00:00The committee will come back to order. We will now proceed with amendment log
00:05number 5501 by Representative Mace. For what purpose does the
00:11gentlewoman from South Carolina seek recognition? Mr. Chairman, I have an
00:14amendment at the desk. Clerk will please distribute the amendment without
00:17objection to the reading of amendments dispensed with. The chair now recognizes
00:20the gentlelady from South Carolina for the purpose of explaining her amendment.
00:23Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm offering this amendment because our service members
00:27deserve a Department of Defense which prioritizes mission readiness, not
00:31divisive ideology. Under the Biden administration, the DOD shifted its focus
00:36towards so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, practices. These
00:41initiatives are rooted in racism, identity politics, and social engineering. They
00:46inject race, gender, and other personal characteristics into processes which
00:50should be driven exclusively by merit, by competence, and by capability. DEI isn't
00:56about unity, it's about division. It's not about readiness, it's about re-education. Our
01:01warfighters were being force-fed identity politics and being indoctrinated by woke
01:06policy. They are being taught to hate each other and also be divided along racial
01:11lines, rather than united against an enemy. Proponents of DEI claim our
01:16Constitution is inherently racist. White warfighters are oppressors by default, and
01:20merit is a tool of marginalization and not being, quote, inclusive. Under Lloyd Austin,
01:27these policies rotted the soul of our military and atrophied our readiness and
01:30capabilities. DEI encourages service members to divide into racial grievance
01:34camps rather than view each other with, and also view each other with, hostility and
01:39distrust. While we focus on imaginary evils, our adversaries are racing towards
01:46supplanting us. They're not wasting time and resources on DEI seminars or hiring
01:51consultants to lecture their soldiers about privilege. Communist China is not
01:55doing that. The Iranian regime is not doing that. Putin is not doing that. While
02:02they were building hypersonic weapons, we were building PowerPoint slides on
02:05microaggressions. They were modernizing their forces and working to outpace us on
02:10every front. Meanwhile, we were training our service members to obsess over race, gender, and
02:15pronouns instead of tactics, strategy, and firepower. My amendment would gut the DEI
02:21bureaucracy and prohibit it from ever taking root in the DOD ever again. No
02:27more DEI offices, no more DEI action plans, no more DEI training. The military's
02:32mission is to deter and defeat, not serve as a social experiment for woke
02:36ideology. Nothing in this amendment prohibits any American from serving. If you
02:41can meet the standard, you can wear the uniform. But the standard must be based on
02:45merit, not on identity politics, not on quotas. Rank and promotion must be earned,
02:50not awarded, based on demographic checkboxes. It must not be based on what
02:55you look like. We are in a dangerous global environment. This amendment is
02:59about restoring sanity, restoring focus, and restoring discipline to the most
03:03lethal military on earth. The American people are tired of watching their
03:07taxpayer dollars wasted on woke nonsense. I urge my colleagues to support this
03:11amendment. Let's stop this insanity and get back to the mission. I yield back, Mr.
03:16Chairman. General, it yields back. Does any member, General Lady from Washington,
03:21Ms. Strickland is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will repeat the thing that I
03:25have been saying every time I've responded to this. The most lethal fighting force in
03:30the world. I've heard this repeatedly before I got here, and I've heard it
03:34repeatedly while I've been here. As we look at what this attempts to do by
03:39completely eliminating offices of diversity, equity, and inclusion, it
03:44actually ignores the fact that we are trying to recruit more people to come
03:48into the service. And let's talk about the demographics of the future. More than 40
03:53percent of service members identify as minorities, and the most recruitable
03:57adults by 2027 will be people of color. For those not tracking, that is two years
04:03from now. The fact is that the military is an employer. When the economy is
04:08strong, the military has to compete for talent like every other employer. And
04:12telling young people they do not belong will only worsen that recruiting crisis.
04:16I come back to the definition of diversity, equity, and inclusion that my
04:22colleagues across the aisle are using. The implication is that if it's someone
04:27who's a DEI candidate, that they are not qualified, and they are being put there in
04:32that leadership position for different reasons. By that definition alone, as I
04:36repeated earlier, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, is the ultimate DEI
04:41appointee. But as we talk about what the next generation wants, Generation Z
04:47represents the leading edge of the country's changing racial and ethnic
04:51makeup. A bare majority, 52 percent, are non-Hispanic white. This generation is
04:57projected to become majority non-white by 2026, according to Census Bureau
05:02projections. Why we are saying things and making people feel like they are not
05:08welcome makes no sense. And I'm going to come back to something, too, especially
05:12regarding our military academies and people who want to serve our country. When
05:16you're a minority, you actually have to be twice as good to get half as much. And the
05:21idea that you are somehow unqualified or less qualified to be there makes no
05:26sense. In addition to that, we look at test scores and we look at tests that are
05:30taken. And at the same time, you need well-rounded people who know how to
05:36navigate the world in a diverse space to create strong fighting teams. We are
05:44telling service members that they don't care that minority service members face
05:47worse treatment in the military justice system. That black and Hispanic service
05:52members were more likely than white counterparts to face criminal
05:55investigation and court-martial. We're saying that the 15 families in the Air
06:01Force that had to be relocated in the last two years because of racism or
06:06anti-LGBTQ harassment don't matter. And that my colleagues believe that they
06:12don't belong in the service. So let's be honest here. When I hear something like
06:15this, especially given my family's history, my father, an African-American man who
06:20served in a segregated military, President Truman desegregated it. I hear
06:24anti-blackness, loud and clear. There's a bizarre obsession, in fact, about racism as
06:30the first item that is always brought up when we're talking about DEI. We don't
06:34talk about the myriad of other things like gender, like LGBTQ, like life
06:39experience. It always seems to be about race. And let's be honest here. When you
06:43all are talking about race, you're talking about black people. So let's just call it
06:46out for what it is. When we look at the military and what we need to be strong
06:50and to stay strong, we will continue as Democrats to fight for DEI policies. Not
06:56because they give anyone preferential treatment, but because we are hiring the
07:00best and the brightest and the people who are qualified and want to serve. I yield
07:04back, Mr. Chair.
07:06Gentleman, he yields back. Chair now recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. Cisneros.
07:10Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the former chief diversity and
07:16inclusion officer at the Pentagon, I can confirm that everything my colleague from
07:21North Carolina stated is 100% completely false. We did not indoctrinate people.
07:27People were not promoted because of their color or their sex. That just did not
07:33happen. To me, diversity has always been about creating opportunity. Now, I had a
07:40colonel that worked for me. This is an individual who rose through the ranks as an
07:46enlisted man, had two great careers. I mean, all the way to E8 as an enlisted
07:51individual and then decided to become an officer. The people encouraged him to go
07:57this route to become an officer. That's about creating an opportunity, seeing a
08:01leader that you have and knowing that he can do more. That's what diversity
08:06inclusion is about and that's what we promoted. We tried to recruit more
08:10individuals into the Pentagon so that it would represent the demographics of our
08:15country. But nobody was ever hired due to the fact that based solely on their color
08:21or the other sex, you still have to perform. And as my colleague stated over
08:27here from Washington, more or less, you know, as a person of color or as a woman, you
08:33have to perform twice as good as, you know, your counterparts. Look, we have individuals in the
08:39military, women outperform their male counterparts in the junior ranks, but do
08:47not rise up to the more senior ranks. People of color, especially Latinos and
08:51Asians, in the officer ranks, as the promotions go up, their group becomes less
08:57and less and less. Well, it goes up for white officers. You know, 95% of our flag and
09:02general officer corps is still 95% white men. You know, these are things that we
09:08should be looking into as to find the reason why. Why aren't women staying in
09:12the military longer if they're outperforming their counterparts? Why is
09:15the, is our office, is our senior officer ranks not representative of our nation as
09:21our junior enlisted ranks are? We need to create opportunity and that's what
09:26diversity inclusion is and that's why we need to continue to support these
09:29programs and that's why I don't support this amendment. Our military should be, it is,
09:35it is lethal and it's more lethal and the Marine Corps even did a study that said
09:39diverse, diverse groups, diverse platoons perform better than when they're not
09:45diverse. So why would we not want to be more lethal and have a diverse team and
09:51make it more diverse that represents our nation and for that reason I cannot
09:56represent, I cannot support this amendment and I will be voting no and I
09:59encourage my colleagues to do the same. I yield back.
10:02Gentleman yields back. Does any other member seek recognition on the gentlelady from
10:06South Carolina's amendment? Chair would state that he supports the amendment. No
10:11further debate. The question occurs on the amendment offered by Ms. Mace. So many who's in
10:15favor will say aye. Aye. Those opposed, no. No. The ayes have it. The amendment's agreed to. No. Recorded vote is not requested.
10:25A recorded vote is requested. It will be postponed to later.
