McClellan Statement on FY2024 NDAA

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (VA-04), a member of the House Armed Services Committee,issued the following statement announcing her opposition to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024: 

“The NDAA is one of the most important pieces of legislation passed by Congress each year to fully fund the Department of Defense and the United States military. I was proud to support the baseline bill following more than fourteen hours of markup in the House Armed Services Committee, because it was a strong bipartisan compromise that supported America’s servicemembers and their families, invested in cutting-edge research and development, and protected our national security and military readiness. 

“Unfortunately, Speaker McCarthy caved to the demands of the most extreme contingent of his conference and allowed this historically bipartisan bill to be turned into a harmful hyper-partisan piece of legislation. Instead of focusing on the needs of our servicemembers and their families, extreme MAGA Republicans have turned the NDAA into yet another vehicle to wage their culture wars. They have pushed poison pill amendments that dismantle DEI initiatives, limit service members and their families' access to reproductive health care, undermine the work to remove Confederate names from military bases, and restrict transgender servicemembers’ ability to receive gender-affirming care under TRICARE. 

“After careful consideration, I must oppose this year’s NDAA. I cannot, in good faith, support this legislation that will have profoundly detrimental impacts on hundreds of thousands of servicemembers and their families. They deserve better.” 

Congresswoman McClellan fought back against Republicans’ harmful amendments throughout floor debate of the NDAA. Her debate clips are available here.