Ranking Member DeLauro Statement at the Subcommittee Markup of the 2024 Defense Funding Bill

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at the subcommittee markup of the 2024 Defense funding bill:

–As Prepared for Delivery–

Thank you Chairman Calvert and Ranking Member McCollum for your work on this subcommittee. I would also like to thank the majority and minority staff, particularly Jennifer Chartrand, Farouk Ophaso and Jason Gray.

The Defense funding bill put forth by the majority divides and reduces readiness, rather than secures. We have a shared responsibility to appropriate the funds necessary to defend and protect our nation. It is as simple as that – and indeed, there is a path laid out for us you could have chosen to responsibly and expediently pass this bill, as required in the letter and spirit of the Biden-McCarthy agreement.

Republicans have given us a bill that cuts $1.1 billion in salaries for civilian personnel – career civil servants who patriotically support our armed forces – $714.8 million for climate-related programs, a staggering $1.9 billion for the Administration's Multiyear Procurement request that would cover the costs of buying in bulk, and of course, bans funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The bill put forth contains a laundry list of partisan proposals and talking points from the most extreme wing of your party. This legislation would harm our readiness, undermine morale, and fails to support our men and women in the armed services.

Every service member has something unique to bring to the table. The sum of their skills, their determination, their experiences and their perspectives is the greatest asset our military has.

Fostering an environment where every American who would willingly put their lives on the line to protect and serve this nation feels they are welcomed and supported should not be controversial.

This bill fails to meet the agreement signed into law. I urge my colleagues to focus on the end goal of funding our government rather than pushing messaging bills that have no future.

I want to quote Under Secretary of Defense Mike McCord in his March letter to me: "Finally, should, as some have suggested, the Defense Department be exempt from such reductions and the entire burden fall on the non-defense discretionary agencies, the cuts would be just as harmful… No one agency could achieve the effects we are producing as a team, and deep cuts to any one of the agencies would undermine the effort as a whole."

I come from a defense state – I understand the importance of investing in our national defense. But this bill does not advance our national defense, and for these reasons, I cannot support this bill. And I hope Republicans will reexamine their strategy and come back to the table with a reasonable proposal that honors our military's unique diversity. Thank you, and I yield back.