Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise to offer this amendment. In the fiscal year 2020 NDAA, I first requested a study from the Department of Defense on how the Department can best screen and prevent extremists from enlisting in our military using existing FBI and DOJ resources. The resulting report, published in October of 2020, found that white nationalists and domestic extremists target servicemembers as ``prized recruits,'' their words, for their groups, and shared accounts of servicemembers with active ties to these organizations. The report also included a list of seven recommendations on steps the Department can take to prevent domestic extremists from enlisting in the military. Under the leadership of Secretary Austin, the Department has taken additional steps to combat extremism in the military. This included a 60-day stand-down and the creation of the Countering Extremist Activity Working Group to better understand the threat and offer six additional recommendations. My amendment supports the Department's efforts to counter domestic extremism. It simply requests a formal update from the Department on the steps it has taken to complete the recommendations from the October 2020 report, and it directs the Department to complete the recommendations from the December 2021 report within 6 months of enactment of this bill.…”