Today, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) released the below statement after voting in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act:

“Strong national security and national defense is the foundation for a healthy democracy. That’s a core belief shared by both Democrats and Republicans, who have long worked together to craft a bipartisan, balanced National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – making it historically one of the most bipartisan bills in Congress.

This year’s NDAA was deeply flawed because of the Republican majority weaponizing the legislation to play into their senseless culture wars. I voted against these harmful amendments, and I refuse to play into their game plan.

But, we have an obligation to protect our citizens, our borders, and our brave service members who put their lives on the line to defend our freedoms, which is why I voted for the bill.

The bill also included my amendment to improve the military’s ability to fix its own equipment. When military maintenance technicians aren’t able to fix equipment in the field – whether it’s an engine or a simple generator – because of restrictive contracting terms, it harms our military readiness and is a gut punch to technicians, who want to work with their hands to fix things.

As the legislation moves to the Senate and both chambers work towards compromise, I look forward to voting on a final version of the NDAA – one that fully funds our military and national defense while understanding that threats to our nation originate from our adversaries, not from a woman’s freedom to make decisions about her own reproductive health or from LGBTQ+ Americans.”