During Senate floor remarks, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) ripped into the Biden-Harris Administration and demanded passage of the NDAA out of the Senate.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Madam President. On October 23rd, 1983, terrorists killed 241 Americans,
00:07including 220 Marines in Beirut, Lebanon. Last night, Israeli defense forces reportedly killed
00:15a top Hamas leader responsible for those American lives lost. The events of last night highlight
00:22why the Senate needs to now move on the NDAA to strengthen our military and our allies abroad.
00:30Instead, Senator Schumer has done nothing this week but bring low-level nominations to the floor
00:36while the bipartisan NDAA gathers dust on its desk. It's par for the course for Senator Schumer.
00:44Democrats ride the fence on this because Hamas is a key constituent of the Democratic Party.
00:52It's why Kamala Harris couldn't bring herself to show up for the Prime Minister Netanyahu's
00:57congressional address just last week. It's why the Biden administration has flushed Iran with
01:04cash, and now Iran is bankrolling terrorism all over the Middle East. But they act surprised when
01:11the Middle East is destabilized. They're more concerned about appeasing our enemies than
01:17supporting our friends and our allies. Now Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have brought us to the
01:24World Order and possibly World War III. It's the weakest administration in the history of the United
01:30States of America. We've become a complete joke in the eyes of the world, which is why, Mr. President,
01:39I rise today to call on Senator Schumer to immediately bring the NDAA to the floor for a vote.
01:46Senator Schumer has refused to act on this legislation since it passed out of committee
01:50on June the 13th with bipartisan support. After the events last night, it is imperative now more
01:58than ever that we move this bill. Senator Schumer, let's be serious here. If you really care about our
02:05military, you will bring the NDAA up for a vote immediately. Stop wasting our time on messaging
02:11bills that are a ploy to bail out vulnerable Democratic colleagues in an election. We need
02:19a military that is 100% focused on protecting our country and enhancing our national security,
02:26not implementing the Biden-Harris woke agenda, which is why I've taken steps to return our
02:31military to the greatness in this year's NDAA. Among these victories, I count my amendments
02:37which will help refocus the Pentagon on its stated mission to deter war and ensure our nation's
02:44security. One of these amendments includes eliminating all funding for the woke diversity,
02:50equity, and inclusion programs at the DOD. Another amendment prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars
02:58from being spent on transgender surgeries or any other costs associated with these surgeries.
03:05I appreciate my colleagues on the committee supporting these common-sense amendments
03:10that were included in this year's Senate NDAA. I, along with millions of Americans,
03:16am scratching my head as to why the DOD has implemented these policies to begin with.
03:22Sadly, no institutions, not even our great military, are safe from infiltration by the
03:27Biden-Harris regime's radical woke policies. Immediately after taking the White House,
03:32the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris weaponized the DOD, using it as yet another tool in their arsenal
03:39to further their progressive agenda. One of the Biden-Harris administration's first moves was
03:44mandating diversity, equity, and inclusion training in all the DOD. On day one, the Biden-Harris
03:51administration announced that the military would begin conducting training, quote,
03:55have knowledge of systemic and institutional racism and bias against underserved communities,
04:02end quote. This hateful ideology has no place in the United States, let alone our military.
04:09The military is not a social experiment. It should be a lethal fighting force,
04:15feared by our enemies and comprised of our best and brightest. Military should be built on merit,
04:22not diversity. It is dangerous and insulting to waste our troops' valuable time on political
04:29indoctrination such as this. And that's not all. In 2021, the Biden administration
04:36announced it would begin directing taxpayer dollars to pay for hormone therapy and transgender
04:42surgeries for service members who want to transition to a different gender. It is not
04:47the job of the taxpayers to pay for someone to get a controversial elective procedure.
04:53American taxpayers' resources should ensure troops who are injured or sick get quality
05:01health care, timely, as they need it. And taxpayers should not be forced to bankroll
05:07these dangerous experimental procedures that often backfire. Of course, the Biden-Harris
05:13administration would rather spend valuable taxpayer dollars on programs that affirm its
05:18progressive worldview. The DEI and transgender surgery policies at the DOD are just two
05:25examples of the woke policies being implemented. We can't forget that the Biden-Harris DOD illegally
05:33mandated taxpayer dollars to fund elective abortions in the military. I have spent the
05:38better part of two years fighting the Biden-Harris administration on this front, and we cannot forget
05:45that the Biden-Harris DOD fired more than 8,000 able-bodied troops for refusing to take the COVID-19
05:53vaccine. None of these policies should be DOD priorities. It is a distraction from keeping
06:00America safe and secure, and the consequences are dangerous. For decades, support for the U.S.
06:08military was one of the few topics that brought Republicans and Democrats together. In the past
06:13years, the U.S. House of Senate Armed Services Committee would draft the NDAA, which was
06:18authorized funding for the military, and established policies priorities for the DOD.
06:24These bills were largely bipartisan and not usually controversial. Both parties were united
06:30in the belief that the United States military should be the most lethal fighting force in the
06:35world. There were some policy differences here, and there sure should be, but both parties largely
06:42left politics out of the military. This, until the Biden-Harris administration came to town.
06:48It's disappointing we've reached a point where we need to legislatively intervene
06:53to refocus the Pentagon on its mission to protect and defend our great country, but here we are.
07:00Predictably, the Biden-Harris regime injecting politics in our military has come at a price.
07:06The departure from bipartisan common-sense policies at the DOD has resulted in detrimental
07:12impacts to military readiness and lethality. Take recruitment, for example. In 2023,
07:19the Pentagon announced that it fell way short of recruitment goals in what it referred to as, quote,
07:26the toughest recruitment year for the military service since the inception of the all-volunteer
07:31army. End quote. I would ask, why would young men and women volunteer to serve in a country
07:39and in our military if it's become a place of the far-left indoctrination? Why would they do that?
07:45Why would young men and women join a military that teaches them to hate our country? Why would
07:51any patriotic citizen join an organization that is more committed to social justice
07:56than defeating our enemies? I must say, I share their concerns. The military under today's regime
08:04is not the same military that my dad served in over 60 years ago. It's the sad truth.
08:11The recruiting failure has resulted in a national security emergency. As a member
08:16of the Armed Services Committee, I have asked our top military leaders about the decision to focus
08:21on woke policies instead of asking the recruiting crisis, addressing the recruiting crisis.
08:27Unsurprisingly, they didn't have an answer for me. And the impact of implementing those left-wing
08:33social priorities extends far beyond the recruiting problems here at home. The senator's time has expired.
08:41These dangerous policies, Madam President, at the DoD have consequences for our military readiness
08:47and the world state.