Foy. Conflict zones are not clear cut, and the government of assad is still the governing authority there. While we take every precaution to ensure that no assistance, mind you, no assistance benefits this brutal regime, lines are continually shifting, and we need to make allowances for activities that could touch the government on controlled areas. So i urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment and i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentlelady has the only time remaining. Ms. Lee i urge a no vote, and i yield back. The chair the gentlelady yields back. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from south carolina. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed say no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it, and the amendment is agreed to. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule 12, further proceedings will be postponed. For what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition . While commending the chair for a Job Well Done today, i now move that the committee to rise. The chair question on the motion that the committee rise. The ayes have it, the motion is adopted. Accordingly, the committee rises. The committee of the whole house from the state of the union having under consider h. R. 8771 directs me to report that its come to no resolution thereon. The chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the Union Reports that the committee has under consideration h. R. 8771 and has come to no resolution thereon. The chair for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend and include extraneous material on h. R. 8774 and that i may include tabular material on the same. The chair without objection. Mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman suspend. Pursuant to House Resolution 1316 and rule 18, the chair declares the house and committee of the whole house of the state of the union for the consideration of 8774, the chair appoints the gentleman from north dakota to preside over the committee of the whole. The chair on the consideration of h. R. 8774, which the clerk will report by title. The clerk a bill making appropriations for the department of defense for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2025, and for other purposes. The chair pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read the first time. General debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations. The gentleman from california, mr. Calvert, and the gentleman from minnesota each will control 30 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from california. Mr. Calvert thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Calvert i rise today to h. R. 8774, the department of defense appropriations act. I want to start by thanking chairman cole for his leadership in this process. I also want to thank the Ranking Member for her friendship and partnership through this. I want to thank the subcommittee staff for their tireless work on this years bill. H. R. 8774 provides 833 billion for the department of defense and the intelligence community. Consistent with a fiscal responsibility act, this is 1 , or 8. 5 billion, above fiscal year 2024 enacted levels. While 833 billion is a discretionary cap, the subcommittee has little discretion over 62 of this bill. The funding goes toward must pay bills, including troop and civilian pay. Military benefits, medical care and family services. Sustainment of current Weapons Systems, fuel, utilities, i. T. , basic supplies, and training and education. This is to say nothing of necessary investments in major Weapons Systems to keep our military dominant in an intensifying threat environment. These factors are why i believe the current defense top line is too low for todays needs. Present and emerging threats mandate a robust u. S. Military, which is as former secretary of Defense James Mattis said, requires at least a 3 to 5 real growth above inflation. Due to the decision to consolidate our Defense Industry over 30 years ago, a marriage that the Industrial Base is brittle and unable to mobilize without significant investment. While defense allocation under the f. R. A. Is too low to meet Americas National security needs, it is the law of the land. This bill is written to be consistent with this law. Todays threats mandate a resolute United States, made credible with capability lethal and a ready military. The defense appropriations subcommittee scrutinized the fiscal year 2025 budget request line by line and conducted rigorous oversight. This resulted in 18 billion in cuts of requests that were necessary or unjustified. This bill provides no blank checks. Instead this bill builds on the priorities from fiscal year 2024. These priorities include prioritizing the fight against china, promoting innovation and modernization, supporting our Service Members and their families, optimizing the pentagon civilian workforce, increasing the departments role in countering the flow of fentanyl and synthetic opioids, supporting americas close ally, israel, and ensuring the department focuses on its core mission of training and equipping our war fighters and not culture wars. Time is not on our side. President xi is planning to invade taiwan potentially by 2027, if not sooner. The only way to prevent chinese aggression is by fielding and operating capability that demonstrate americas military advantage. To this end, the bill increases investments in fifth and sixth generation aircraft, procuring deliverable capability, including several unfunded priorities. It prohibits the divest of certain naval and air assets that are still combat credible. And it provides 200 million for taiwan Security Cooperation programs while prioritizing defense articles and services to the threatened much the bill also continues investments in the reawakening and acceleration of American Defense innovation. Our Industrial Base, our defense Industrial Base, is fragile, and competition is stifled. Almost every Major Defense Acquisition Program is plagued by persistent inflation and aging workforce, costly infrastructure, weak supply chain, overly optimistic schedules, unrealistic budget, and ultimately overpromised results. We can trace this back to the secretary of defense defense contractor version of the last supper. Back in 1993, when the defense Industrial Base consolidated from two dozen defense prime contractors to the five that we have today. The consequences of this decision mandate action which achieved, let me restate that. The consequences of the decision mandate action, which must be achieved through an innovation intervention. Americas legacy of innovation and entrepreneurs give us an advantage over our competitors that they could never replicate. This bill seeks to tap in to that opportunity with over 1. 3 billion for the department of Defense Innovation unit and related efforts, including 400 million for the highly successful program. Modern and innovative practices are needed, and more than just our defense capability. The pentagon workforce and Business Practices also need to enter into the 21st century. This bill cuts 916 million in unjustified workforce requests and finds more efficient ways to do business. Recognizing the National Security threat posed by chinas supply of fentanylbased chemicals to mexican drug cartels, this bill maintains high levels of funding for d. O. D. s drug interdiction and counter drug activities with 1. 1 billion. This includes an increase for todays National GuardCounter Drug Program and the National GuardYouth Challenge program, empowering states to take a more active role in the defense of their communities from a number of our from our number one foreign adversary. This bill also transforms mexico from northcom to sotcom for improved coordination and prioritization. As i mentioned at the outset, this bill focuses the department on its war fighting mission. The bill includes multiple provision from the house fiscal year 2024 bill that pivot the pentagon away from partisan policies and toward military readiness. Finally, underpinning all of these priorities, funding in the bill is the imperative to support our Service Members and their families. The bill includes a 4. 5 pay raise for all military personnel, plus 2. 5 billion toward an additional 15 pay raise for junior enlisted Service Members. This will have a positive effect on recruitment and retention and will improve the quality of life for our Service Members and their families serving with them. Im proud of the years defense appropriation bill, which adheres to the fiscal year constraints while providing a Strong Military to defend america, our allies, and our partners. This bill procures where we can, trains where we must, and invests in capability that will make other adversaries wake up every day and say today is not the day to provoke the United States of america. Mr. Speaker, i urge my colleagues to support this bill, and i yield back. I yield myself such time as i may consume. I rise today in opposition to h. R. 8774. Ms. Mccollum i want to start by recognizing the outstanding work of the staff. Jennifer, jason here with me, ben, patrick, but i also want to acknowledge the great work of the majority staff. Thank you for your hard work, and a big shout out to johnny. I want to thank chairman calvert as well for his leadership on the subcommittee and for his warm friendship. I want to recognize three members in this bill particularly, because this will be their last defense bill. First and foremost, chairwoman kay groninger, the very first woman to lead this subcommittee. And on my side of the aisle, derek kilmer, to them, we will miss them greatly. I want to thank each and every one of them for their years of work on our subcommittee and for their commitment to Americas National security. Turning to the bill. Fiscal year 2025 defense appropriation act totaled 833 billion, slightly over President Bidens budget request. I appreciate that the bill conforms to the fiscal responsibility act. However, i do have deep concerns with this bill on how it will impact our militarys readiness and unit cohesion. To honor the sacrifice of those who have fought for freedom, we need to foster a climate in our military that ertz and supports all americans who choose to take the oath to serve. Unfortunately at this time, this bill does not reflect that sentiment. In 1948 in a speech to the british house of commons, Winston Churchill said, and i quote, those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat. The bill before us repeats the same mistakes as fy24 house proposal. Once again, this bill includes partisan social riders that led to continuing resolutions spending over five months in the fiscal year. All these riders were just rejected in the fy24 Conference Committee agreement we passed in march. We all understand were in a new geopolitical era where our nation faces grave threats and must respond swiftly. But once again, the majority has included riders that they know will not become law. This will only serve to repeat the process that nearly ended in a full year continuation resolution. There there are provisions in this bill that are outside the jurisdiction subcommittee. That include pros hinting funds for the that includes prohibiting funding for the United Nations relief and work agency and the an organization the department of defense has never, ever funded. Or a provision related to the i. R. S. Tax treatment of individuals who hold a belief that marriage is a union between one man and one woman only. These provisions and some of the amendments yet to be considered are just not germane to this bill. And this subcommittee, i believe, must stop wasting valuable time on issues outside of our jurisdiction. Because our National Security cannot afford to waste another five months as we did last year. These provisions again only create division in the congress, which will impact our armed forces. Ill address a few of them. But this bill, once again, prohibits the department of defenses policy to ensure that Service Members and their families have access to leave and travel allowances for basic Reproductive Health care. Im extremely dispointed that the rules committee failed to make my amendment in order which has struck down this outrageous provision from this bill. We know the departments policy is legal under federal law. The Justice Department has concluded that fact. In fact, they stated, and i quote, from the department of justice, the department of defense may lawfully expend funds to pay for Service Members and for their dependents to travel to obtain abortions that the d. O. D. Cannot itself perform due to statutory requirements. The statutory requirement theyre talking about is the Hyde Amendment, mr. Chair. To be clear, i do not support the Hyde Amendment. But like last year, i think its important to address it and for america to understand what the provision in this bill does to the Legal Services that would be provided under the Hyde Amendment. Hyde prohibits the d. O. D. From using funds or facilities to perform abortions, except in the case of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is in danger. 18 states have enacted total or sixweek abortion bans. Some of these states do not eastbound have an exception even have an exception for rape or incest. So this bill interprets the Hyde Amendment in a way that it was never intended. If your duty assign station is one of these 18 states, you have no access to the Hyde Amendment exceptions. You must travel for your health care and youre entitled to do that. Those living in the 18 states comprise of 80,000 Service Women and 170,000 spouses. Its a total of 250,000 women in military communities without access to Reproductive Health care. This language is a de facto National Abortion ban for women who serve alongside and in the military. Women will exit the force because of this, husbands and fathers will not want to serve in states where their families could be negatively impacted. I only wish the majority would have had the courage to bring my amendment to the floor. Our Service Members and their families deserve that debate. Once again there are provisions in this bill that disenfranchise lesbian, guy, bisexual and transgender Service Members. Rather than making our military a welcoming and inclusive place for all those who wish to serve this country, there are approximately 79,000 lgbtq americans that serve in our armed forces and yet again these provisions included in this bill needlessly attack the inclusion efforts and the Diversity Efforts by the department. Our military is the only institution in our country that most broadly reflects the entire American Population and that includes over 1 3 of active duty Service Members who identify with a minority group. We know that at times were facing recruitment challenges in the service, but we did hear from the army and the anyway stli year that theyre seeing proivment ny i have this year that theyre seeing improvements in recruiting numbers. Thats great news. Why would we want to dissuade any american from taking the oath of service . Beyond the contentious social policies, theres other elements of this bill i cannot support. First, the bill continues to treat Climate Change as if its not happening. And its not a National Security threat. We know for a fact that it is. Weve seen the impacts of Severe Weather events on installations year after year. Just look at guam as a recent example. Over 50 billion, 50 billion in repairs will be needed on the installation on guam which were damaged by a typhoon last year. With all the military Construction Funding going to guam, the infrastructure vulnerability on this island is very clear and we must address it. And then theres alaska. Alaska continues to experience melting perma frost which damages runways and radar stations all across the state. We are spending sustainment and Research Dollars to protect these installations in the best way we can. By cutting climate programs, we harm resiliency and, folks, were going to pay for it in the back end. Second, the bill cuts the security funding for the ukraine Assistance Initiative. I recently