releases: https://mccollum.house.gov/media/press-releases/ranking-member-mccollum-rules-committee-remarks-hr-4365-fy-24-defense
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://mccollum.house.gov/media/press-releases/ranking-member-mccollum-rules-committee-remarks-hr-4365-fy-24-defense | Ranking Member McCollum Rules Committee Remarks for H.R. 4365, FY 24 Defense Appropriations Act | 2023-09-12 | 2023 | 2023-09 | Democrat | House | MN | Betty McCollum | M001143 | mccollum.house.gov | mccollum | https://mccollum.house.gov/media/press-releases | scraper | [Remarks as prepared] Thank you, Chairman Cole, Ranking Member McGovern. As you all know, I was the Chair of this Subcommittee in the previous Congress. And I know how difficult it is to put this bill together. This is legislation that is huge in size and scope. It directly impacts the lives of our service members, their families, and underpins the defense of our nation not just for this fiscal year, but future ones as well. That is why of the twelve appropriations bills, this is normally one of the less controversial. Usually the major disagreement is over the top line number for the Defense bill itself. But as Appropriators, we were able to overcome that challenge in both Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023 and produce bipartisan Defense bills that made it to President Biden’s desk. When I was Chair, I wrote the House bills to the President’s request, and I largely support it again this year. Chairman Calvert has written an $826.4 billion bill that is broadly in line with President Biden’s budget request and the Fiscal Responsibility Act. I have some concerns regarding the way funding has been allocated within this bill that I will get to in a moment. My chief concern today is not funding related. What deeply concerns me is the way this bill has been weighed down with extreme social policy riders that have no place in the Appropriations Process – and certainly no place in the Defense bill. This bill has a provision to restrict service members, civilians, and dependents from seeking basic reproductive health care. Our current force is almost 20 percent women; 80,000 of those service women are stationed in states that severely restrict reproductive health care access. Abortion has not been banned nationwide by the Supreme Court. But for anyone listening – especially women – this provision is one more step towards enacting a national ban on abortion. Ask most female service members, and they will tell you that restricting this personal choice related to their health or the health of their family – it will impact their decision to serve in our military. That is why I have submitted an amendment to remove this harmful provision from the bill. Also in this bill is language restricting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, and a provision that bans Critical Race Theory. The bill seeks to define what can and cannot be taught at our military academies and in our professional military education programs based on whether or not certain topics make people uncomfortable. Slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow, desegregation of the military? We must be able to factually teach American history, if we are still striving to become a more perfect union. It is slavery, it is Jim Crow, and it is desegregation. These are all things that happened in this country. If these facts are taught, they will now fall under the majority’s own broad definition of Critical Race Theory. | 1 | 2026-03-30T01:40:41Z | 2026-04-06T18:35:26Z |