of course the department of defense would still be allowed to research alternative sources of energy. my amendment ensures that the department of defense can conduct research on alternative fuels to ensure these energy sources can be cost competitive in the future. my commonsense amendment is simple. it provides a framework for ensuring the department of defense is engaging in responsible energy acquisition practices. it prohibits renewable energy mandates placed on the department of defense and ensures that every unit of energy our military purchases is the most cost effective option available while still maintaining the ability to research new sources of energy. i urge my colleagues to support my amendment and reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition? >> i claim time in opposition to the amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. langevin: mr. chairman, this amen

i would investigate and spend time to understand. >> would you commit to conduct a review of defense departmentpolicies so as to take action that prevents that kind of discrimination or denial of overtime pay and so forth, on the part of defense contractors. >> i would take action and review. >> on the defense industrial base, you are probably more aware than any of us on the committee about the need for skilled training and education to preserve and enhance and expand our defense, you and i talked about it briefly when we met. perhaps you can enlighten us as to what you would do as the deputy defense secretary to make sure that we provide that kind of skill training in places like whitney where we met some of the critical defense products. >> thank you, i have, education is something i'm passionate around in washington, we were able to work with the superintendent of public education for the state to get a map equivalency credit for i school students so they can get training to allow them to go into eithermaritime , aerospace or electrical work. we worked with the community colleges to set up

the department of defense has a role in this. first question is at a consumption level i would think the secretary of defense is going to be very much involved in this, but do you see a role that you will play in terms of trying to coordinate all the different aspects just within dod and then again reaching out to other agencies? >> sir, i do. i think the deputy and the chief operating officer role really needs to ensure that we have the right structure so that we're effective in interfacing with these other organizations and that we have the proper architecture so that the systems are cost effective, the proper architectures so we can upgrade them easily and evolve as technology changes. >> very good. again, thank you, mr. shanahan. i think you're bringing significant experience to a very challenging job. thank you very much. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. shanahan, i appreciated your comments in our meetings about the nuclear deterrent. being a weapons system that we use every single day, this fact is o

gives the department of defense more sponsible -- a efficient use of d.o.d. resources, extends multiple temporary hiring authorities to allow the department of defense to fill critical manpower gaps in particular in our defense industrial base, our depots, arsenals and shipyards. none of the readiness provisions are arbitrary. they are specifically targeted to stop and as much as possible reverse the decline of of the readiness of our armed forces to so we can continue to combat around the world. i strongly support this and encourage my colleagues in the house to support it as well. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from washington is recognized. >> i yield three minutes to the gentlelady from massachusetts, ms. tsongas. the chair: the gentleman is -- the gentlelady is recognized. ms. tsongas: thank you, ranking member smith. two years ago we brought this to the house floor with broad bipartisan support and i'd like to thank chairman thornberry and ranking member smith for their work in developing this year's bill. i'd a

the clerk: nomination: department of defense, patrick m. shanahan of washington to be deputy secretary. mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, on thursday after two additional weeks of consultation and input from senators, we released an improved version of the bill we call the better care reconciliation act, which represents our efforts to address the failing status quo of obamacare. we've said all along that even if hillary clinton were elected president, we would have to revisit obamacare because we have seen in a number of states that insurance companies are fleeing, leaving people with few, if any, options. people in the individual and small group market are seeing their premiums skyrocket. 105% nationwide since 2013 alone. 105% increase in premiums. and for many of these folks, even though they have paid the higher additional premium, their deductibles are so high they effectively are being denied the benefit of any insurance whatsoever. and so i guess perhaps it's no surpri

exceed the cap of fiscal year 2018 defense spending established under the budget control act of 2011 by $72.5 billion. , andacted as written budget control capturing in place, the department of defense would face sequestration of roughly 13%. the department has not recovered from the rash of problems caused the last time it was forced to do with sequestration in 2013. a second half of that fiscal savagede department operations and maintenance accounts to continue ongoing contingency operations and protect military personnel accounts. this resulted in the navy idling an aircraft carrier -- the army canceling training rotations, and air force reducing flight times for its combat aircraft and widespread civilian furloughs. we cannot allow that to happen again into school year 2018. we have of -- in fiscal year 2018. capave avoided by adjusting stripper. at those adjustments funding for our military and our country's economic and physical infrastructure, scientific research, for public health systems, and veterans care. the size my frustration with the concerns of the significant increase in funding that this bill will provide to the department. yearillion more than last and

of all the impacts that d.o.d. activities has across the globe. the defense department has a large footprint and the amount of military construction and other activity that it undertakes year round impacts our environment. how could it not? we are talking about possible implications, such as contributions to sea level rise which is particularly important to my constituents in south florida, that it would be irresponsible for us to ignore. i have a coast guard base in my district, coast guard miami located right there in miami beach and we know the impact of sea level rise in that area. as a member of the climate solution caucus, i urge my colleagues to oppose this perry amendment. we have to be clear-eyed about possible impacts of our military activities and that includes the impact that we place on our environment. the chair: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. perry: i reserve. the chair: the gentleman from rhode island. mr. langevin: i yield one minute to my good friend, mr. peters from california. mr. peters: last year the pentagon released a directive stating that

this amendment that i'm proposing simply requires that the department of defense and the department of energy consider a 25-year time horizon for the 1043 report. we really do need to know. and in fact we have some of that information today. the department of energy, that is in the national nuclear security administration does do a 25-year report. and they apparently think it's accurate enough to present to the committees here. we would like the department of defense, which provides the equipment, the means for delivering the bombs, that is the submarine the various ballistic and intercontinental ballistic missile the ground-based ballistic missiles, the new bombers and quite possibly the new long-range strike lsr;; -- lsro. so let's find out. let's consider that. the reason we need to consider it is that it is a pile of money. well other $1 trillion that will be spent in the next 25 years. this is not just my words but if one were to consider the people that deal with this on a regular basis, for example, the undersecretary of acquisition and technology, mr. kendall, on april 14, 2015

the department of defense will delete on that i imagine. >> reporter: he declared it during his campaignwould protect the rights of transgender people, and always turned the clock back on these issues. >> the president has a lot of support for a lot of americans. he's expressed concern over obama policy. he's voiced this is very expensive and disruptive policy. and the team came to conclusion that they made the decision based on cohesiveness. >> reporter: the president tweeted thank you to the lgbt community, i will fight for you but hillary will threaten your way of life. the president wants to protect all americans, but this shift in policy protects transgender americans. >> the decision is based on a military decision. it's simply about being a difficult decision. the president feels that it's one for the military. >> reporter: can you repeal and replace the affordable care act and protect medicaid funding. it seems to be a major concern among lawmakers. from the president's perspective, can lawmakers repeal that does not protect mandate funding, is that something he would support? >>

legislative package provides critical appropriations for national security, including for the department of defense, department of veterans atares and department of energy's nuclear programs and the legislative branch bill. my colleagues, this is the primary constitutional duty of the congress to ensure the safety of the homeland and the american people. this legislation was carefully crafted to meet that responsibility, funding our critical material priorities, supporting veterans and making our borders more secure. the core of this package is full year funding in the department of defense and intelligence community. and i thank chairwoman granger. provides $658.1 billion, an increase of $61 billion in base discretionary funding for fiscal year 2018 enacted levels. this is no doubt, this is a significant increase from the current spending levels and certainly from the last eight years. but this increase is vitally important to continue the process we started this spring, to rebuild, repair and equip our armed forces that we started in 2017 appropriations package. mr. chairman, secretary of dens ma

of defense the ten thirty three program is one of the largest and most well known programs that allows state and local law enforcement agencies to acquire access to military equipment from the department of defense but there are actually a number of other federal agencies that operate similar similar programs so the g.a.o. actually just studied the department of defense's ten thirty three program and these sorts of programs came out of the one nine hundred eighty s. on the war on drugs where we saw the white house and congress implemented a number of directives and policy changes that allowed for this sort of excess military equipment to be obtained by state and local law enforcement agencies. now over the years we have seen a lot of state and local law enforcement agencies become increasingly militarized we saw it on the streets of ferguson i think that's when we saw a lot of national attention to this issue coming out of were president obama's reforms and. and now what we are seeing is that those reforms actually weren't implemented correctly and what we are hearing from the current administration is that he president trump wants to actually roll back those minimal reforms that were

>> again, the implementation policy is going to be something that the white house and the department of defense have to work together to lawfully determine. you know, i would imagine the department of defense will be the lead on that and keep you posted as that takes place. >> why did he decide to do this given during the campaign he declared he would be -- he would protect the rights of transgender individuals. he said he would be better on this issue than hillary clinton, and now he's turned the clock back on this issue regarding the military. >> the president has a lot of support for all americans and certainly wants to protect all americans at all times. the president's expressed concern since this obama policy came into effect, but he's also voiced this is a very expensive and disruptive policy. and based on consultation that he's had with his national security team came to the conclusion that it erodes military readiness and unit cohesion and made the decision based on that. kevin. >> thank you, sarah. if i could follow on what jonathan just said, that the president actually tweeted thank

that requires a secretary of defense to review restrictions on the service from a number of pills to the u.s. supreme court amendment 011 by mr. larson which directs the department of defense to brief on the status of force of the future presentation pilot program. .. >> >> the question is on the amendment offered those in favor? the amendments are adopted further amendments to this portion? i have an amendment that the desk. >> it is considered as read. to make thank you for the opportunity for those that serve in our country to establish an office of naturalization to be responsible of that our reach for a new non-citizens services to be sure there provided with every opportunity into of training facilities with those processing centers recently those reports from the aclu share that the non-citizens service members for those minor infractions to make those immigrant service members in despite these changes in the not complete the naturalization process today the latest information is they were serving on active duty from 2008 and regardless of the immigration status to receive all the benefits they earned including naturalization benefits and with no new dire

>> again, the implementation policy is going to be something that the white house and the department of defense have to work together to lawfully determine and, you know, i would imagine the department of defense will be the lead on that and keep you posted as that takes place. >> why did he decide to do this given that during the campaign he had declared that he would protect the rights of transgender individuals? he said he would be better on this issue than hillary clinton and now he's turned the clock back on this issue regarding the military. >> the president has a lot of support for all americans and certainly wants to protect all americans at all times. the president's expressed concerns since this obama policy came into effect, but he's also voiced that this is a very comprehensive and disruptive policy and based on consultation that he's had with his national security team, came to the conclusion that it erodes military readiness and unit cohesion and made the decision based on that. >> if i could follow up on what jonathan just asked, the president actually tweeted, thank you to the l

gives the department of defense more sponsible -- a efficient use of d.o.d. resources, extends multiple temporary hiring authorities to allow the department of defense to fill critical manpower gaps in particular in our defense industrial base, our depots, arsenals and shipyards. none of the readiness provisions are arbitrary. they are specifically targeted to stop and as much as possible reverse the decline of of the readiness of our armed forces to so we can continue to combat around the world. i strongly support this and encourage my colleagues in the house to support it as well. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from washington is recognized. >> i yield three minutes to the gentlelady from massachusetts, ms. tsongas. the chair: the gentleman is -- the gentlelady is recognized. ms. tsongas: thank you, ranking member smith. two years ago we brought this to the house floor with broad bipartisan support and i'd like to thank chairman thornberry and ranking member smith for their work in developing this year's bill. i'd a

there are some things the department of defense could do. this is why the strategy is so important. yes, the obama administration waited until may of 2010. they didn't have six years of c.r.'s and government shutdowns and threatened shutdowns and the changing threat environment that we have. they had a reasonably consistent set of problems. it was a set of problems, but they had the same secretary of defense from the previous administration. they had time to look at that. we need this strategy urgently. because the big question is, are we spending the money correctly? is the department of defense spending money in the right way? do we have a strategy to figure out how we should prioritize? we don't. and with this crushing budget environment, it is absolutely critical that we do. we need to consider the possibility, for instance, that we might be spending some money shouldn't be spending. i will often ask that question of the generals who come over and tell us how short they are on everything. i'll say, where are we spending money in your opinion that we shouldn't be? they never answe

discussionsed in without and about the relationship between the department of defense and china. also, saudi arabia. most recent arms sales which i believe is the jurisdiction at least in part of this amity. said there is a very clear to his between what the president andoing at his resorts quite probably receiving an emolument or something of valuable from the foreign government. that is our business as members of congress and what to base agreements or not, apparently the issue of north korea was discussed and i would suggest that is something we have engaged and at length in this committee. so it is to the direct interest of this committee and a direct of members interest of congress and to simply blown away as if it were of no caucus -- consequence totally ignores the responsibilities. we had a discussion about the authorization of using force and we too often ignore that responsibility. are we going to ignore this comment to with regard to extension -- with regard to section 169? there is a clear conflict of interest and a clear violation of the emoluments clause. >> with the

the department of defense dla leso program must improve its monitoring, management and administration of this critical and important program. i read the gao recommendations very carefully and applaud dla for taking a proactive approach to addressing the shortfalls and immediately acknowledging, let me say enough, immediately acknowledging, the problems identified. i look forward to hearing what progress the dla has made in continuing to remedy these various deficiencies, but our oversight tends to ensure taxpayer dollars are used responsibility, security is maintained for sensitive items and accountability of equipment is never taken for granted. our panel will address the findings and recommendations of the gao report as well as the actions taken by dla to correct identified deficiencies. i now turn to our very valued breaking colleague from guam for her introductory comments. del. bordallo: thank you, mr. chairman, for calling this important hearing on the recent gao on the -- gao report on the dod program also known as the 1033 program. thank you also to our four witnesses for bein

>>>> when the department of defense decided they're going to integrate transgender people into the military, they did the most exhaustive study on a people group the military has ever done. commissioned rand corporation, new england journal of medicine to their own study, the department of defense did a study for a yearr. in that time, they also sought out the 18 partner nations that we have who all have open transgender service. this was a detailed study that took a year to complete. and in the secretary of defense decided to give a further six montnths just to make sure we we being thorough. don't dolitary, we anything quickly because we want to ensure we are doing things right. i think the secretary of defense has the best interest of all soldiers in service members in mind. i can to your here at fort lewis, there is been no change. nobody has said because o one persrson is s in chargrge or anr peperson is in charge at any lel that i was less or more of a person. my leadership has supported me and i will continue to support them. a makeup staff sergeant patricia king, you're the first in

and how did he check with his generals and his military advisers when department of defense secretary is on vacation and the pentagon is saying they were not spoken to. and beyond that, this money argument is the ultimate of bogus. >> let me jump in. the defense secretary is mattis, who did recently essentially saying he was -- his statement was -- i want to get this right. last month, delay enactment of the plan, wanted to evaluate the impact on readiness. that's what the sec def has said. >> this happened this morning. >> the pentagon was blind sided. >> that part was bogus. let's talk about the money for a second. this has nothing to do with facts. it has to do with hateful discrimination. the rand corporation did a study and estimated that it could cost $2.5 million to $8 million if there's medical services relating to transgender people in the military. every year, out of a close to $63 billion medical budget for the military, we spend about $90 million on erectile d dysfunction drugs. $90 million compared to potentially $2.5 million to $8 million. this is just about the presiden

legislative package provides critical appropriations for national security, including for the department of defense, department of veterans atares and department of energy's nuclear programs and the legislative branch bill. my colleagues, this is the primary constitutional duty of the congress to ensure the safety of the homeland and the american people. this legislation was carefully crafted to meet that responsibility, funding our critical material priorities, supporting veterans and making our borders more secure. the core of this package is full year funding in the department of defense and intelligence community. and i thank chairwoman granger. provides $658.1 billion, an increase of $61 billion in base discretionary funding for fiscal year 2018 enacted levels. this is no doubt, this is a significant increase from the current spending levels and certainly from the last eight years. but this increase is vitally important to continue the process we started this spring, to rebuild, repair and equip our armed forces that we started in 2017 appropriations package. mr. chairman, secretary of dens ma

be a huge distraction for the department of defense. there's going to be litigation for years on the matter. and constitutionally i think we have a lot of precedence saying this will violate equal protection. >> reporter: she says they won't take any of this sitting down. >> oh, no, we're not. no, we're not. that is something i mean as an organization unwere, no as a community, two, no. >> reporter: well what advocates fear is they may not be able to stop negative impacts on younger transgender people already struggling to fit in. they worry how they might react of seeing policy gains for transgenders being stripped aw away. iain? >> joyce, thanks. >>> another vote to repeal obamacare failed to get enough support. now lawmakers are back at it debating the feature of -- future of obamacare. republican leaders are not giving up hoping they can get something passed. meanwhile democrats are set on making sure americans do not lose health care coverage. president trump says tax reform is the next legislative priority after health care particu

implementation of policy is something the white house and artman of defense up work together to lawfully determine. would imagine the department of defense will be the lead on that and keep you posted. >> why did you decide to do this given that during the campaign he declared he would protect the rights of transgender individuals and said he would be better on this issue than hillary clinton, and now he has turn the clock back on this issue? >> the president has a lot of support for all americans and wants to protect all americans at all times. the president express concern since the obama policy came into effect, but also voiced this is an expensive and disruptive policy, and based on consultation came to the conclusion that the roads military readiness and unit cohesion and made the decision based on that. >> thank you. if i could follow up on what jonathan just said. the president said, thank you to the lgb t community, i will fight more than hillary. the president and general ones to protect all americans. does this shift in policy protect transgender americans, and what is the message he is attempting to send to them by

subtitle c of following sert the new section, 1039, section of construction regarding use of the department of defense funding of a border wall. funds authorized to be appropriated by this act or otherwise made available for 2018 for the department of defense may be used to plan, develop, or barriers, ny including walls or fences, border international of the united states. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady cannot be recognized until the house is in order. the gentlewoman is recognized now for five minutes. ms. lujan grisham: thank you. mr. speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. if adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage as amended. the national defense authorization act has passed congress 56 years in a row. and that is a testament to the collaborative, bipartisan work the armed services committee has done to support our troops who put themselves in harm's way every single day to defend our country. this year the house armed services committee adopted an amendment introduced by congressman galle gmbing o to

that is a very, very small fraction of the overall health care budget for the department of defense. as about 49 billion for the department of defense overall. so it is a very small portion of it. you know i was speaking to axtive duty transgender service member today who was extremely concerned about this policy saying it was heartbreaking, but they were unable to figure out what it meant for them. they have not been able to speak to anyone in their chain of command. >> is this a sequence si do you think that could thread to another stand yuf between members of congress and the white house. what power does congress have in any of this, if any? >> they would just include it in their annual budget bills. this is what the rule is. but right now the biggest concern on capitol hill from both sides of the aisle is that this is another case of trump legislating, trump creating policy on twitter. senator mccain said this serves again to show that using twitter for policy is not appropriate. the authorities on capitol hill were not briefed, folks at the e pentagon were not briefing and are le

we consulted leadership at the department of defense regarding this amendment. the department recommends a more thorough legal review of the implications of this amendment. further, the joint staff averts that a u.s. provision of limited support to the saudi-led coalition might be construed in this context as participation in civil war. in which case, removal of such support could have damaging effect on the u.s. relationship with saudi arabia and create further implications for regional security. with special operations fighting terrorism around the globe to protect our safety, this congress want to show its lack of support? this amendment is fully timed d overly restrictive and has unforeseen complications. the committee opposes this amendment. i yield two minutes to ranking member visclosky. mr. visclosky: i appreciate the gentlewoman for yielding and join her in opposition but must tell you i'm very reserved about opposing an amendment put forth by a notre dame gaut. in all seriousness, i do appreciate the gentleman's concern with the evolving situation in ye

my amendment directs the department of defense to take steps to address these issues. sexual violence is a criminal behavior and it has no place in our military. we must regain the trust of the service members who have been brave enough to come forward to report those crimes by bettering our military justice system. congress has a responsibility to protect the service members who make immeasurable sacrifices to serve and protect our country. we many u.s. -- we must foster a system that encourages service members to seek help and care and that protects the very people that keep our nation safe. with that, i urge adoption of this amendment and i yield back the balance of my time. chip the gentleman from washington reserves. the gentleman from texas is ecognized. mr. thornberry: i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. smith: thank you, mr. chairman. i'm pleased to yield four minutes to the gentlelady from texas, ms. jackson lee. the chair: the gentlelady is ecognized. ms. jackson lee: let me than

could only come up with a single savings point for the department of defense. and one final point because i'm highly disappointed that the republican leadership has watered down language that was added during committee markup regarding the authorization of the use of -- use of military force. representative barbara lee's language would have establish and imminently reasonable approach to updating 2001 legislation and authorization. congress must stop hiding from the debate and carry out its constitutional responsibilities to support our troops in uniform and the civilian support staff that helps them out. in closing, i would like again simply to reiterate my thank you to the members of our subcommittee and committee and for our sterling staff who have done a superb job under the most difficult and -- under the most difficult circumstances i could imagine. with that, i yield become my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from new york reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. frelinghuysen: i'm pleased to recognize a colleag

travis air force base has issued a statement in response, we will continue to work with the department of defense to see what it will look like with new guidelines coming from our commander in chief.>> san francisco mayor adley called the discriminatory at its core.>> his tweet is so un- american and in so many ways. to suggest that transgender people cannot serve in our armed forces and protect our country like anyone is ridiculous and consistent with the kind of tweets we see this president, you don't know what he's thinking he is just reacting to a core constituent that he thinks represents the value of americans and it's not.>> the mayor said san francisco will continue to support the transgender community and said it has put people in fear of what's next. >> john mccain was also critical in a statement he said, the department of defense has already decided to allow currently serving transgender individuals to stay in the military and many are serving honorably today. many -- any american who meets current medical and readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving. many feel that i

in talking to secretary mattis to wait for that assessment before he issues a directive the department of defenseout that directive the department of defense does not have to take any action. melissa: thank you for that. let me move you on to iran and this rocket launch. how worrisome is that to you? >> the iranians have never giive up on nuclear weapons. the newer jar deal has delayed their acquiring nuclear weapons. they want an intercontinental ballistic missile capability. this rocket used today could be used to launch that kind of missile. they look at russia, china and the united states as great powers, and their cousin north korea all having same lahr capability, nuclear-tipped icbms. if they are able to acquire that, they will be a global menace and something we cannot permit to happen. while north korea is about self-preservation, iran is about domination. they would use those weapons to intimidate europeans and america, push around sunni arabs in the region and lead to confrontation. melissa: what do we do to stop it? >> do what the trump is doing. we moved away from accommodation and a

>> that's something that the department of defense and the white house will have to work together as, implementation takes place. and is done so, lawfully. >> i don't think there is any question that this is going to increase the danger factor for transgender folks who are already serving. they will in all probability, once again, become something of a target of witch hunts. >> former defense secretary ash carter remains choosing those who serve on grounds other than military qualifications is social policy and has no place in our military. >> thank you. >> the president's decision is rocking transgender people now serving in the military as well as those who have already served. >> one veteran speck tonight line's juju chang. >> it really saddened me. took the air out of me. i really couldn't, i was shocked and in disbelief. one of the reasons that held me back so long was fear of losing my job. i didn't know what was going to happen when i told them i was transgender and needed to transition. they have been brave and courageous, those publicly out right now. been on a path to being

my big problem with the department of defense handbooks -- and i haven't read here with me -- it is fullf lgbt ideology. it says you are assigned gender at birth. no. who does the assignee? gender is identified at birth and it is unchanging. no matter how you change your appearance or pretend to be a person of the opposite sex, it doesn't change basic biology. commanders, doctors, nurses, everybody in the military is supposed to pretend with a change in a biological marker, that means you have transformed from a man to a woman or a woman to a man. buteally is ludicrous, nobody in the military is supposed to say that. regulations say you may not deny medical treatment. there are no conscious clauses involved. --10% of doctors and nurses the loss of the incalculable. this will not improve our military and we don't need it. note are a number of people eligible to serve in the military for physical or psychological reasons. transgenderism is only one category, but it is politically sensitive. it has a powerful political lobby. that is not mean the policy should be continued as if obama was s

of nowhere. as michael indicated, the defense department, his own secretary of defense mattis is reviewing this asked months, which is reasonable. and in the middle of it, was there a crisis that all of a sudden it had to be withdrawn. you don't release a policy like this and make a reversal without having an answer to the simple question, such as are you going to withdraw people right now in the field who are transgender. it is like the release of the executive order on immigration, where they had no answer on what do you do with the person with the green card, and cause that chaos at the airports, when the first version of the travel ban was issued. this is not how you run a railroad, no matter how you feel about the underlying issue. this is really bizarre. >> bret: but to put the caveat on there, there were some generals, particularly marines, who had concern about readiness and impact of this, and they talked about it openly. here is secretary mattis, before he was secretary, being asked by new york senator jigillebrand about this issue. >> do you believe this is undermining or legality. >> fran

going to be something that the white house and the department of sdrfs to work together to lawfully determine and i would imagine the department of defense the lead on that, and keep you posted as that takes place. >> reporter: why did you decide to do that, given the campaign, he declared he would protect the rights of transgender individuals, he would do better on the issue than hillary clinton, and now turned the clock back with regards to the military? >> the president has a lot of support for all americans and certainly wants to protect all americans at all times. the president's expressed concern since this obama policy came into effect, but also voiced that this is a very expensive and disruptive policy, and based on consultation with the national security team, came to the conclusion that it erodes military readiness and unit cohesion and made the decision based on that. kevin? >> reporter: thank you, sarah. follow-up on what jonathan said that the president tweeted thank you to the lgbt community, i will fight for you while hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs. i'm wondering, you said, the p

thirty five it must be perfect for air combat well now according to a report released by the department of defense it displays objectionable or on acceptable flying qualities but surely it has top notch perception accuracy again no only if the target is clearly marked and undefended the department of defense says the f. thirty five will be forced to fly much closer to the ground to engage targets and those will likely need to be only lightly defended ones at most well at least it must be great for a pilot to fly wrong again. ok last try has it been a good value well now it's been dubbed the most expensive plane anywhere ever i think you know the answer i know its production costs could yet again another seven percent hitting four hundred six point five billion dollars just for a bit of perspective belgium's entire g.d.p. in two thousand and fifteen was four hundred and fifty four billion dollars so with all of that in mind you think the project might have been reconsidered already i think the united states government is to fall too far along with what the f. thirty five just to abandon it at this

the department of defense has a plan already to ensure all those who want to serve our nation can. all of us know this is a superficial, simplistic distraction, because of the president's other problems so he tried to pick the most vulnerable to drive a wedge amongst them. that tactic has never worked in this country, and it never will. this group standing here will ensure that. it is heartbreaking that, on a day of celebration of our nation moving forward, correcting the ills of the past, on the anniversary date of the desegregation of the military, that the president chose this day. if i thought there was more competency there, i would have thought they did that on purpose, but it was probably sheer bigotry that led them to that. our nation has done this before. we have faced it down and prevailed. there is a sense of emergency. we have received calls to our office by heroes serving who deployed in the face of great danger, serving this nation who want to know if the careers are done as of this day. we as a nation -- this is one of those moments that we get to stand in the breach

the pentagon is the home of america's department of defense the body that has a budget of over five hundred billion dollars a year and is tasked with protecting the national security of the united states and yet they were duped by a completely phony outfit into selling one point two million dollars of weapons the government accountability office whose job it is to audit other federal agencies set up an undercover operation to determine whether the d.o.d. would sell military grade weapons to an unauthorized buyer and they did the g.a.o. created a fake law enforcement agency put up a bogus website use an address that led to an empty parking lot and put it in order for some potentially deadly kit less than a week later the sham agency was the proud owner of one point two million dollars worth of night vision goggles simulated m. sixteen a two rifles and pipe bomb a quip meant they never d. and e. verification like a cation a most was by email it was like getting stuff of eve and that's one of the most recent example of the pentagon's faulty bureaucracy earlier this year it was revealed that th