A House Republican amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) slashes the federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) employee pay cap, Fox News Digital has learned.
On Thursday, the House Armed Services Committee passed the NDAA out of committee, referring the military spending bill to the House floor for a full vote.
An amendment in the bill, brought by Indiana GOP Rep. Jim Banks, takes aim at the controversial DEI employment positions at the Department of Defense.
“This year’s NDAA was a massive victory for the Anti-Woke Caucus,” Banks told Fox News Digital.
“We passed my amendments slashing DEI bureaucrats, banning race and gender quotas in military recruiting and promotions, reinstating unvaccinated servicemembers fired by the Biden administration, and shutting down the Navy’s drag queen digital ambassador program, and we passed provisions to defund Critical Race Theory courses at West Point and our service academies, fire the Chief Diversity Officer at the DoD and end Drag Shows at our military bases.”
According to Banks’ amendment, the Defense secretary “may not appoint to, or otherwise employ in, any position with a duty described in subsection (b) a military or civilian employee with a rank or grade in excess of GS–10 not adjusted for locality.”
“Joe Biden is trying to transform America by forcing his far-left, woke agenda into every federal agency,” the Indiana Republican continued. “My goal is for every major piece of legislation we pass this Congress to look a lot like the NDAA.”
“The 12 appropriations bills, the farm bill, the FAA reauthorization all should defund and eliminate wokeness from the federal government,” Banks added.
The duties described in the amendment include those involved with developing, “refining, and implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion policy,” as well as those who lead “working groups and councils to developing diversity, equity, and inclusion goals and objectives to measure performance and outcomes.”
Banks’ amendment also affects Defense Department employees involved in creating “and implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion education, training courses, and workshops for military and civilian personnel.”
Additionally, the amendment reassigns any DEI employees above a GS-10 grade 180 days after the NDAA goes into effect. . . . (read more on Fox News)
House Armed Services passes $874 billion defense bill targeting diversity, culture issues (The Hill, 22 JUN 23)
The House Armed Services Committee cleared the first major hurdle in the annual defense policy bill, passing the legislation on a 58-1 bipartisan vote despite contentious battles over amendments attacking diversity programs and other cultural issues at the Pentagon. . . .
. . . . The GOP is touting the bill as a major win against programs they object to at the Pentagon.
“We bleed green and fight for the same flag,” Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla) said in a tweet. “DoD should be mission and merit-focused, not focused on turning our ranks against each other based on skin color.”
One amendment from Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) forces the Biden administration to conduct a review of how transgender policies have affected service members.
Banks also successfully passed his amendment to ban the Navy’s Digital Ambassadorship program after a service member who moonlights as a drag queen was criticized by the GOP for participating in it.
Another, from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), prohibits the Pentagon from funding drag shows. Gaetz also offered an amendment to eliminate the Defense Department’s (DOD) chief diversity officer.
And Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) mustered through a provision creating a parental bill of rights for service members who put their children through military-affiliated schools — an amendment that her Democratic colleagues called overly broad and a Trojan horse to allow conservative parents to ban books or prevent certain material from being taught in school. . . . .(read more)
Eric Schmitt Moves to End ‘Woke Pet Projects’ in the Military (Brietbart News, 23 JUN 23)
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) successfully inserted four amendments into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would limit the Department of Defense’s (DOD) ability to conduct diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, Breitbart News can exclusively reveal.
The NDAA authorizes funding levels and provides authorities for the U.S. military and other critical defense priorities. The 2024 NDAA largely focuses on national security, including competition with China, and disruptive technologies such as hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence (AI), and quantum computing.
However, as many conservatives hope to realign the military along these strategic goals, President Joe Biden and Biden Pentagon officials have argued that DEI would make the military stronger.
As Breitbart News’s defense correspondent, Kristina Wong, noted, “they were short on data to back up their arguments.”
To fight DEI in the military, Breitbart News has learned that Schmitt successfully inserted four amendments into the NDAA. This includes:
- Amendment 371 directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to fully audit the DOD’s DEI workforce and its planned expansion over the next five years to provide transparency.
- Amendment 373 prohibits DOD from establishing a new DEI administrator position and/or taking actions to fill vacancies in currently existing DEI billets, pending the outcome of the GAO report.
- Schmitt’s office contends that this would result in significant civilian personnel costs that can address threats such as China
- Amendment 382 would require the Under Secretary of Defense (USD) to provide a report to the Armed Services Committee on the Enhanced Education Program within the National Defense Education Program. Schmitt’s office noted that there are concerns that awards in this program are based on “progressive” curricula such as Critical Race Theory (CRT)
- Amendment 377 would require the Secretary of State to detail the total manhours and resources expended on diversity, equity, and inclusion in 2023 . . . . (read more)
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