Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2026
Floor Speech
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I rise as the designee of the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), and I move to strike the last word.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), the distinguished ranking member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, as the designee of Ms. DeLauro, I move to strike the last word.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Stansbury).
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment.
Let me be as clear as the chairman was. BioMADE has never funded any efforts to develop or produce lab-grown meat for any purpose.
The Rules Committee should not have made this amendment in order because it is just not germane to this bill.
Mr. Chair, let me tell you a little bit more about why it is important that this amendment be defeated. By preventing funding for the Bioindustrial Manufacturing and Design Ecosystem partnership, or BioMADE, this amendment would hand a clear win to China.
The bipartisan National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology recently completed its comprehensive review on biotechnology's impact on national security. It concluded that China recognizes the immense military and commercial potential of biotechnology and biomanufacturing. They have made it a strategic priority and are quickly starting to ascend to dominance.
To preserve our lead, we must take swift action to commercialize and scale biomanufacturing here at home. These new technologies use the power of biological cells and systems to perform complete chemistry-- complex issues.
They will enable us to onshore the production of critical chemicals, including those used in munitions and high-performance aviation fuel, as the chair mentioned; to develop new medical cures and treatments and produce them on-demand near the front lines; to engineer biological sensors that can detect pathogens and chemical threats on the battlefield in real time; and to better extract critical minerals from domestic mining deposits, reducing our dependence on China for rare earth mining.
That, again, Mr. Chair, is why the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology report recommended that Congress support a network of manufacturing facilities to scale up bioindustrial production, including for defense needs.
BioMADE is a private-public partnership with nearly 300 members across 37 States. Its mission is to partner with industry to enable innovators to pilot new bioindustrial production in facilities across the country that are linked to regional supply chains and agricultural feedstocks and to train the future workers in this industry.
To be clear, we should be accelerating BioMADE's efforts, not senselessly blocking them.
Last year, the Chinese Government invested over $4 billion in biomanufacturing. We must take action now. We must not cede the lead to China. We must win the biotech competition.
It is for that reason, Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in strongly opposing this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to this amendment.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, this program is designed to assure that our allies and partners of the U.S. are supported in times of trouble. This funding provides basic humanitarian aid and essential services to the populations in need.
Let's talk about what it does for America's national security. This program is an important tool for our combatant commanders who use this to assist our allies, and it builds and cements our relationships.
Let me just give you a few examples. When we help our allies improve their capacity to prepare and to respond to a crisis that will take place, when we help implement the Humanitarian Mine Action Program, this provides significant training, readiness, and enhanced benefits even to our United States military. It contributes to alleviating the worldwide problem of explosive remnants of war, which includes landmines, unexploded ordnance, and small arms munitions. The program allows our military to hone their critical wartime, civil-military, language, cultural, and foreign internal defense skills.
Finally, through the Foreign Disaster Relief Program, a program executed by our combatant commanders, we provide unique assistance during natural and manmade disasters when interagency support is requested.
DOD's ability to respond rapidly with extensive manpower, transportation, and communication capabilities is critically important in a time of crisis.
When we assist in filling in these capability gaps with our partners, we help contain the crises and limit threats to regional stability by providing relief aid within hours or even within days of a disaster.
Each of these programs are vital to the success of our combatant commanders' relationships with their counterparts.
Cutting these funds would lessen the ability of our Armed Forces to execute their missions. For these reasons, I oppose this amendment, and I ask my colleagues to do the same.
Mr. Chair, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert), the chairman of the committee.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I would like to point out, again, that when we do these projects together with our allied nations, it provides significant training, access, and readiness enhancement benefits to the United States military.
Mr. Chair, the question was asked on this House floor who came to our aid, who stood for the United States.
I was here on September 11 serving in Washington, D.C., my first term in Congress. NATO, the world, came to our aid. The world came and helped us when we fought against the Taliban.
Mr. Chair, I thank those nations for standing with us, and I look forward to working with them in the future in this type of partnership.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, I am very, very proud of my vote to vote against the President's big tax package, which added $3.4 trillion of debt to our national debt over the next 10 years. Yet, right now, I am rising in opposition to this amendment.
America's strength around the world does not only stem from our military power but our network of alliances in Europe and the Pacific that allow us to project power. Our allies support us, and we support them.
That means, when our allies are threatened, the United States needs to be with them. That is exactly what we are doing in Ukraine: helping a sovereign nation defend its democracy from Russian aggression. A similar situation could easily occur in the Pacific, where Taiwan is threatened by the People's Republic of China.
China has a recent history of seizing territory. Look at the invasion of Tibet in the 1950s. They have suppressed democracy in Hong Kong. When the Chinese President speaks of reunification of Taiwan, we should believe that he will attempt it. We cannot allow that to happen.
China may not stop with Taiwan. If Taiwan falls, other Pacific Island nations, like the Philippines, would be threatened. America is not alone in these concerns. Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand are deeply concerned about the future of Taiwan's democracy. That is why they are working with us to deter China and to prevent an invasion of Taiwan from happening.
Mr. Chair, the $500 million from this bill will assist Taiwan in preparing their military and increasing their readiness and their deterrence capabilities.
Mr. Chair, I support the inclusion of the funds in this bill, and I strongly oppose this amendment. I ask my colleagues to do the same.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, the Department of Defense works with partner militaries around the world to advance regional stability and mutual security. These foreign military forces must be healthy and functional to effectively engage with our forces and support these missions.
The HIV-AIDS epidemic has a devastating impact on many countries, including on their militaries. It reduces readiness, unit deployments become limited, and it saps the morale and capabilities of the infected individuals and their communities.
DOD's HIV-AIDS prevention program pairs health and security assistance to provide care and treatment in concert with military training, exercises, and humanitarian activities.
This amendment would eliminate a successful military-to-military HIV- AIDS prevention, care, and treatment efforts in more than 55 countries.
In doing so, it would increase the burdens and risks for American forces and weaken global security by reducing the capacity of our partner forces.
For these reasons, I will urge defeat of this amendment.
Mr. Chair, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert).
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I agree with the gentlewoman from Georgia. We need to do more for our children here at home. I fail to see how cutting the Department of Education, canceling grants, some of them in my district for special education teachers, ending the AmeriCorps help that our schools were getting with many students having someone to sit with them and help them with extra one-on-one for reading and for math to help them succeed, not to mention the cuts to SNAP.
I used to teach. The last thing you want is a child with a hungry stomach in your classroom because they are more focused on what they didn't eat than learning.
Mr. Chair, there is more we can do, and that is another reason why I am so glad I didn't vote for the President's tax cut.
I just reiterate, again, that this mil-to-mil training builds resilience, support, and respect between the militaries. It keeps their militaries healthy, and I continue to oppose this amendment.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to this amendment.
To be clear, I have disagreements with Prime Minister Netanyahu's government.
Israel totally had the right to defend itself after the heinous attacks on October 7, and all the hostages should come home.
The Israeli military campaign has been an absolute tragedy for the people of Palestine. The people of Gaza are in desperate need of more humanitarian relief, which I strongly support.
The funding in this bill does not support offensive weapons for Israel. That is funding in a separate appropriations bill. This bill provides for defensive measures only, like Iron Dome, which I support.
Safety is what everyone in the region deserves. Israeli children deserve to go to bed at night knowing that missiles from Yemen, Iran, the Houthis, or anywhere else in the region will not rain down on them. Palestinian children deserve to go to bed at night knowing that their schools, hospitals, and homes will not be bombed. That is what we all need to work toward: Peace.
Mr. Chair, I urge the defeat of this amendment.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment.
Jordan is a longstanding, reliable ally in the region, as the chair pointed out. When there is any type of incident in the region, for our national security officials, from CENTCOM generals to diplomats, the first contact they make is to get the temperature of the region from their Jordan counterparts.
The United States and Jordan have, since 1996, a status of forces agreement, a 2006 acquisition and cross-service training agreement, and a 2021 defense cooperation agreement. This is a 30-year stability-built relationship in the Middle East with an Arab partner. We need to nurture and maintain it.
We have deployed military personnel to Jordan to support operations that defeated ISIS to enhance Jordan's security and to promote regional stability. Jordan air bases have been particularly important for the U.S. to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and target acquisition and reconnaissance missions in Syria and Iraq.
Just 2 weeks ago, our U.S. Central Commander traveled to Jordan, where he met with the chairman of the Jordan Joint Chiefs of Staff and key staff. They discussed the evolving security situation in the region, the deepening bilateral defense relationship between the United States and Jordan and further expanding the military-to-military relationship between Jordan's Armed Forces and ours.
This partnership continues to serve as a steadfast, capable, strategic partner for peace and stability in the region. We need strong allies. Jordan has been and continues to be one of our strongest.
For this reason I oppose this amendment. I ask my colleagues to do the same, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Chair, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Chair, first, the majority has already eliminated funding for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative in this bill. It is zero. I personally believe that to be a huge mistake, and that that only emboldens Putin. President Trump seems to be agreeing now because just the other day he announced the decision to provide billions of dollars of equipment to Ukraine through our NATO partners. I give credit to the President for that decision.
Now we have an amendment to further prohibit any support of Ukraine as they fight to defend their country from an illegal Russian invasion. Putin is attempting to rewrite the map of Europe through use of force. He is doing so in violation of international law. He is deliberately killing civilians, targeting hospitals and schools, destroying the economy and the livelihood of Ukraine in the process.
Putin and his thugs are committing war crimes on a mass scale. They are putting the United States and the democratic nations of the world on notice, and that is why we must strongly oppose him. If we do not, then he or other authoritarian leaders will likely try something like this again, either in Ukraine or elsewhere in the world.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Chair, America is not alone in our military support of Ukraine. Our NATO and European allies are continuing to provide billions of dollars for support themselves. That is in line with the decision that President Trump announced the other day.
Let's not abandon the EU or our NATO allies now, and let's not abandon Ukraine. The Ukrainian people did not ask for this war. They deserve our continued support. I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment.
Madam Chair, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert).
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Chair, I would stress to the body that the majority has already eliminated any funding for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative in this bill. I believe this is a huge mistake. The amendment does not accomplish cutting the funding.
I would point out again, Madam Chair, when I talked about international war crimes and when the previous speaker was talking about the loss of life in Ukraine, there are 20,000 Ukrainian children who have been kidnapped by Russia. They were ripped from their homes and the arms of their mothers and fathers. That is a war crime, and we should not be silent on that.
Madam Chair, I thank President Trump for now realizing it is important we come to Ukraine's aid through our NATO partners.
Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to this amendment.
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Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Chair, I understand why the gentleman from Wisconsin is offering this, and I don't agree with the spirit in which it is being offered.
The Department of Defense, the administration, this Congress, and I have been pretty clear on opposition to the unwelcome assertions of China's control over Taiwan.
As a former social studies teacher, geography was part of what I would teach. I would never use or display in my classroom a map showing that China is in possession of Taiwan, but let me take the teaching just one step further.
This amendment would prevent the Department of Defense from buying or displaying a map that shows how China views itself in the world, how China is putting out mis- and disinformation on what they think the world should look like according to them.
It would force the Department, in my opinion, to put its head in the sand when showing at the military academies China's view of the world and why we have to work so hard to defeat that.
I hope we can all agree that it is important to know what our allies and our adversaries are thinking and that we have adults at our military academies who can sort out the difference and see the differences in the maps.
As a geography teacher and a person who used to use maps, that is my only opposition to the gentleman's amendment.
I know what he is getting at. I don't disagree with it, but sometimes you have to have what your enemy has, how they view the world and what they are showing the world, in juxtaposition to how we view the world and how Taiwan needs to remain independent.
Congress and the Department should focus our time and energy on being clear about China with respect to international boundaries and rule of law.
As a geography teacher, I had to say something, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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