National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2027

Floor Speech

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Ms. MENG. Mr. Chair, my constituents in Queens are facing an affordability crisis, and this bill will only make it worse by endorsing a failed America-alone policy that diminishes our presence on the world stage, abandons women and girls, and guts our soft power.

This bill cuts our national security budget by another 6 percent to fund more tax cuts for billionaires and a proposed military budget now exceeding $1.5 trillion. That is a ``trillion'' with a capital T.

It comes after this administration destroyed USAID, clawed back hundreds of millions in humanitarian aid already approved by Congress, and canceled over 80 percent of our foreign aid programs. Existing cuts have already led to an estimated 760,000 preventable deaths and are projected to cause up to 23 million by 2030.

Instead of gutting diplomacy and development to pay for a record Pentagon budget, we should be growing our diplomatic presence and investing in programs that tackle conflict and instability at the roots.

By eliminating funding for the U.N., this bill would cede ground to our adversaries, letting Russia and China reshape the U.N. without meaningful U.S. influence. It also doubles down on attacks on women and girls, gutting international family planning and banning funding to the U.N. Population Fund. Instead of abandoning the world's women and girls, we should be investing in them.

It also locks in the administration's expanded global gag rule, exporting a radical rightwing agenda, politicizing aid, and targeting women, minorities, and LGBTQ+ people--people who look to America as a beacon of freedom, not repression.

Our national security budget is not waste. It is not a playground for radical social ideologies or attacks on the world's most vulnerable populations. It is a strategic investment in America's security, global stability, and the power of democracy.

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Ms. MENG. For these reasons, I cannot support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to oppose it.

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