Washington, D.C. – Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-09) issued the following statement after voting in favor of H.R. 2670, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024:

“I am pleased to have voted in favor of this important legislation which supports our men and women in uniform while ensuring the necessary resources are available to rebuild and maintain a prepared military force to safeguard our country.

My great state of Arizona is home to tens of thousands of service members from all branches of the armed forces and several military bases and installations.  I am particularly pleased that the NDAA included my amendment authorizing employees at the Yuma Proving Ground to use nonelectric vehicles in the performance of their duties.  The military is no place to experiment with untested technology and the combat readiness and training of soldiers and equipment is jeopardized by the compelled use of electric vehicles that tend to not work in the desert heat.

I am also pleased that the NDAA included another of my amendments requiring the Secretary of Defense to expeditiously disclose to the public all records relating to the war in Afghanistan, including Mr. Biden’s tragic withdrawal of American forces.  In the disastrous troop withdrawal, our incompetent administration left over $80 billion of the best military equipment to our sworn enemies: China, the Taliban and Iran. Worse, Mr. Biden and his incompetent generals exposed our ground troops to hostile attacks, killing 13 of our finest soldiers.  It’s long past time Biden answers for having no plan to safely remove American citizens before pulling our troops out from Afghanistan.

In addition to much-needed pay raises for our brave service members and their families, the NDAA prohibits the Secretary of Defense from paying for or reimbursing expenses relating to abortion services, establishes a Special Inspector General officer charged with overseeing all military and non-military U.S. assistance appropriated or made available for Ukraine, prohibits the Department of Defense from making participation in training or support for certain race-based concepts, including Critical Race Theory, a requirement for hiring, promotion, or retention of individuals and ends wokeness in the military by eliminating funding for drag shows and halting the Navy’s promotion of a drag queen as a “Digital Ambassador.”

The FY24 NDAA pushes back against the radical woke ideology being forced on our servicemen and women and restores the focus of our military preparedness.  For these reasons, I was proud to cast my vote in support of the NDAA,” concluded Congressman Gosar.