U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Lead Republican of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered the following opening statement at the full committee markup for H. Res. 1475.
Lead Republican Rogers' remarks as prepared for delivery:
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
I support this Resolution of Inquiry.
I commend the Gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Clyde, for introducing it.
Americans are growing increasingly concerned with the direction of the military in recent years.
DoD's current political appointees are pushing questionable policies on our troops just to satisfy the ideological agenda of a minority of Americans.
They understand that using military orders is the most efficient way to usher in rapid and unprecedented social change they seek.
But it's not the right thing to do.
Our troops should not be the vanguard for the left's social agenda.
Many of the orders issued by the current Secretary of Defense are damaging morale and unit cohesion.
They're hurting recruiting and retention.
And they're undermining readiness.
The civilian leadership at DoD should be focused on building the world's most lethal fighting force.
They should be devoting their attention to deterring China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and a long list of others that seek to do us harm.
Instead, they're doing somersaults to satisfy the far-left's political agenda.
I think that's wrong.
This Resolution of Inquiry gets at part of these concerns.
It would give Congress a better understanding of where some of these policies came from and why they were implemented.
I think that's important information for us to have to carry out our Constitutional duty.
Finally, I disagree with the Pentagon's doomsday scenario that this very simple and straightforward request for documents will somehow cripple their ability to carry out day-to-day operation.
I suspect the Pentagon will be opposed to any effort by this Committee to turn over documents on these questionable policies.
But we'll find out for sure next year.
Next year, the new majority will be conducting robust oversight of these issues and we will demand accountability from this administration.
