Jim Banks: “This is a strong NDAA, and I urge my colleagues to support it. It includes many important priorities that are essential…”

“This is a strong NDAA, and I urge my colleagues to support it. It includes many important priorities that are essential to protecting our national security. It remains must-pass legislation to care for our servicemembers and their families. There are enormous wins in this bill for our servicemembers and their families, starting with a 19.5 percent pay raise for junior enlisted servicemembers. It increases access to specialty medical care, expands childcare programs to reduce wait lists across the country, and ensures our servicemembers receive 100 percent of their housing costs for their basic allowance for housing. We must continue, as well, to gut the woke bureaucracy at the DOD. This bill does that. It contains many provisions, including a requirement that all military personnel actions are based on merit without regard to race, color, sexuality, or your political views. There is a ban in this bill on affirmative action at our service academies. By the end of this week, I expect this bill will also include more important provisions, like a hiring freeze on all DEI personnel, a ban on overpaid chief diversity officers, and a complete ban on funding for critical race theory across the DOD. This bill builds on the foundation of last year's NDAA, curtailing the impact that this administration's woke leftist policies can have on our troops.…”