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WASHINGTON – Win Without War Government Relations Director Eric Eikenberry released the following statement regarding the Senate Amendment to H.R. 7776, the agreement for the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA):

“This NDAA is a disaster for everyday people in this country. It fails to address the most urgent security risks of our time while pouring $860 billion into policies that have failed over and over again.

“Win Without War urges the House and Senate to reject this outrageous misuse of public resources and focus on legislation that will actually address the challenges of our era.

“The FY23 NDAA sets a ‘defense policy’ that ups the odds of today’s geopolitical tensions becoming tomorrow’s conflicts. Congress will again cough up money for escalatory nuclear weapons and planes that can’t seem to keep flying, all while making sure that the Pentagon remains the largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gasses globally – to the tune of 51 million additional metric tons of annual emissions at a time of world-shattering climate crisis.

“Even as lawmakers scrambled to max out the Pentagon’s budget, they left needed reforms on the cutting room floor. Gone from the final bill are commonsense provisions to repeal the outdated and dangerous 2002 Iraq War AUMF, suspend arms transfers to the Saudi government for their transnational repression of human rights defenders, and apply human rights vetting to our secretive and unaccountable ‘security cooperation’ programs.

“In recent days, progressives on the hill rallied to keep the dirty permitting side-deal out of the final bill, a big win for those who didn’t want to see a giveaway to fossil fuel CEOs ladled on top of already massive Pentagon pollution. This and a few other silver linings, however, aren’t enough to justify a vote for this agreement. Win Without War looks forward to the day when the NDAA is used to curtail, not fuel, endless war. Without these needed policy shifts, we urge Congress to vote against the bill.”

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Win Without War is a diverse network of activists and national organizations working for progressive foreign policy in the United States.