WASHINGTON, DC – Today, during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing, Congressman Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida) slammed House Republicans for prioritizing culture war issues instead of passing a clean National Defense Authorization Act, as has been done on a bipartisan basis for years. Examples of amendments Republicans are pushing would undermine commonsense abortion access provisions, defend the Confederacy, ban books, and undermine efforts to mitigate climate change. 

During an Armed Services Committee mark-up in June on the NDAA, the original legislation advanced out of committee 58-1. Now, it has been used to prioritize Republican culture war issues. 

During the hearing, Moskowitz says the quiet part out loud: “The Senate’s going to kick all this back to us. They’re going to wipe all this culture war nonsense out and so this is just theater. It’s not about defending the country. They’re holding up 250 nominees in the Senate to our military. We can’t appoint the head of the Marine Corp because of the culture wars, which hasn’t happened since 1910. In October, when we’re going to see the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff retire, we won’t be able to appoint a new person either based on this nonsense if it continues.”

Video of Moskowitz slamming Republicans for prioritizing culture wars instead of funding the U.S. military is found below: