Ranking Member Wasserman Schultz Statement at Hearing on Quality of Life in the Military

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL-25), Ranking Member of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's hearing on Quality of Life in the Military:

-As Prepared for Delivery-

Thank you for yielding, Judge Carter. Since we held this hearing last year, events have left me gravely concerned for the trajectory of quality of life priorities. We can’t discuss the well being of the men and women in uniform without touching on the ongoing war with Iran. I am incredibly saddened by the news that 13 service members have died and around 200 have been wounded since the start of the war. My condolences go out to the families, and the service members that lost friends and colleagues.

Reports this week highlight additional troops being deployed to the region and that the administration wants an additional $200 billion in funding for the war.

We must learn from the mistakes of the past, and any requests for funding for another conflict in the region must not sideline long-term investments for our service members.

If we defer these investments now, we will pay the price for years to come.

We are still feeling the effects of years of underinvestment in infrastructure during the “War on Terror” and our committee continues to receive reprogramming requests to this day to fund projects from which President Trump diverted funds from in his first term for border wall construction.

To that end, it is disappointing that we cannot discuss what investments the President’s 2027 budget makes in quality-of-life projects as the administration is, once again, incredibly late in submitting its budget request.

When we eventually do see the budget, I hope that it will include robust investments in barracks, schools, medical centers, and other much-needed quality of life projects.

Access to quality healthcare, childcare, and housing are fundamental building blocks of quality of life for military families, and there is more work to be done on all fronts.

Privatized housing companies continue to make cost-of-doing-business decisions, raking in profits, and conducting stock buybacks while military families live in unacceptable conditions.

I also remain very concerned about unnecessary roadblocks like the civilian hiring freeze, the deferred resignation program, fired probationary employees, and voluntary early retirement authority stalling progress in addressing issues like sexual assault, barracks maintenance, and ensuring there is a layer of responsive privatized military housing staff funded by the services to ensure timely repairs and prompt and reasonable response times.

These DOGE staffing cuts were made in the name of efficiency. And I am all for efficiency in the Department of Defense, but these cuts were conducted without a thoughtful plan.

It is not efficient to pay experienced government employees to leave their jobs en masse, and then, right after, pay new employees to fill those same positions. 

The Partnership for Public Service recently released survey results for government employee satisfaction, and the results for the Department of Defense are alarming. To provide just a couple of examples, 61% of Department of Navy staff and 54% of Air Force staff feel less engaged with their work than a year ago.

This is a troubling trend for the workforce that supports our service members and their families. 

It is also not saving taxpayers money to have a constant focus on culture war issues. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it may cost up to $125 million to implement the White House’s executive order authorizing the Department of War as a secondary name for the Department of Defense. 

With our daunting backlog of needed service member investments, I can’t imagine a rational justification for such wasteful spending.

Every year this Subcommittee makes hard choices with limited resources. And $125 million could be new child development centers, or dental clinics, or mess halls for our service members.

This Subcommittee has a long history of fighting for quality-of-life projects for our servicemembers, and on a bi-partisan basis. We did so in 2026 and we will do so again in 2027.

I would like to thank all the witnesses for being here today and for the essential work they do every day for our service members. And I would like to thank Judge Carter for his continued partnership on these vital issues.

I yield back.