Elizabeth Warren Accuses Hegseth Of Conducting Attacks On 'Transgender Troops, On Women, & On People Of Color'

Forbes Breaking News

At today's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) slammed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Transcript

00:00There are also a number of ways that this mark falls short.

00:03I remain deeply concerned by the Trump administration's attacks on the rule of law

00:08and Congress's constitutional role to conduct oversight.

00:13Congress has never received the statutorily required explanation

00:17for this administration's decision to remove the Department of Defense Inspector General.

00:23There was also no justification ever provided to Congress

00:27for removing the top legal advisors for the military's services,

00:31the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Chief of Naval Operations,

00:36or the Commander of Cyber Command, and the National Security Agency.

00:42This mark includes important guardrails to ensure continued professionalism in the military,

00:49including requiring congressional notification for removing the military's top legal advisors

00:54and reiterating the importance of independent legal advice of judge advocates.

01:01But we need to do much more to address the destruction done by this administration.

01:07I look forward to working with my colleagues to continue to build on these reforms

01:12in the full committee markup.

01:15Secretary Hegseth's attacks on transgender troops, on women, and on people of color,

01:21are a grave mistake that will damage our military for decades.

01:26We owe these highly qualified service members who have served their country for decades

01:31our gratitude, not the contempt and cruelty that current leaders at the Pentagon have dished up.

01:39When people are qualified and they want to serve, then our military should welcome them.

01:44If Congress passes an NDAA that prioritizes waging culture wars over fighting America's enemies,

01:53then our nation will be weakened.

01:56Finally, there is one provision that I am particularly pleased to have included.

02:02I have been concerned about brain injury risks from blast overpressure

02:06since I first joined the Armed Services Committee in 2016.

02:10I worked with Senator Ernst to secure a long-term study of blast overpressure injuries

02:17in the FY 2018 NDAA, and I secured additional requirements to track blast overpressure injuries

02:26in the FY 2020 NDAA.

02:30Last year's NDAA included historic reforms taken from my Blast Overpressure Safety Act,

02:38and I appreciate the help with Senator Scott in moving this forward.

02:42These reforms help commanders better protect their troops from unnecessary exposure

02:48by collecting more data on blast overpressure risks during the weapons testing and acquisition process.

02:57Last year's bill also required DOD to update blast overpressure safety thresholds

03:03based on more comprehensive criteria, and it encourages DOD to partner with outside organizations

03:10to improve service members' access to care when they suffer the effects of blast overpressure.

03:18As a result of more attention and more research funding,

03:22we are learning that brain injury is a serious problem in our military,

03:27but it is only part of the story.

03:31Research now shows that the special operations community

03:35is experiencing higher rates of cardiovascular health challenges like heart disease,

03:42more chronic pain, and elevated rates of hypertension.

03:46Doctors are also starting to see special operations forces

03:51experience above-the-neck tumors and cancers at rates that are considerably higher

03:58than would otherwise be expected in people of similar age and similar physical conditions.

04:06The numbers are preliminary, but the patterns are deeply disturbing.

04:13This mark requires DOD to explore the feasibility of a study

04:18on the long-term consequences of blast overpressure

04:22so that we can better understand what we're up against

04:26and prevent future tragedies.

04:29DOD would benefit enormously by partnering up with outside experts

04:34to conduct a longitudinal study on the lasting effects of blast overpressure.

04:40So this is a big one.

04:42I hope we will keep pushing on this in our time ahead.

04:45These are only a few of the highlights of the legislative package we present for markup.

04:51I want to thank all of the members of the subcommittee

04:54and the full committee for their work, as well as their staff.

04:57I especially want to thank committee staff, John Clark, whose birthday it is today,

05:03and we are holding this hearing in your honor,

05:06Gary Leling, Andy Scott, Sophia Kamali, Noah Sisk, Jenny Davis, Sean O'Keefe, Brendan Gavin, Katie Magnus,

05:18Megan Galindo, Isaac Jalixson, Greg Lilly, and Leah Brewer.

05:23Thank you all.

05:25Your work is how we get this done.

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