Extreme Republican amendments would undermine military readiness by attacking health care for service members and making the military less inclusive

Washington D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, released the following statement regarding her decision to vote against the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after the bill was hijacked by extreme MAGA Republicans:

“For the past 62 years, Republicans and Democrats have come together to craft bipartisan defense authorization bills that would support our troops and strengthen our national security,” said Rep. Sewell. “But this year, rather than continuing that essential tradition, Speaker McCarthy has caved to the most extreme members of his party and allowed the radical right-wing to poison the defense bill with culture war provisions that would undermine our military readiness and harm our service members.”

“I did not take this vote lightly,” continued Sewell. “I have proudly voted in favor of the annual defense bill every year since coming to Congress. But I cannot and will not support a bill that would rip basic health care away from our service members and make bigotry and discrimination a centerpiece of our defense policy. Republicans need to stop playing politics with our national security.”

Passed annually by Congress since 1961, the NDAA authorizes funding levels for the Department of Defense (DoD) and allows the Armed Forces to pay, train, and equip U.S. service members, support America’s allies around the world, and carry out essential national security operations. 

Last month, Rep. Sewell voted with her Republican and Democratic colleagues to pass the NDAA out of the House Armed Services Committee after reaching an overwhelmingly bipartisan compromise. Rep. Sewell successfully secured key provisions to support Alabama’s military installations including leadership training at Maxwell Air Force Base. She also secured record funding for research at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and critical provisions to support the health and well-being of service members and their families.

On Thursday, rather than moving forward with the bipartisan version of the bill advanced by the Armed Services Committee, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy caved to the most extreme members of his party, allowing them to hijack the NDAA by forcing through hyper-partisan, culture war amendments.

MAGA Republican amendments would undermine military readiness and harm service members by:

• Attacking Diversity Initiatives and Making the Military Less Inclusive: At a time when DoD faces serious recruiting challenges, particularly among Black and minority recruits, Republicans forced through six amendments attacking diversity and inclusion in our military, which would ban diversity and inclusion personnel and training.

• Stripping Away Health Care for Service Members: The NDAA includes a cruel, harmful amendment to roll back a DoD policy helping service women travel to get the reproductive health care they need, putting at risk the health and lives of over 230,000 women in uniform. It also includes amendments to strip medically-necessary care for LGBTQ+ service members.