STATEMENT: House Passes Egregious NDAA

WASHINGTON - On December 7, the House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act. In response, WAND’s Executive Director, Nancy Parrish, and WAND’s Advocacy Director, Mac Hamilton, released the following statements, respectively:

“It is particularly striking that when it comes to offering parental leave, access to affordable child care and healthcare, and reducing prescription drug costs, Congress clutches its pearls and asks, “How can we possibly afford it?” Simultaneously, Congress caved to defense industry lobbyists and handed the Pentagon $25 billion more than was even requested. Every other industrialized nation on the planet considers such services critical to the health, safety, and wellbeing of their citizens.

"The debt the U.S. takes on to line the pockets of defense industry lobbyists and corporations is crushing Americans, who are forced to live in an increasingly dangerous world created by this wasteful spending.”

Mac Hamilton stated, "That in a Democrat-held Congress more Republicans voted in favor of the $768 billion National Defense Authorization Act than Democrats should tell us all we need to know about this bill's continuation of Trump-era militarism.

"The bill includes billions of dollars for further development of our already-gargantuan fleet of weapons of mass destruction, saber-rattling initiatives that inch us closer to military conflict with China, and submarines and warplanes that the Pentagon didn't even request. This is a new low, and we must hold our elected officials accountable for this horrendous bill.

“The greatest threats our country faces are those that put both Americans and the global population at risk: climate change, extreme poverty and income disparities, global pandemics, and nuclear weapons. Should Congress continue to fail to address these challenges, there will be much more at stake than just the next election."

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