House GOP declares war on ‘woke’ in advancing Pentagon budget
Jamie McIntyre
WAR ON ‘WOKE’: House Republicans have fired a thunderous shot across the bow of the Biden Pentagon in what appears to be a prelude to an all-out culture war over what conservatives believe are “woke” policies that foster division and “bring discredit upon the military.”
In a closed session, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense passed an $826 billion Pentagon budget for fiscal 2024, which in addition to cutting $16 billion from the Biden administration’s $842 request, cuts $1 billion in an effort to shrink the Pentagon’s civilian workforce, while targeting abortion travel funds, drag queen story hours, and gender-transition surgeries.
A summary of the bill released by the subcommittee contains a laundry list of what are labeled “Conservative Priorities,” which prohibit the use of federal funds for any of the following:
Implementation, administration, or enforcement of the Biden administration’s executive orders on diversity, equity, and inclusion, while also defunding the position of deputy. Performing medical procedures that attempt to change an individual’s biological gender. Holding events on military installations or as part of recruiting programs that bring discredit upon the military, such as a drag queen story hour for children or the use of drag queens as military recruiters. Promoting or advancing critical race theory. Recruiting, hiring, or promoting any person who has been convicted of charges related to child pornography or other sexual misconduct. Providing paid leave and travel or related expenses of a federal employee or their dependents for the purposes of obtaining an abortion or abortion-related services. Granting, renewing, or maintaining a security clearance for any individual listed as a signatory in the statement titled “Public Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails,” dated October 19, 2020.
In a statement, Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert (R-CA) touted the bill’s other provisions, including prioritizing funding to counter China, increasing the military’s role in combating the flow of fentanyl into the United States and supporting servicemembers and their families. “[I] am proud that my bill includes a historic pay increase – an average of 30% – to help junior enlisted servicemembers keep up with the rising cost of living.”
DEMOCRATS CRY FOUL: Democrats on the subcommittee immediately blasted the bill, which they say breaks the debt ceiling budget bill negotiated by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and President Joe Biden, which is now the law of the land.
They argue the provisions targeting diversity and other “woke” policies will doom the bill’s chances in the Senate and increase the chances of a government shutdown at the end of September.
“This bill is a non-starter that fails to meet the agreement signed into law,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the top Democrat on the full Appropriations Committee. “Republicans have given us a bill that cuts $1.1 billion in salaries for civilian personnel – career civil servants who patriotically support our armed forces – $714.8 million for climate-related programs, a staggering $1.9 billion for the administration’s Multiyear Procurement request that would cover the costs of buying in bulk, and of course, bans funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs.”
“I urge my colleagues to focus on the end goal of funding our government rather than pushing messaging bills that have no future,” DeLauro said in a statement.
“This bill contains the most extreme social policy riders I have ever seen in a Defense Appropriations bill. These riders make it almost impossible to gain bipartisan support,” said Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee.
“Reductions in civilian personnel will burden our service members with additional duties without finding meaningful savings. Cuts to climate resiliency programs will leave the Department more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change,” McCollum said in her statement. “Our service members make immense sacrifices, along with their families, on behalf of our nation and they deserve better from Congress.”
STORMY BUDGET BATTLES AHEAD: The discord in the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee is a microcosm of the bigger debate that will dominate the weeks ahead.
In an attempt to mollify House Freedom Caucus members who believe McCarthy sold them out in the budget deal with Biden, the House GOP leadership has promised to advance bills at fiscal 2022 levels, instead of the 2023 levels accepted in the debt ceiling agreement.
“While the Fiscal Responsibility Act set the topline spending limit, it does not require that we mark up our bills to that level,” said Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee. “Simply put, the debt ceiling bill set a ceiling, not a floor, for Fiscal Year 2024 bills.”
Democrats question whether Republicans even have the votes to pass the lower spending bills in the House, or whether, like the debt ceiling compromise, a coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans will cooperate to plus-up the measure, especially when it comes to defense spending.
Republicans are working against a debt deal measure that would impose an across-the-board spending cut of 1% if all 12 budget bills are not passed by Sept. 30. “With just months before the end of the fiscal year, we must not delay,” Granger warned.
“It’s going to be a problem,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), the No. 5 Senate Republican and an Appropriations Committee member, told the Hill. “I don’t want to co-opt what Sen. [Susan] Collins (R-ME) might say, but … we struck an agreement that will write to those numbers. We’ll go into a collaborative conference, try to hash it out, but I don’t think it’s going to be easy.”
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN FEARS GROW AS DEMOCRATS AND GOP SENATORS FRUSTRATED BY FREEDOM CAUCUS
Good Friday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Conrad Hoyt. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense.
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HAPPENING TODAY: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hold back-to-back news conferences at NATO headquarters at the conclusion of today’s NATO defense ministers meeting. Stoltenberg’s 8:45 a.m. briefing will be livestreamed on NATO’s website, while Austin’s news conference will be livestreamed on the Pentagon’s site at 9:15 a.m.
AUSTIN: ‘5 VEHICLES FROM 10 ANGLES’: As Ukraine’s counteroffensive appears to be gaining momentum, NATO allies pledged an uninterrupted supply of arms and ammunition at yesterday’s meeting of donor nations in Brussels.
“We’ve given Ukraine’s forces important training and impressive capabilities, but war is fluid, dynamic and unpredictable. Ukraine’s fight is not some easy sprint to the finish line,” said Austin in a post-meeting news conference. “This will continue to be a tough fight, as we anticipated.”
Austin acknowledged that some U.S. and Western-supplied tanks and armored vehicles had been damaged in the initial days of the counteroffensive, but downplayed the impact.
“I think the Russians have shown us the same five vehicles about a thousand times from 10 different angles. But quite frankly, the Ukrainians still have a lot of combat capability,” Austin said. “This is a war, so we know that there will be battle damage on both sides. And you know, what’s important is that the Ukrainians have the ability to recover equipment that’s been damaged, repair where possible, get that equipment back into the fight.”
Ukraine has yet to commit the bulk of its Western-trained and equipped force to the fight, which includes 12 maneuver battalions and almost 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers.
WESTERN ALLIES ANNOUNCE NEW AID TO UKRAINE AFTER MEETING
MILLEY: ‘A VERY VIOLENT FIGHT’: Standing beside Austin, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley offered an optimistic, albeit sobering, assessment of what’s to come.
“Ukraine has begun their attack, and they’re making steady progress. This is a very difficult fight. It’s a very violent fight and it will likely take a considerable amount of time and at high cost,” Milley said. “It’ll be very premature to put any estimates of how long, time, on an operation of this magnitude. There are several hundred thousand Russian troops dug in in prepared positions all along the front line.”
“War is dynamic, it is a contest of wills,” Milley said. “They’re in the early stages and it’s far too early to make any definitive assessments but I can tell you that each day, the Ukrainians demonstrate the courage and tenacity needed to methodically regain their territory.”
“The Ukrainians fight not just with steel and weapons but the iron will of their spirit,” he said. “We can be sure that Ukrainian bravery, competency and preparedness will carry the day.”
ZELENSKY ADMITS UKRAINE COUNTEROFFENSIVE HAS BEEN ‘DIFFICULT’
HODGES: ‘FIRST REPORTS ARE NEVER AS GOOD OR AS BAD AS THEY SOUND’: In an opinion piece published in the Washington Post this morning, retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former commander of U.S. Army Europe, cautioned against early judgments of the success of Ukraine’s operations.
“Although Western audiences justifiably want to understand how the fight is going in real time, we should remember the axiom that first reports are never as good or as bad as they sound,” Hodges wrote. “I think the Ukrainians can and will win this fight. But the summer is likely to be long and difficult. We will not be able to judge how successful the counteroffensive has been for quite some time.”
“While the counteroffensive has been launched, I do not think the main attack has yet started. The Ukrainian general staff will want to keep the Russians guessing about where it will take place for as long as possible,” said Hodges. “So far, it appears that the Ukrainians are still probing for vulnerabilities they can exploit and reinforcing local tactical successes. As a result, a few villages have been liberated, and about 100 square kilometers of territory have been recaptured. We will know the main attack has started when we see large groupings of armored forces — two or three armored brigades attacking in one direction.”
RUSSIAN GENERAL KILLED: British intelligence is confirming a report that has been circulating for days, that a senior Russian battlefield commander died this week after a strike by Ukrainian forces.
“General-Major Sergei Goryachev was almost certainly killed in a strike on a command post on or around 12 June 2023, in southern Ukraine,” the British Defense Ministry tweeted in its latest intelligence assessment.
“Goryachev is the first Russian general confirmed killed in Ukraine since the start of 2023. It continues a war record which has been both difficult and controversial for 35th CAA: in March 2022 elements of the army were present during the massacre of civilians in Bucha, and in June 2022 the force was largely wiped out near Izium,” the ministry said.
MILLEY’S ‘NO COMMENT’: At yesterday’s news conference, Carla Babb, an intrepid reporter for Voice of America, took a stab at getting Milly to comment on the allegations that former President Donald Trump shared with guests at his Bedminster golf club contingency plans for an attack on Iran that Milley reportedly prepared at Trump’s request.
“Chairman Milley, the indictment of former U.S. President Trump includes a transcript of him discussing a classified document about plans to attack a country. How concerning is it to you that a former president or any U.S. official, for that matter, is willing to discuss classified military plans and consider using those plans to settle personal scores?” Babb asked.
“Carla, thank you for the opportunity to make no comment. I appreciate that,” Milley replied. “It’s entirely inappropriate for me to ever make a comment about an ongoing federal investigation, so I’m not going to make any comment. I will focus on my job, and that’s protecting the Constitution of the United States and protecting our country, and in this particular case, in supporting Ukraine in their fight for freedom.”
DID TRUMP’S RETENTION OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS ACTUALLY COMPROMISE NATIONAL SECURITY?
IRAN: ‘NO DEAL’: Reports that the Biden administration has been quietly negotiating with Iran to reach some kind of informal, unwritten agreement to limit its nuclear program and free imprisoned Americans drew a sharp denial from the State Department yesterday.
“There is no deal, the reports that there are a deal or some agreement or some other description, however you want to describe it, are not true,” said spokesman Matthew Miller. “We have been clear what our Iran policy is and what our Iran objectives are. Number one, we want Iran to take steps to de-escalate tensions, which of course, includes steps to curb its nuclear program. Number two, we want Iran to cease its actions that destabilize the region, including its support for proxy groups that carry out attacks. Number three, we want Iran to stop its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine. Number four, we believe that Iran should release Americans who it continues to wrongfully detain.”
“And I will say that we continue to use diplomatic engagements to pursue all of these goals, in full coordination with our allies and partners,” he added.
AIRMAN TEIXEIRA INDICTED: Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira, who has been in jail since his arrest in April, has been formally indicted on six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.
The 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston for posting top secret or secret briefing slides and other highly-classified documents in a chat room on Discord, a social media platform frequented by gamers, according to a Justice Department press release.
“As laid out in the indictment, Jack Teixeira was entrusted by the United States government with access to classified national defense information — including information that reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security if shared,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Teixeira faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted on the felony counts.
AIR NATIONAL GUARDSMAN ACCUSED OF LEAKING HUNDREDS OF DOCUMENTS INDICTED
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: Zelensky admits Ukraine counteroffensive has been ‘difficult’
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Washington Examiner: Did Trump’s retention of classified documents actually compromise national security?
Washington Examiner: Air National Guardsman accused of leaking hundreds of documents indicted
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Calendar
FRIDAY | JUNE 16
8:45 a.m. Brussels, Belgium — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg holds a news conference at the conclusion of the NATO defense ministers meeting https://www.nato.int
9 a.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: “U.S.-China lessons from Ukraine: Fueling more dangerous Taiwan tensions,” with Andrew Nien-Dzu Yang, secretary general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies; retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies; and Jane Rickards, Taiwan correspondent at the Economist https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/us-china-lessons
9:15 a.m Brussels, Belgium — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin holds a news conference at the conclusion of the NATO defense ministers meeting https://www.defense.gov/News/Live-Events
10 a.m. Pinehurst, North Carolina — House Energy and Commerce Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee field hearing: “Enhancing America’s Grid Security and Resilience,” with testimony from William Ray, director and deputy homeland security adviser in the Division of Emergency Management at the North Carolina Department of Public Safety; Mark Aysta, managing director of enterprise security at Duke Energy; Tim Ponseti, vice president of operations at SERC Reliability Corporation; and Jordan Kern, assistant professor in North Carolina State University’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering https://energycommerce.house.gov
10 a.m. — Middle East Institute virtual discussion: “Iran and Taliban readying for war: What’s different this time?” with Nilofar Sakhi, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council; Andrew Watkins, senior expert for Afghanistan at the U.S. Institute of Peace; Fatemeh Aman, nonresident senior fellow at MEI; and Alex Vatanka, director of the MEI Iran Program https://mei.edu/events/iran-and-taliban-readying-war-whats-different-time
11 a.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: “How Successful has Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Been so Far?” with retired Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, former NATO supreme allied commander; former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, vice president for Russia and Europe at the U.S. Institute of Peace; Konstantin von Eggert, columnist at Deutsche Welle Russian Service; and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/how-successful-has-ukraines-counteroffensive-been
11 a.m. 2101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Virginia — National Defense Industrial Association closed press meeting of the Logistics Management Division with Leigh Method, deputy assistant defense secretary for logistics [email protected]
12 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual book discussion: By All Means Available: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy, with author Michael Vickers, former undersecretary of defense for intelligence https://www.csis.org/events/lessons-us-intelligence-and-special-operations
WEDNESDAY | JUNE 21
10 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee full committee markup of H.R.2670, the “National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2024”; and H.R.1282, the “Major Richard Star Act” https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
10 a.m. HVC-210, U.S. Capitol — House Foreign Affairs Committee full committee markup of H.Res.488, calling on the Biden administration to immediately provide Army Tactical Missile Systems to Ukraine; H.R.3033, to repeal the sunset provision of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996; H.R.4039, to prohibit the use of funds supporting any activities within Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China; H.R.1150, to establish the John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship to fund international internships; and legislation to provide for the imposition of sanctions with respect to forced organ harvesting within the People’s Republic of China https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/markup
10:30 a.m. 106 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee markup of provisions that fall under the subcommittee’s jurisdiction of the proposed National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2024 https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings/subcommittee
2:30 p.m. 222 Russell — Senate Armed Services Committee CLOSED markup of S.822, the “Modification to Department of Defense Travel Authorities for Abortion-Related Expenses Act of 2023”; and the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2024 https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings
THURSDAY | JUNE 22
TBA Senate Chamber — The House and Senate hold a joint meeting to receive an address from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For current information on the Senate’s legislative program, please check with contacts listed below https://www.senate.gov
9:30 a.m. 222 Russell — Senate Armed Services Committee full committee CLOSED markup of the proposed National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2024 https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings
12 p.m. — Institute for the Study of War virtual briefing and Q&A session about the “critical next phase” of the war in Ukraine, with Jennifer Cafarella, ISW director of strategic initiatives; and Mason Clark, ISW Russia team lead https://events.zoom.us
1 p.m. HVC-210, U.S. Capitol — House Foreign Affairs Europe Subcommittee hearing: “The Vilnius Summit and War in Ukraine: Assessing U.S. Policy towards Europe and NATO,” with testimony from Laura Cooper, deputy assistant defense secretary for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia; and Douglas Jones, deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/the-vilnius-summit
FRIDAY | JUNE 23
9:30 a.m. 222 Russell — Senate Armed Services Committee full committee CLOSED markup of the proposed National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2024 https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings
QUOTE OF THE DAY “Individuals granted security clearances are entrusted to protect classified information and safeguard our nation’s secrets. The allegations in today’s indictment reveal a serious violation of that trust. The FBI and our partners remain firm in our commitment to hold accountable those who endanger our national security and the security of our allies around the world.” FBI Director Christopher Wray, commenting on the indictment of Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Air National Guardsman indicted on six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information.