House Republicans are expected to support three amendments calling for the Pentagon to audit and eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training programs when the House Armed Services Committee convenes June 21 to begin vetting the proposed $874.2 billion fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (FY24 NDAA).
Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) revealed on Fox Business’s ‘Mornings With Maria’ early on June 20 that he would sponsor the three amendments, confirming reports first posted by CQ/Roll Call that a “defund DEI” initiative would surface during the first public hearing on the annual defense budget, filed as House Bill 2670, before the full 59-member House committee.
“Here are the three amendments,” he said, waving three pieces of paper for viewers to see. “We are very interested in getting ‘wokeism’ out of the military.”
The amendments, which had not been formally filed by midafternoon on June 20, would prohibit the Department of Defense (DOD) from using any FY24 NDAA allocations for the Pentagon’s Countering Extremism Working Group targeting “extremism”; freeze salary and operational monies for a deputy inspector general “for diversity and inclusion and extremism in the military” position authorized under the FY21 NDAA; and mandate an audit assessment of staffing within the Pentagon’s DEI office.
“We got to eliminate these, what they call diversity, equity and inclusion programs [and] these investigations into what they call ‘extremists in the military,’” Alford said. “These are patriots who love our Constitution, who love our institutions, love how voting is supposed to be. They want nothing more than to show patriotism in their country, and they’re being rooted out, maybe because they don’t get the vaccine. They get kicked out of the military. These are not reasons to be kicking them out for ‘extremism.’”
Two Years of Mounting Angst
Conservatives have argued for years that DEI training, as it was being implemented in the military, was a misguided attempt to impose political correctness with little relevance in the ranks and was, in fact, hurting morale and exacerbating tensions, potentially degrading force readiness.
By John Haughey
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