[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 120 (Thursday, July 13, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H3485-H3486]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         REPUBLICANS CHOOSE CULTURE WAR OVER NATIONAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Michigan (Ms. Slotkin) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SLOTKIN. Mr. Speaker, later today we will begin voting on the 
NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act, the Pentagon budget.
  Moving this legislation forward has almost always been a bipartisan 
issue in Congress. It takes on the responsibilities of funding our 
military. It protects our national security. It has been a bipartisan 
effort for nearly six decades.
  But last night, after midnight, Republican leadership decided to 
bring to the floor dozens of partisan divisive amendments. If adopted, 
these amendments would transform this bill and transform our military. 
It is quite literally a wish list of the rightwing extremist colleagues 
on the other side of the aisle.
  There is an amendment to end all affirmative action in our officer 
corps, something even our Supreme Court refused to do just a few weeks 
ago. There is an amendment to full stop, end all aid to Ukraine, at the 
very moment we are expanding NATO and working on protecting democracy 
abroad on behalf of all democracies.
  Another one that they passed was a divisive amendment that prevents 
female servicemembers in the military from accessing the reproductive 
care that they need and they deserve. Plain and simple, last night, 
they chose culture war over national security, and they are doing so as 
part of a clear effort to prevent every single American woman from 
accessing care. It is part and parcel of a larger campaign to impose a 
nationwide ban on abortion.
  Last night, like I said, in the dead of night, the Freedom Caucus 
passed this amendment to stop the military from paying for a bus ticket 
or a plane ticket for any woman who needs an abortion, and it is proof 
of this bigger plan.
  In addition to this amendment that passed last night, we have 
amendments in the Appropriations Committee that are the same thing.
  We have a single Senator, Senator Tuberville, who is holding and 
blocking 250 military promotions right now, the head of the Marine 
Corps, the head of the Army, the head of the Navy, because he objects 
to the fact that a woman might get a paid bus ticket to get an 
abortion.
  If blocking these nominations continues, we will have no Chairman of 
the Joint Chiefs, no commandant of the Marine Corps for the first time 
in 134 years, no Army chief of staff. His colleagues, who claim to care 
about national security, are letting him get away with it. Now, they 
have used this bipartisan bill in order to make their point.
  Forty-six percent of Active Duty servicewomen are stationed in States 
that now either ban or very severely restrict abortion. They have no 
choice. They are based there. They have signed up to serve their 
country. They have been put on a base in Texas or Alabama. That is not 
their choice. That is their duty.

[[Page H3486]]

  The authors of these amendments are not set on just letting the 
reversal of Roe sit and having States make their own decisions. The 
authors of these amendments are from Alabama and Texas, which ban 
abortion, including in the case of rape or incest.
  Why is this important? It is important because we need to hear what 
people are telling us. They are telling us that they will not stop with 
the reversal of Roe that happened a year ago. They will not stop when 
States like Michigan organize to make sure we have protections for 
women who want abortions. They want every single American, starting 
with our servicemembers, to live under the same rules that they choose 
in their States. We need to hear what they are telling us and act 
accordingly. They are choosing politics over our women in uniform, 
choosing politics in the Senate over our national security.

  So, please, I have never in my life, as someone who served in the 
CIA, who served in the Pentagon, thought about voting against this 
bill. I believe in it. It is about paying our military and getting them 
what they need. Please keep your culture war baggage out of national 
security.

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