Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee's markup of its fiscal year 2023 bill:
Thank you, Chairwoman McCollum, Ranking Member Calvert, and all the Members of the subcommittee for your work. And thank you to the subcommittee staff for all your efforts to craft this bill.
The bill provides nearly $761.7 billion, an increase of over $32.2 billion above the 2022 enacted level and equal to the President’s request. Combined with the fiscal year 2022 government spending package and both Ukraine supplemental bills led by this Committee, the bill before us would provide the Department of Defense $92 billion more than in 2021.
The investments in this bill are robust, and they are exactly what we need to continue protecting our nation. As threats against our national security and against global democracy grow, this bill will ensure we have the resources necessary to protect ourselves and support our allies while honoring the men and women who so bravely and selflessly serve our nation.
Russia’s grievous invasion of Ukraine and its attack on democracy require that our Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community have the funding to support the Ukrainian people and other allies abroad. This bill builds on this Committee’s efforts to provide critical security assistance to Ukraine as it protects its democracy - including with more resources for training and military equipment and through increased intelligence support.
As we counter Russia’s efforts to attack democracy, we are simultaneously investing in efforts to counter China’s aggression with robust funding to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific.
We are also working to preserve our domestic advanced manufacturing base by sustaining millions of jobs and growing our economy.
To ensure we are best prepared to address future threats, we are investing heavily in research and development programs.
As we protect Americans and secure our nation, we are also renewing our commitment to responsibly uphold our values. This bill would close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. It also restricts U.S. involvement in Yemen.
Recommitting to our values also means ensuring that our women and men in uniform and those who support them earn fair wages. That is why this bill includes a military pay raise of 4.6 percent and supports working families by requiring contractors to pay a $15 minimum wage. They also deserve to live free from assault and harassment, which is why we are funding programs to combat sexual assault and extremism in the military.
As we continue to confront climate change, this bill invests $2.5 billion in clean energy and climate adaptation initiatives that will protect our facilities, our military readiness, and global security.
This bill makes critical investments to meet this moment - investments that further American leadership around the world, protect our national security, support American workers and servicemembers, promote global democracy, and confront the climate crisis.
I am proud of this bill, I urge my colleagues to support it, I and again thank the Chairwoman and Ranking Member.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
