Barbara Lee: “Today, we will vote on my amendment, Lee 41, to the FY22 National Defense Authorization Act to reduce from this year's…”

“Today, we will vote on my amendment, Lee 41, to the FY22 National Defense Authorization Act to reduce from this year's bill egregious Pentagon budget increases that were added during the committee markup. Our amendment will reduce no less than $25.5 billion from the bill, trimming back the total level of FY22 NDAA to no more than the amount requested by the President. I want to thank my cosponsors, starting with Congresswoman Jacobs, who was so kind to manage this amendment on the floor yesterday, for her tremendous leadership. I also thank my co-chair of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, Mr. Pocan, as well as Ms. Ocasio-Cortez for working together to bring this amendment to the floor. I also thank Chairman Smith and Mr. McGovern for their support in helping to make this very important amendment in order. The President's budget request is one of the largest in American history. For years now, the United States has been peerless in its military spending, exceeding the total spending of the next 11 countries combined. We have numerous glaring examples of waste, fraud, and abuse within our defense establishment. Our 20-year experience in Afghanistan is a stark example where the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction identified billions of dollars--mind you, billions of dollars--wasted or outright stolen over our time there. The taxpayers deserve better.…”