Brown Remarks on NDAA Passage

Statement

Congressman Anthony Brown delivered remarks in favor of the FY20 National Defense Authorization Act. This year's NDAA included 14 bills led by Congressman Brown. The Congressman's remarks are below:

"I want to thank Chairman Smith for his hard work on a NDAA that affirms our values and delivers progressive wins for the American people. This NDAA tackles the pressing security challenges facing our country and makes important investments in the warfighter.

As we confront Russian aggression, we bolster the European Deterrence Initiative and provide our allies in Ukraine with additional military support. We make a commitment to a diverse and inclusive military by; requiring the Department of Defense to issue a new strategy to ensure full representation, increasing defense research funding for HBCUs, incentivizing more minority and women owned businesses to be part of our defense industrial base and finally gender integrating basic training for the Marine Corps.

This NDAA makes good on the commitments we make to our servicemembers and their families by addressing serious problems with private military housing and giving military families a pathway to seek justice if they suffer from medical malpractice

Yet this NDAA is also a compromise. I am disappointed that we could not reverse the President's bigoted ban on transgender Americans serving openly or force Congress to reconsider the 2001 AUMF. But ultimately this NDAA leads with American values in our approach abroad and in our efforts here at home. I urge my colleagues to support it."

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