A woke military is no defense at all — why Defense bill in current form must not pass

The proposed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will encourage critical race theory indoctrination and other "woke" policies while reducing our military preparedness.

Forty-one Republican senators can stand together against the blinding liberal programs in the NDAA per the Senate rules. They can make sure that vaccine mandates go away before they agree to forward the bill to the House.

Republicans in the House also have the leverage to prevent passage of the bill because Democrats need Republican votes to pass the bill. We should stand united against the NDAA until the elimination of vax mandates. Our military will still be adequately funded, but freed from the woke nonsense from the left.

Military spending is a constitutionally authorized obligation. But, that obligation should not be diluted by the "wokeness" that has infected the current NDAA.

Currently thousands of military men and women, in whom we place significant trust and in whom we have invested heavily, are at risk of being tossed from the military because they do not want to receive Biden's mandated COVID vax.

We are about to lose tremendous men and women from our military, many of whom are

highly trained. This is to be expected from an administration that has opened our border and encouraged our enemies around the world.

The unconstitutional vax mandates are bad enough, but the Biden administration and some of our military leaders have become missionaries of the left. They are focused on finding white supremacy in the military. They are convinced that our biggest national threat is climate change. Not the Chinese, not North Korea, nor any other of the increasingly bellicose international actors.

As we endure national embarrassment due to the Biden team's projected weakness around the world, we also watch the increasing number of sorties by China's military encroaching on Taiwan. It may be suggested that China's President Xi is bemused at our emphasis on wokeness.

The NDAA perpetuates the woke, CRT indoctrination, funding for transition surgeries, and drafting of women, and lacks accountability for the Afghanistan debacle. There is a path to slow this down. In the Senate 60 votes are required to pass the NDAA.

That means if 41 of the Republican senators stick together, they will have leverage to end vax mandates, and other bad policies in the Democrats' version of the NDAA.

In the House, there have been two significant pieces of legislation that Republicans aided Democrats in passing. The first was the "infrastructure" bill, which would have failed but for Republican votes. When Democrats did not have enough votes to pass that bill, Republicans in Congress crossed over to provide the winning vote margin for the "infrastructure" package that was more Green New Deal than roads and transportation.

Similarly, the NDAA was voted on in the House earlier this year. In that vote, 37 Democrats voted against the NDAA, and Republicans gave the NDAA the winning margin, despite inclusion of provisions that those same Republicans have regularly opposed. Republicans now have a second chance to control the NDAA. If Republicans look at the bill in its entirety, not just at the parts that fund our military, they will see the social engineering advocacy by the left.

If Republicans unitedly oppose the NDAA in this go-around, the Democrats will be unable to pass the bill by themselves. Only with the help of Republicans can the woke NDAA bill get enough votes to pass.

Taking this bill down is our only opportunity to "de-woke" the NDAA. Taking it down is Republicans' leverage to protect our military men and women from the social engineering advancing in our military at the direction of President Biden.

If we stop this version of the NDAA we can end the military vax mandates and produce a defense spending package that focuses on national security.

A woke military is No Defense At All.

Andy Biggs represents Arizona's 5th District and is chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. Freedom Caucus members Jody Hice represents Georgia's 10th District, Michael Cloud represents the 27th District of Texas, Warren Davidson represents Ohio's 8th District and Ralph Norman represents South Carolina's 5th District.