[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 118 (Monday, July 18, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E748]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. RO KHANNA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 13, 2022

  Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank Chairman Smith as well as 
Ranking Member Rogers for their leadership to include various measures 
in the underlying bill that will aid the Department of Defense's effort 
to prevent and mitigate civilian harm. That includes my amendment that 
passed the House Armed Services Committee unanimously during the NDAA 
markup which would permanently extend a global ex-gratia authority that 
allows the Department of Defense to make condolence payments to 
civilians inadvertently harmed in U.S. military operations, alongside 
provisions in the underlying bill to establish a Center for Excellence 
in Civilian Harm Mitigation and Commission on Civilian Harm.
  I want to thank Kate Gould on my staff, and to thank the HASC staff, 
including Katy Quinn, Phil MacNaughton, Robert Ikoku, and Jonathan Lord 
for all their work on this. And I want to thank Reps. Jason Crow, Tom 
Malinowski, and Sara Jacobs for co-leading this amendment and my bill 
that the amendment is drawn from, H.R. 7625, the Protection of 
Civilians in Military Operations Act.
  It should not be a partisan issue to mitigate civilian harm.
  My amendment would simply authorize the resources for the Department 
of Defense to implement these policies of reducing civilian casualties, 
which Congress already required the Department of Defense to do nearly 
4 years ago.
  My amendment would allow the Department of Defense to spend $5 
million per year to implement the requirements of section 936 of the 
John McCain NDAA for Fiscal Year 2019.
  Section 936, passed by this body 4 years ago, requires the Department 
of Defense to establish uniform processes and standards across 
combatant commands for improving tracking, reporting, analysis, and 
response to civilian casualties from U.S. military operations.
  It is appropriately named after the late Senator John McCain, who 
believed deeply that the United States military should minimize 
civilian casualties. This is something that everyone in our military 
believes.
  Now, the Department of Defense has made extraordinary progress in 
recent years in preventing civilian harm. Secretary Austin has shown 
leadership in accelerating that progress. As he says, ``Our efforts to 
mitigate and respond to civilian harm . . . are a direct reflection of 
U.S. values.''
  Some of my colleagues want to prevent harm because of their own 
personal experience in combat or witnessing war zones where civilians 
have been killed, and some are motivated because they want to prevent 
terrorists from exploiting civilian casualties as a recruiting tool.
  But to do this, we need resources. I don't think $5 million a year is 
very much. It is less than not just 1 percent, it is less than not just 
0.1 percent, it is less than 0.001 percent of the entire budget to help 
make sure we have the resources to track and report and minimize 
civilian casualties.
  I am hopeful that we can get bipartisan support for this amendment. I 
recognize that this NDAA does a lot on minimizing civilian harm, 
including the establishment of the Center for Excellence. I thank again 
Chairman Smith for his leadership on that.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the amendment, and I just point out 
that a lot of these requirements already have passed. They are in the 
FY 2019 NDAA. The amount of money we are talking about here is less 
than 0.001 percent, so it will not have a negative impact on the total 
budget.
  I thank again our chairman, Chairman Smith, for all of these civilian 
harm mitigation initiatives in the NDAA. This NDAA, more than any in my 
6 years in Congress, has tackled civilian casualties, and I hope that 
there will continue to be a bipartisan commitment in the House to 
reduce them to the extent possible.

                          ____________________