Dem Rep. Garamendi: We Must ‘Go Back to Basics’ and Keep Military DEI or Put ‘Major Recruiting Problem’ on Military

On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) stated that the version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by the House will cause “a major recruiting problem that they’re putting onto the military” because the military needs “to understand the racial issues, they need to understand the history of slavery in this country.” And argued that “extremist policies” have to be eliminated from the NDAA and “go back to basics.”

Garamendi stated, “If this bill passes, it’s going to be extremely difficult to recruit the American population. Keep in mind, 50% of the men and women between the age of 18 and 30 — [those are] the prime recruiting ages — they are minorities. These pieces of legislation simply ignore that fact. And the reality is, the military needs to understand. They need to understand the racial issues, they need to understand the history of slavery in this country. They need to understand that women need to have access to all kinds of reproductive rights and programs. The reality is, because of what the Republicans have put in this bill, that will not be available. So, we have a major recruiting problem that they’re putting onto the military.”

Garamendi also stated, “We’ve got to get rid of these extremist policies and go back to basics. The basics [are] being able to recruit into our military at least half of our population, and the other half being women.”

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