Patrick Ryan

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Chair, I thank our esteemed ranking member for his leadership.

I am here to speak in strong opposition to the entire bill, but I do have to say: To see folks who have never worn the uniform on this House floor try to fight culture-war BS when we are in the middle of an actual war is a grave, grave disservice to those in uniform.

My opposition to this bill is deeply personal. It is personal to me. Having served 27 months in combat in Iraq, I watched us double down on a losing strategy year after year while my friends and fellow soldiers, many of whose names are on this memorial bracelet I wear, fought and died.

It is personal to the now 18 families who lost their loved ones in this reckless war in Iran--sons, daughters, husbands, wives, somebody's whole world. It is personal to the hundreds more wounded, many carrying injuries that will last their entire lives from this war.

It is personal to the American people, people who are working hard, doing everything that they are asked, while watching the cost of their gas, their groceries, and their utility bills skyrocket; watching the President and Hegseth spend over $100 billion of their hard-earned taxpayer dollars while they continue to flail and fail.

Now they are trying to ask for another $1.5 trillion of my constituents'--our constituents' taxpayer dollars to double down on this reckless, ill-conceived war.

This is a straight-up betrayal from a President, by the way, who promised to end wars, not start wars; a President who has never spent a single day in uniform but is more than willing to send other people's kids to fight in his wars; a President who is now blatantly disregarding the widely held will of the American people and the bipartisan view of this Congress as recognizing the successful passage of a War Powers Resolution by escalating this war rather than winding it down. We can't let that happen.

On behalf of all of our constituents, on behalf of the American people, we have to stop throwing good money after bad. We have to stop repeating the mistakes of the forever wars that my generation fought and served in.

That is why I have been fighting to include my No Funds for Iran War Act in this NDAA, to make sure we don't spend a single penny more on this reckless forever war in the Middle East; to make sure we are investing here at home to lower housing costs, lower grocery costs, lower utility costs, and lower healthcare costs. That is what the American people want. That is what I am fighting for, and that is what my colleagues here are fighting for.

Unfortunately, Mr. Chair, since the majority has refused to include my provision in this bill, I do plan to offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Chair, I include in the Record the text of my amendment.

At the end of subtitle A of title XVII, insert the

following:

Mr. Chair, truly, especially to my colleagues of both parties who have worn the uniform of this country, it is foundational and enshrined in our Constitution that it is this body that has say, not a single, unitary executive, to send us to war.

This legislation is common sense and bipartisan. I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the time.

Mr. Speaker, we face a fundamental question here: Who makes the decision to send our most precious resource, our young men and women in uniform, into harm's way? Is it a five-time draft dodger who has called them suckers and losers, or is it the American people with us as their voices?

Mr. Speaker, I was on the receiving end of this same chicken-hawk bs for 27 months in combat in Iraq, and I don't need to be lectured by my colleagues. We all know how that went: thousands of American lives lost; trillions of dollars spent not on one, but two forever wars over the last 20-plus years that we should not have started in the first place; and, most importantly, no honest conversation with the American people about what would be required, what blood and treasure would be spilled halfway across the world.

Now, we are seeing it all play out again. History doesn't repeat, but it certainly rhymes. We in this room had the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State come to Congress before the end of this calendar year and blatantly lie to our faces and, more importantly, lie to the American people. Why? Because they know it isn't right or popular.

The last thing, Mr. Speaker, the American people want is another regime change war, a forever war for oil. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution and to not repeat history.