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Pocan Statement on Voting Against the NDAA

September 23, 2021

Pocan Statement on Voting Against the NDAA

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02) released the following statement after he voted against the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a bill he has been opposed to since being sworn into Congress in 2013.

"This is proof that the military-industrial complex is alive and well. We have serious threats facing our nation, like COVID-19 and climate change. Even just a small cut to the Pentagon's bloated budget could help fight these very serious threats. The fact that the Pentagon budget continues to grow year after year is an embarrassment. In fact, we spend more on our defense budget than the next 11-highest spending countries combined. I won't stop fighting to limit the Pentagon spending that's being used to fund the slush funds of defense contractors."

Rep. Pocan also championed two defense spending reduction amendments to this year's NDAA. One, offered with Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-13) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), sought to reduce overall defense spending by 10%, and the other, also offered with Rep. Barbara Lee, sought to cut spending back to the level requested by President Biden – approximately a $25 billion reduction. 86 Democrats voted for the first amendment and 142 Democrats voted for the second.