorse constant inflation of the 
Pentagon budget.
  Also, let me just cite amendment No. 40, offered again this year by 
Mr. Pocan and myself, for a 10 percent cut. I thank our colleague, Ms. 
Ocasio-Cortez, for her bold leadership and for managing this amendment 
during the floor debate.
  Mr. Speaker, the House stands again poised to pour three-quarters of 
a trillion dollars into a defense establishment that is unauditable, 
unaccountable, and does little to answer the biggest threats to the 
safety and welfare of our people.
  The Pentagon is the only Federal department that has never passed an 
audit. I worked to get a requirement that DOD passes an audit written 
into permanent law a couple of years ago, with the help of Chairman 
Smith and my colleague, Dr. Burgess. Yet, still, the Pentagon says it 
won't be able to pass an audit for almost another decade.
  It is not hard to find places to cut at the Pentagon. Earlier this 
year, a bipartisan group of organizations identified $80 billion in 
savings that could be achieved just by implementing some efficiencies 
and eliminating obsolete weapons, weapons like Cold War-era bombs and 
missiles designed and built in the last century that are totally 
unsuited for the challenges of this century.
  We see tremendous costs of this runaway spending, not only in the 
missing priorities, like public health, that are left unfunded, but in 
a way of thinking that militarizes every single problem in our society 
and turns peaceful protesters into targets for weapons of war.
  Let me just say, this modest reduction that we are proposing, it 
won't compromise our national security, and it won't take a dollar from 
our troops. In fact, it will put more resources into enhancing the 
quality of life for our troops. It will also allow us to reinvest in 
healthcare, schools, and infrastructure.
  This amendment will be a first step in rebalancing our priorities to 
build a safe, peaceful, prosperous world at home and abroad. I urge my 
colleagues to join me and to vote ``yes'' on this amendment. Let's 
start shifting our budget back to things that matter for most of our 
people.

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