{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://houlahan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4906", "NDAA restores women\u2019s policy teams canceled in Pentagon DEI purge", "2025-12-15", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "House", "PA", "Chrissy Houlahan", "H001085", "houlahan.house.gov", "houlahan", "https://houlahan.house.gov/press/documentquery.aspx", "page_html", "Originally published on MilitaryTimes.com\n\nWritten by Hope Hodge Seck\n\nDays after Pete Hegseth was installed as the Pentagon\u2019s top civilian, some all-volunteer teams of service women working to address obstacles and improve policy became casualties of his war on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. But a provision tucked into the $900 billion defense policy bill would bring them back.\n\nThe National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026, which passed the House Dec. 11, contains a provision that restores service-level women\u2019s initiative teams.\n\nThe bill would require the service secretaries to establish one of these teams for each of the five services under the Defense Department within a year after the bill becomes law.\n\nThese teams, composed of women in uniform representing \u201ca variety of ranks, backgrounds and occupational specialties,\u201d are to be tasked with identifying and addressing issues that hinder women\u2019s service; supporting recruiting and retention; recommending policy changes that support the needs of women in service; and fostering a sense of community, according to language in the bill.\n\nThe legislation requires the secretary of defense to submit an annual report for the next five years on the activities and progress of the women\u2019s initiative teams, including a summary of their activities, assessment of the policy impact they\u2019ve had and any recommendations for legislative or policy changes to further support their success.\n\nThe language restoring the women\u2019s initiative teams originated with Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat who served as an Air Force officer on active duty and in the Reserves from 1989-2004.\n\nDespite a contentious political climate and suspicion around policy specific to women in the military, Houlahan said she hoped that \u201ccommon sense was the thing that won the day\u201d in allowing the women\u2019s initiative teams provision to make it into the final version of the NDAA.\n\n\u201cMore importantly, it\u2019s all about readiness for the military in general,\u201d she told Military Times in an interview. \u201cAs we are 51% of the population and about 20% of the folks who serve in uniform, it\u2019s important that that demographic, for lack of a better word, be supported.\u201d\n\nHoulahan said she believed that the teams were \u201cjust a convenient target from a new administration.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen cooler and calmer, more rational heads got in the game, and Congress did its job, we were able to bring it back to life,\u201d she said.\n\nThe legislation would also make the women\u2019s initiative teams consistent across the services.\n\nThe Air Force\u2018s team had been serving for nearly two decades when it was ordered to cease operations following President Donald Trump\u2019s inaugural raft of executive orders in January.\n\nThe Navy\u2019s team had been in service for less than a year and was not formally canceled by the service.\n\nIn the Marine Corps, female service members launched an unofficial WIT in 2020 to advocate for changes like better parental leave and adjustments to outdated body composition standards, always stressing they did not speak on behalf of the Corps or the Defense Department. This legislation would codify that team and put its membership and activities under the purview of the secretary of the Navy.\n\nIn the Air Force, WIT members have successfully advocated for uniform changes, including development of a two-piece flight suit and a system that allows women to relieve themselves more easily in the cockpit. The team also reduced restrictions that prevented shorter airmen of both genders from serving as pilots.\n\nOther issues the WIT worked on, such as child care availability and parental leave, are relevant to the total force.\n\n\u201cWhat I hope is that this administration really understands [that] this is ops and readiness for service women to do our jobs,\u201d former WIT member Alea Nadeem told this reporter in January. \u201cWe\u2019re asking for your help to make us more lethal and more ready, and give us the equipment and resources that we need to do that.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s not clear to what extent a congressional mandate will force action by the Pentagon. Hegseth in April announced he had \u201cended\u201d the Defense Department\u2019s Women, Peace, and Security program, despite its creation by Congress.\n\nThe program continues today, but at the minimum staffing and activity level required by law.\n\nHoulahan said accountability was a key consideration in crafting the language of the WIT provision.\n\n\u201cIn this particular situation, we see the legal language of \u2018shall,\u2019 which is statutorily pretty powerful; legislatively, very powerful,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cAnd you also see in this NDAA some guardrails being placed on the administration and on the secretary of defense,\u201d she added. \u201cI am really hopeful that the armed services committees on both sides of the Capitol are awakened, and I\u2019m very hopeful that Congress itself is realizing that we really need to put our foot down in terms of our Article One responsibilities and obligations, and hold these guys to account in the laws that we pass.\u201d", 1, "2026-04-08T14:14:11Z", "2026-04-08T14:23:06Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://houlahan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4906"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.073365030810237, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}