Ranking Member Wasserman Schultz Floor Remarks on 2025 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Bill

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL-25), Ranking Member of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks on the House Floor in opposition to the fiscal year 2025 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies bill:

***WATCH: Wasserman Schultz, "The United States did not make exceptions to the promises we made servicemembers in exchange for their service and sacrifice; we made promises to everyone."***

- As Prepared for Delivery -

I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 8580, the fiscal year 2025 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies bill.

While I unfortunately cannot support the bill on the floor today, I am grateful to Chairman Carter for the work that we have been able to accomplish together over the years on this subcommittee. I know we both prioritize quality of life for our servicemembers and their families and caring for our veterans but sadly the bill before us today is built on a framework that once again walks away from the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act agreement, which is law, which was the basis for the bills we passed just a couple of months ago.

While the FY25 MilCon-VA bill doesn't face cuts as dramatic as other bills, veterans, servicemembers, and their families rely on programs throughout the federal government.

These funding levels only move us further from a bipartisan agreement on all of the funding bills that those who served our nation rely on.

On the military construction side, this bill cuts funding for servicemembers and their families by $718 million compared to last year's bill. This cut will slow crucial progress to modernize and improve DOD's infrastructure.

In fiscal year 2024, we provided DOD with $30 million in dedicated funding for resiliency, a comparatively small sum of funding now, which will pay huge dividends in the future and ensure our national security in the face of our changing climate. By eliminating the dedicated resilience funding this year, this bill will threaten future military readiness because we are not making sure we invest in hardening our facilities to make sure they can withstand the impact of worsening natural disasters.

Cutting military construction now slows our historically bipartisan efforts to reduce the infrastructure backlog to strengthen our national security and to improve the quality of life of our servicemembers and their families.

But perhaps the most egregious part of the bill is all the partisan riders it includes.

This bill is usually first up on the floor like it is this year because we have a bipartisan process. But unfortunately, partisan riders are distracting from that.

Riders that include preventing VA from implementing its interim final rule on abortion, which is now final, by the way, to provide abortion services under limited circumstances, abortion counseling, and to ensure that veterans have equal access to healthcare regardless of what state they live in, especially in a time when reproductive rights are under attack around the country.

A woman's decision whether or not to have an abortion should be made between her and her doctor and her family. It should not be made by politicians in this chamber.

This bill includes riders that do everything from prohibiting VA from implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, as well as training, to a petty, bigoted prohibition from flying the Pride Flag over VA facilities, from protecting people who speak or act under the guise of religious freedom, essentially authorizing the arbitrary discrimination against LGBTQI+ people, and to prohibiting access to gender-affirming care, just to name a few – all aimed to disenfranchise veterans from VA.

The United States did not make exceptions to the promises we made servicemembers in exchange for their service and sacrifice; we made promises to everyone.

This bill undermines VA's ability to report a beneficiary to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to keep guns out of the hands of those who are prohibited under Federal law from purchasing or possessing firearms. It is prohibiting VA from following the law that is intended to protect veterans and those around them.

This bill prioritizes guns over protecting veterans.

It truly is a shame that this bill includes these poison pill riders. They create division between us when we all should have a shared goal of providing healthcare and benefits to veterans.

These culture war riders were rejected in conference negotiations last year, and we know that they will be rejected again this year in order to reach a final agreement.

I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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