Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026

Floor Speech

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Ms. GOODLANDER. Madam Chair, exactly 249 days ago today, we came together in this Chamber to swear an oath to this Constitution. I keep it with me everywhere I go, and I remember that we did that not as Republicans or Democrats. We took that oath as Americans.

We honor that oath by doing our jobs--it sounds simple, but it is pretty rare--by working in good faith to get good things done and to solve real problems for the real people who have put their trust in us.

That is what I came to Congress to do. That is what I joined the House Armed Services Committee to do. That is what we worked to do in the National Defense Authorization Act. We worked in good faith to find common cause on cracking down on the high costs from housing to healthcare that are crushing our servicemembers and military families and to crack down equally on Pentagon waste, fraud, and abuse.

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Ms. GOODLANDER. Madam Chair, we worked in good faith to find common cause to stand up for our servicemembers and our shipyards, to stand up to determined and dangerous common enemies like Vladimir Putin, and to stand up for our allies like the people of Ukraine.

I read every bill we vote on, as we all should. This one is 2,000 pages, and I fear that the 200 amendments that have just come to this floor are going to make what was a bipartisan bill that was good for America a bill that is not going to serve the best interests of our country.

I hope that we can summon the spirit that brought us all to this body.

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