Susan Davis: “I thank Chairman Thornberry and Ranking Member Smith and the professional and personal staff for all of their hard work.…”

“I thank Chairman Thornberry and Ranking Member Smith and the professional and personal staff for all of their hard work. Mr. Speaker, this year's NDAA is multifaceted, and it is complex. It contains many good things for our servicemembers, but it also contains areas of concern. I support this year's NDAA's new reforms designed to restore the readiness, capability, and capacity of a force that has been asked to do too much with too little. The conference report contains a number of policy items focused on servicemembers' quality of life in a wide range of areas, including healthcare for disabled veterans, care for servicemembers' children, mental health services, sexual assault prevention, maternity leave, and retention of women in the military. This bill also contains language acknowledging the critical role women play in the security of their country. It contains provisions ensuring that Afghan and Syrian women are not overlooked as a critical component in conflict resolution. I would also like to reiterate an area of concern. Developing new low-yield nuclear weapons when we currently have more nuclear weapons than we can ever possibly use is not just a waste of money; it also lowers the threshold required before a nuclear conflict begins. A nuclear weapon is a nuclear weapon, no matter what its size. Any nuclear use would fundamentally change the rules of the game. We do not follow the dangerous and reckless Russian doctrine of escalate to deescalate.…”