Washington, DC – United States Representative Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, provided the below statement about the House passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act.
“Led by Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA), the House Armed Services Committee crafted a bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that improved quality of life for our servicemembers, spurred innovation, and supported military installations in California’s 19th Congressional District and across the country. I was proud to work on and support that legislation that put politics aside to focus on our men and women in uniform and our mutual defense.
“However, I am deeply disappointed that when the bill left our committee, the Republican leadership discarded that hard work, compromise, and bipartisanship by allowing its extremist members to then amend the legislation with numerous divisive measures. The hyper-partisan amendments to the NDAA included restricting access to lifesaving reproductive care, targeting LGBTQ+ servicemembers and their families, banning books available to military families, and impeding our ability to recruit a diverse military critical to our national defense.
“For decades, Congress has come together to pass bipartisan NDAA that ensures our servicemembers and their families have the support needed to defend our democratic values at home and abroad. We upheld those values in the House Armed Services Committee’s version of the NDAA. Unfortunately, after what the Majority did to the bill, I could no longer support their amended version of the legislation. Nevertheless, I am hopeful, that with the Senate, we now can move forward and continue our work together to pass a final version of the NDAA that our nation, its servicemembers, and our national security deserve.”
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