Rep. Blunt Rochester Statement on National Defense Authorization Act
Washington,
July 14, 2023
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Andrew Donnelly
(302-893-4406)
WASHINGTON - Today, Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) issued the following statement after voting against the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act. The bill passed by an historically close vote of 219-210, largely along party lines. This marked the first time in Blunt Rochester’s tenure in Congress that she has voted against the measure after extreme partisan amendments were added to the bill late in the evening yesterday.
“I’m profoundly disappointed to have to vote against the National Defense Authorization Act for the first time since coming to Congress. Authorizing defense spending had been one of the last vestiges of truly bipartisan support, and up until recently, it promised to be again.
“The House Armed Services Committee marked up and passed through their committee an overwhelmingly bipartisan bill. It was a measure I would have been proud to vote for, should it have come to the floor unchanged. Unfortunately, that’s not how the process played out. Rather than advancing a bill that would have garnered the support of the vast majority of Congress and passed easily, Speaker McCarthy gave into the radical demands of the most fringe elements of his caucus. In fact, one of my Republican colleagues openly bemoaned that our once bipartisan process had, this year, become, ‘historically partisan.’
“Some of these extreme measures include restricting the freedom of servicemembers to seek abortion care, targeting initiatives to make our military stronger through diversity training, and measures targeting the LGBTQ members of our military.
“Thankfully, this is not the end of the legislative process, and I’m confident that, working with the Senate, we can still salvage a bipartisan and responsible legislative product that will help deliver pay increases for our men & women in uniform and bolster military instillations across the country, such as Dover Air Force Base, and includes provisions I’ve championed to help improve mental and maternal health care to our troops. We owe it to our servicemembers to come together to deliver results.”
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