Transcripts For CSPAN2 Freedom 20240705

Bill that youre watching this week. Youre watching live coverage here on cspan2. Good morning, everybody. Were here to talk about the gains that were made in the National Defense authorization act through the continuous persistent and principled relentless efforts of americas House Freedom caucus and other members of the conference to improve the bill and stop the Biden Administrations injection of politics and wokeness into the military. So a major win for the American People and against the Biden Administration in representative jacksons amendment being passed that upholds the value of life and we think that is that is meaningful. We also are wanting to recognize and acknowledge the tremendous colonel of senator tuberville in his efforts and to let him know while hes been leading the charge, reinforcements are here in the house and the rest of the senate should be motivated to help him in that effort as well. And so finally, let you know that the House Freedom caucus, americas Freedom Caucus is never going to stop making every single bill that gets out of here the best it can be, the most righteous it can be and the best for america and surrounded with me are great members of the Freedom Caucus that are going to talk about some things that are happening in this bill and efforts to move forward. With that, the army is going to get together with the navy here. Where is the admiral. Rodney jackson come up here. I want to thank you all for being here and thank you to my colleagues for inviting me to be part of this. Yesterday was a great day. The Biden Administration has made it routine for a long time now to ignore existing law and the will of the people to push their woke social agenda whichever which they see fit. Yesterday we pushed back and yesterday we stopped some of that. I and my colleague from chip roy introduced with the support of my colleagues here an amendment to the National Defense authorization act that will stop, completely stop taxpayer funds to pay for Abortion Services in the department of defense. [applause] ever since the Dobbs Decision overturned roe versus wade biden has been looking for ways to circumvent the courts ruling in every department in eop. And the policy put in by the secretary of defense biden gave direction to do so last year, does just that, it circumvents the courts ruling in direct violation of specifically section 1093 of u. S. Code 10. Yesterday we joined our colleague as mentioned, as the general mentioned, joined Tommy Tuberville in the senate stood strong by himself in the senate to fight this fight. Now hes got support, and backup here in the house and we joined Tommy Tuberville, senator tuberville not only insist that the laws be followed, but ultimately save countless lives of the unborn that otherwise would have lost their lives from this horrible policy. Taxpayers money, taxpayer money is provided to the dod and intend today provide by our National Defense and National Security. It is not, not to promote and support the Biden Administrations radical immoral proabortion agenda and yesterday we stopped that. Thank you, i appreciate you being here. Thank you. Now i want to introduce my colleague lauren bobert. So to save america conservatives need to hold the line and push back again the Biden Administrations woke agenda and we saw many victories yesterday doing exactly that. Im so proud of my colleague Ronny Jackson and his amendment and success of that passage. We dealt a major blow to the biden regimes effort to politicize our military by defunding his policy of using dod funds to Traffic Service members out of red states so they can receive taxpayer funded abortions when we use the leverage the American People have given us, we can deliver on the conservative promises we all got here on. Its time we govern as we campaigned back home. I am ready to do the work that i promised the people that i said i would do. And just look at the conservative policies and this ndaa. This is the most conservative ndaa that ive ever had the pleasure working with. That we have a ban on funding for drag queen shows, a ban on funding for Critical Race Theory, abolishing the dod chief diversity officer position, empowering military parents to know whats going on in onbase schools, establishing an Inspector General to audit ukraine funding, establishing a pathway for Service Members discharged under bidens Vaccine Mandate to rejoin the military. And the conservative movement is getting fired up everywhere. Just look at whats happening over in the senate. Senator tuberville is dealing devastating blows to the bidens regimes the biden regimes woke military. Instead of just going along to get along hes using the position that voters entrusted him with im proud of his efforts and i know the American People stand with him as well. Were here today to let the American People know that we are just getting started. Again, major victories yesterday and i would like to turn it over to my good friend from virginia, bob goode. Thank you congressman bobert and thank you to my colleagues today and put in this position today. The challenges we face as a Republican House were dealing with executive branch, an administration that truly does not understand or does not agree with what should be the ultimate purpose of the military. I would say the sole purpose of the military. The purpose of the military is to be the most effective, lethal fighting and killing machine so no one wants to challenge us on the planet. That was the case before this administration, but this administration as soon as they got in office told our military, that the purpose of the military was to fight climate, that climate was the greatest threat to the country and then right behind that, the greatest threat to the military was racism in the military, white supremacy, white nationalists, whatever that is in the military, god forbid Trump Supporters in the military and the assault on the military, the purpose of the military and reflected with the ndaas we had to vote against. Almost all of us here voted against four times last year, ndaa bill that was hurting, harming, weakening the military and taking away from what the military is. I want to graduate my colleagues today for putting back the focus of what the military is all about and attacked the social experiment that the Biden Administration made our military, attacked funding for abortion that never happened until the Biden Administration, and fought the transgender surgery, and others in the Freedom Caucus and proud to stand with them today, this is a great step for the country and for our military and now i yield to honorable clay higgins from louisiana. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The Biden Administration came into office clearly agendadriven and that agenda has been permeated through every weave of fabric of our country. So the military is a unique machine or should be. Im an army veteran. The military has to exist through good president s, bad president s, you know, effective executive execution of americas policies, agenda to the left, agenda to the right. The military has to continue and the ndaa is the congressional fingerprints that the that our Armed Services have to work within. So, as the republicans came into majority this year, we knew, over the course of the last year, that Freedom Caucus has been encouraging our republican colleagues that would return for the 118th congress to embrace the conservative ideological constitutionists of men and women standing before you. Weve gradually shifted the center of gravity of the republican conference towards the right so as we became the majority party, it is our duty to adjust the impact of the biden agenda in every way that we can. We try to save our republican here and the ndaa, i must say that our republican colleagues across the conference have been very receptive to the clear understanding that we had a lot of damage done in the military over the last four years that needed to be addressed. So, this is what youre witnessing. Youre witnessing a proper and effective correction of the injury that has been brought upon our military and when we passed the ndaa, and we will, we are going to move onto the next reauthorization and move into 12 appropriations bills, what weve also been working for a year. We are establishing conservative policies into the government of the people that we serve. In doing so, were pushing back against a very liberal agenda that the Biden Administration and four years of democrat majority in the house has forced upon america. Were not the ones that are changing the ideological principles are solid, unwavering, were conservative, were constitutionalists, we believe in individual rights and freedoms. We want an effective, lethal, deployable, fast, rapid, undefeatable military. So we are delivering to the American People government that reflects the principles of the American People. Its been a big win this week and a lot of work and were not done yet. Im honored to introduce my colleague from florida, matt gaetz. Matt gaetz here, Freedom Caucus admirer. Im prolife, i know not everyone is, but for decades in this country people who were prolife and pro choice could agree that we werent going to use taxpayer dollars in order to facilitate elective abortions. That was the norm that President Biden and secretary austin violated. And i am so proud of the boldness and the courage of senator tuberville. I do not believe we would have achieved the republican unity in the house but for the courage of senator tubber ville on the other side of the rotunda. Because of that courage, we were able to have dr. Jacksons great amendment return us to our normal status where we didnt use taxpayer money for elective abortions in any way and throughout the ndaa, there are returns to normalcy, whether it is getting rid of Critical Race Theory or stopping some of the radical gender ideology that seems to predominate over the lethality and technical im proud of in the ndaa. Its not just issues related to the military personnel, its hard to retire legacy systems, ive learned over my seven years in congress, and chairman rogers showed the vision to retire 40 billion in legacy systems and move those resources into ai, cyber, and the technologies that ensure that america always holds the high ground. Im honored to be here and even more honored to introduce my friend and colleague mary miller. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, its great to be here joined by this fantastic group of conservatives who have worked tirelessly to oppose joe biden and to keep him from using the military to fund abortionrelated expenses and his woke agenda. Throughout the year, we worked to incorporate an amendment into the ndaa to protect the religious liberty rights of our Service Members after, excuse me, joe bidens department of defense kicked catholic priests out of the Walter Reed Hospital over easter weekend. We must ensure that this never happens again. Im honored to have stood alongside many of my colleagues here today in fighting to include a pathway for the Armed Services to reinstate and give back pay to our military members who were forced out over the covid Vaccine Mandate. Many amendments included in the ndaa also aim to end bidens woke transformation of our military which has created a recruitment and retention crisis. In congress, my colleagues and i will always support our brave men and women in uniform and their families. President bidens Weak National Security Policies and radical political agenda have really devastated our military readiness. Americans should be concerned, but im proud that the conservatives with me today were able to halt some of bidens radical agenda through this bill. Thank you. Oh, and now id like to introduce my friend, congressman norman. Thank you so much, mary. Im proud to stand here with my true patriots. These are fighters behind me, folks. These are people willing to put their name on the line and do the right thing and what a great time in the history of america to do it through the ndaa. You know, our nations military is supposed to be the strongest, the meanest, the greatest men who put their lives on the line and the fact that we are diverting money to for transgender surgery, we diverted money for abortions ended and with Ronny Jacksons amendment, it was something that its amazing we have to do this to even debate this issue, but we did. Our message to the Biden Administration, were not going to surrender america. Its time to fight and weve the people you have behind me in the Freedom Caucus are willing to do that. Ill also say what coach tuberville is doing in the senate is sending such a positive message. Business as usual is over with and i hope other senators will join him in holding up the woke, unbelievable crazy agenda that this Biden Administration has had. The day that they can just say that theyre going to give this country away is over with. Folks, its about one word, freedom. Its my honor to introduce, josh. Thank you. Billy graham once said when a brave man takes a respond, the spines of others are often stiffened and im proud to stand with the spinestiffening group thats behind me, to move a measure to the right to make sure that is the most conservative measure that has been passed in recent history, hopefully well see that today. In a word picture, it has been joe bidens drag queen story our reading experiment with our men and women in uniform and he subjected from the highest rank to the lowest rank everyone to nod in agreement and why do we have the lowest numbers . Why cant we not reach our goals of recruitment . Why . We have to have a military that is lethal, that is prepared to fight the wars that weve always been successful in fighting because we were fierce and instead of facing it with that ideology, were wanting to fight culture wars because of this administration. Its ridiculous. Most people dont realize he was using ndaa to avert the rule of law, post the historic Dobbs Decision that said were going to get this thing right. No longer is the federal government going to be engaged in advocating abortion. And this administration, per version of the rule of law is using tax dollars telling someone in a state of holding life, well pay for your ability to go to a state thats not. Its crazy were having a conversation using your taxpayers dollars to pay for someones transgender reassignment surgery, millions of dollars under this administration, again, per version of the rule of law and i am greatful for this group of individuals behind me thats putting the pressure to say this needs to be about being prepared to defend our country, not the social experiment that its become. With that, i dont know if the representative is behind me were talking about going from crazy to normal, thats what this is, crazy to normal. But we stand here committed to making every single bill better. Every chaps we can chance we can, were going to fight for every inch of ground for the American People. With that well take a couple of questions. Thank you, chairman perry. And how do you control the likelihood that the Democrat Senate dealing with abortion, are you willing to go into the next fiscal year without nda and whats your reaction to the israel address for the joint session of congress. I think their actions speak for themselves. Ill leave with you that, as far as what the senate does with the ndaa. Weve shown the way and were doing what we can do. What theyre going to do with it is their business and theres going to have a conference, but you have to know were not going to relent. Were not going to back down, were not going to give up on the cause that is righteous and were going to keep fighting for it. We dont know what theyre going to come up with. Theyve got to pass something, too, there are republicans over there and quite honestly, hopefully there are democrats that still believe in the sanctity of life and the fact that the military is not the place for a social experiment. The military needs to be focused on readiness and lethality and all of these other things are distracters from that and harm our National Security. So, well see what they come up with and well work in good faith to make it better if they muck it up. Youre willing to go into the next fiscal year without ndaa. Look, assuming the house passes our version of it, thats what we can do, thats what we can do. If they send Something Back that cant get the votes here well have to work that out, but were going to were not going to engage in those hypotheticals. Yes, maam. Thank you. Are you with the Freedom Caucus support of the ndaa with the. We. Some of your members were expressing concerns with ukraine ap mentioned not passing last night and indicating that that might keep them from supporting the bill. Yeah, as you know, this is a continual process. A week ago this bill to many of us looked untenable and so it has improved dramatically. Were here today to tell you this is a huge victory and thankful for admiral jackson for representative jackson in his efforts here and efforts of Tommy Tuberville and here to let the American People know there are people here fighting for them to change from this crazy to a normal circumstance. None of these things are perfect and so were going to continue to work. The work is ongoing, as you know, amendments are being heard right now. This is not over yet and theres still opportunities to improve it so were not going to take an official position. Theres always going to be concerns, but its markedly improved and this is a huge victory for the American People and for life, yes, maam. And the American People expect this you guys offering Freedom Caucus amendment, going through the rules committee making sure that those amendments get on the floor. Is this a similar process of what we can expect, appropriation bills that are coming up . Here in january . This is what we were fighting for. As we watch though, as we this played out, it played out different than how the debt limit deal played out and i guess what im asking were going to ice use over single tool at our disposal to go from crazy to normal. And well use every tool at our disposal. Im an army guy, as things on the battlefield change, were going to adjust as necessary, but as matt said, this is exactly what we fought for and if the committees dont produce bills that reflect the views and the values and the wishes of the American People, they can count on us to fight every single inch and every single way we can to assure that those victories are obtained. Youre satisfied with how the leaders processed some more than others, but, you know, i mean 1400, 1500 amendments whatever it was indicated that i think is not necessarily reflective of the entire conference, but at the end of the process were vastly and the majority of us are where we feel much more comfortable with it. Sir. Is there a compromise that can be had here off the current makeup of congress or are there certain issues were going to break away here to keep our more than 40 year commitment live coverage of conference. Continue watching cspan now on our app as we take you live to the floor of the u. S. Senate. The presiding officer the senate will come to order. The clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington d. C. , july 14, 2023. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable mark kelly, a senator from the state of arizona, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed patty murray, president pro tempore. The presiding officer under the previous order, the Senate Stands adjourned until 3 00 p. M. On tuesday, july 18, 2023. And the Senate Meeting just a brief session today. Lawmakers return tuesday for legislative business. You can watch the senate live on cspan2 and we talk you back to the Freedom Caucus news conference. One that searched in many capacities unable to. If youre allergic to bee stings, type one diabetes. Though you might want to serve you cannot. If you want to fly an f16 and cant correct your vision appropriately, you cannot fly an f16 or anything else. There are many people that want to serve. What this is about, what the military is about is what the needs of the nation are from a National Security standpoint. When they marry up with your desires, thats an awesome and great circumstance, but when they dont, the needs of the nation come first and thats what the viewpoint of these individuals enshrined in the amendments that passed and the amendments that were offered and the arguments that were made on that behalf, on that behalf and that subject fits right into that category. You have to look at it, how does this enhance readiness and lethality, those are the two things to focus on. If it does not enhance readiness and lethality, it does not belong. Go ahead. I would add, we learned in the house Armed Services committee for every dollar that we spend on gender reassignment on the military we have to spend four additional dollars on appending psych medical that goes along with that. Why we would engage in an activity that causes, that even accelerated cost structure around psych is strange for me and im glad weve got amendments to stop paying for those surgeries. Another issue on the trans issue, the exceptional family program, my colleague may want to address this, but in someone in the military had a Family Member with unique heart ailment for something that requires intense medical treatment they could use that and that pot of money was getting robbed for people to get gender blockers and embrace radical gender theories. The last person willing to take a child of a veteran who has down syndrome and ailments, theyre willing to assign those dollars to transgender surgery. Sometimes, you dont want people on the battlefield who are deciding whether theyre a man or a woman. Decide that before you go. We want you to protect the freedoms of this country and thats whats lost. We dont have the money to fund our military and were going to fund it for trans genders, half to 1 percent of the population . Doesnt make sense. As scott and others said its crazy whats done to this country now and were stopping it now and every one of these people behind me are willing to do that. Yeah, real quick, as a physician who promised medicine in the military for 25 years, and theres a clear distinction in the military whats required and whats elective procedures. The military in general does not pay for or fund elective procedures, and the transitional hormones and everything in that category. If you bring people in and start this process, it takes months and months, well over a year before you go through the hormone transition, before you get the gender reassignment surgery and all of this, during this entire time these individuals are not deployable. Someone else is going to do a second deployment in their place during this process. Thats not fair to other members of the military and not just something we should be doing in the military. We dont make the exception for anyone else. Yes, maam, last question. And ask, you obviously achieved a lot of victories in the ndaa. How do you feel going into the appropriations, how confident are you look, in spite of all the rhetoric from the press and our detractors, the small majority in the house has been able to rack up win after win after win and though its difficult, and though sometimes it looks likes were not going to be able to get the job done, would i say time and time again over the course of the last six, seven months we have come across the finish line. While its probably going to be difficult and we might have some differences of opinion and might not come out perfectly, im confident that were going to find a way through this in time and do our job here for the American People and save some money and right size this federal government moving that to the senate. Im confident, but weve got work to do. Well acknowledge weve got work to do and were committed to do it. The members show up every time and come in early, serve on tough committees and take stands. Well continue to do that. God bless you. Thank you all for being here. [inaudible conversations] cspan is your unfiltered view of government who are funded by these Television Companies and more, including comcast. Do you think this is just a Community Center . No, its way more than that. Comcast is partnering with a thousand Community Centers to create wifi enabled listening toe students from low income families get the tools they need to be ready for anything. Comcast supports cspan as a public serve, along with these other telision providers giving you a front row seat to democracy