Subject: Talking Points -- GOP’s Radical Defense Authorization Bill: “Another Road to Nowhere”
From: Dem Leader Press Office <[email-masked]>
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Date: Wed, 18 May 2016 13:48:18 +0000

<democraticleader.gov>

May 18, 2016

Talking Points – GOP’s Radical Defense Authorization Bill:
“Another Road to Nowhere”

Republicans’ Defense Authorization: “Another Road to Nowhere”
Democrats firmly believe in a strong national defense.  In a time of growing threats and turmoil abroad, we know we must have a defense budget that meets the challenges of our time, provides long-term certainty to our military, and strengthens the security of American families.

But instead of giving our military and our budget certainty, Republicans are once again asking Congress to vote for a blatant, dangerous and irresponsible budget gimmick.

·         This year, the Republicans taking $18 billion from the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account means that funding for our combat troops will end on April 30, 2017 – a dangerous step.

·         Furthermore, the Republicans are taking this $18 billion and using it for items not requested by the Administration.

Just as when House Republicans tried and failed to do a somewhat similar budget gimmick last year, Defense Secretary Ash Carter has made clear that this Republican budget gimmick is a “road to nowhere” and drastically undermines national security.  As Secretary Carter testified<http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/744202/carter-dods-fy17-budget-request-takes-long-view> on April 27:

Republicans’ approach is “another road to nowhere,” “deeply troubling and flawed for several reasons.  It’s gambling with warfighting money at a time of war – proposing to cut off our troops’ funding in places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria in the middle of the year.”

That’s why the Administration has issued a veto threat<https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/114/saphr4909r_20160516.pdf> against the bill:

“H.R. 4909 fails to provide our troops the resources they need to keep our Nation safe… By gambling with warfighting funds, the bill risks the safety of our men and women fighting to keep America safe, undercuts stable planning and efficient use of taxpayer dollars, dispirits troops and their families, baffles our allies, and emboldens our enemies.”

The Republican gimmick before the House is both bad budgeting and harmful to military planning; perpetuating uncertainty and instability in the defense budget and damaging the military’s ability to plan and prepare for the future.  It’s dishonest and dangerous.

GOP Anti-LGBT Provision in NDAA
It is abundantly clear that House Republicans are not focused on the safety of the American people in their defense bill.  In addition to their dangerous budgetary gimmick, House Republicans have chosen to make targeting LGBT Americans a priority in the Defense Authorization bill:

·         In a dead-of-the-night committee markup, House Republicans added a discriminatory amendment to the NDAA from Rep. Steve Russell (R-OK) that would effectively overturn President Obama’s historic executive order protecting LGBT workers in federal contracts – therefore enabling discrimination with taxpayer funds.

·         House Republicans on the Rules Committee blocked a vote on the bipartisan amendment from Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) that would have stripped this toxic, hateful measure from the NDAA – further demonstrating that Speaker Ryan’s pledges of regular order, transparency and openness amount to nothing more than empty rhetoric.

The most extreme elements of the Republican Party are hijacking our national security in an attempt to codify hatred and intolerance against Americans based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.  House Republicans should reevaluate their radicalism, and join with Democrats to protect the safety of all Americans.  Democrats will continue to insist that this discriminatory provision be removed from the Defense Authorization bill.

Do Your Job, House Republicans
For months, House Republicans have blocked action on President Obama’s urgent request for an emergency supplemental to confront the rapid spread of the Zika virus.

Now, with more than 1,200 Americans – including more than 110 pregnant women – already with confirmed cases of Zika, House Republicans are telling American communities desperate for help to make do with less than a third of what America’s top public health officials say is needed to protect America’s families.  As Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/05/11/nih-anthony-fauci-stalled-funding-raises-zika-threat/84234424/>:

“If we don't get the money that the president has asked for, the $1.9 billion, that is going to have a very serious negative impact on our ability to get the job done.”

The growing threat of Zika demands passage of the President’s full $1.9 billion supplemental now, not a woefully inadequate proposal tied to an appropriations bill that is six months away from the President’s desk.

Democrats are sending a clear message to the Republican Congress: do your job to keep the American people safe, and don’t shortchange the resources needed to confront this very serious threat.

Every day, we learn more and more about the danger Zika represents to expectant mothers.  But House Republicans’ response is to obstruct the strong, smart action Americans need, and to make American communities wait months for an entirely inadequate Republican response:

·         The House GOP has voted twice to block emergency resources to protect American communities from Zika;

·         Now, Republicans are pushing a bill with a funding level less than one-third of the amount of the President’s emergency request that further depletes the ability of the U.S. to respond to the ongoing global threat of Ebola.

Republicans’ radical and dangerous refusal to address the threat of Zika in a serious way could have tragic consequences for families across America.

Again and again, Republicans have given lip-service to helping families and communities in crisis – but they have relentlessly obstructed real action and the resources needed to make a difference:

·         Zika – Republicans voted twice to block meaningful emergency funding to address Zika;

·         Opioids – Republicans voted twice last week to block the $600 million in fully paid-for vital new resources to address the opioid epidemic that kills 78 Americans every day.

·         Flint – Republicans are blocking any action to help the thousands of children facing lifelong damage from drinking poisoned water.

Furthermore, instead of coming together with Democrats to pass a budget resolution that will create jobs and grow the paychecks of hard-working American families, Republicans have decided not to pass a budget at all.

Today, Republicans moved to begin bringing appropriations bills to the floor without having enacted a budget, the final admission that Speaker Ryan has given up on trying to pass the Ryan Road-to-Ruin Budget proposal.  Here’s what was too weak to satisfy the radical forces that have seized control of the Republican Party; a budget that would:

·         End the Medicare guarantee for seniors;

·         Make $6.5 trillion in cuts – the sharpest cuts ever proposed by the House Budget Committee;

·         Devastate investments in good-paying jobs, education, and American infrastructure;

·         Repeal the Affordable Care Act and dismantle the affordable health care of 20 million Americans.

Hard-working families deserve a Congress that protects their safety and invests in their future.  Democrats will continue to press for action to keep American communities safe, and we will continue to make a simple appeal to House Republicans: do your job.
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