Text of Senate Amendment 6024

On 2026-06-24, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) delivered a floor speech titled "Text Of Senate Amendment 6024" in the Senate.

Text of Senate Amendment 6024

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026)] [Senate] [Page S3232] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] SA 6024. Ms. HIRONO submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: At the appropriate place, insert the following: SEC. ___. SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING FISCAL YEAR 2027 FUNDING DISPARITIES AND DOMESTIC NEEDS. (a) Findings.--The Senate finds the following: (1) The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 reported by the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate authorizes an unprecedented $1,150,000,000,000 for national defense programs, reinforcing a continuous and disproportionate escalation in military spending. (2) The United States is currently facing a severe affordability crisis, with millions of people in the United States and working families struggling with the skyrocketing costs of basic necessities, including food, housing, and healthcare. (3) On July 4, 2025, the enactment of the Act entitled ``An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14'', approved July 4, 2025 (Public Law 119-21; 139 Stat. 72) (commonly known as, and in this section referred to as, the ``One Big Beautiful Bill Act''), mandated deep and devastating structural cuts to essential nondefense safety net programs. (4) The cuts and administrative hurdles mandated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are projected to slash over $1,000,000,000,000 in funding for the Medicaid program under title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) (in this section referred to as ``Medicaid'') and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148; 124 Stat. 119) over the next decade, ripping health care coverage away from 15,000,000 people in the United States, and putting over 750 hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics at risk of closure. (5) Concurrently, sweeping rollbacks and funding restrictions have severely impacted access to the supplemental nutrition assistance program established under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) (in this section referred to as ``SNAP''), a vital lifeline that millions of women and children depend on to prevent food insecurity and hunger. (6) National security depends not only on military readiness, but also on the economic well-being, health, and stability of the people of the United States. (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that-- (1) the massive funding disparity between defense expenditures and domestic nondefense investments for fiscal year 2027 is unacceptable; (2) it is unconscionable to authorize over $1,100,000,000,000 in defense spending while at the same time forcing deep cuts to programs like SNAP and Medicaid that millions of people in the United States rely on to survive; (3) this spending gap will only grow with the proposed plans for an additional $350,000,000,000 of defense spending through budget reconciliation and upwards of $80,000,000,000 or more in supplemental defense spending requested to cover operational shortfalls due to the unauthorized war with Iran; and (4) Congress must reject this imbalanced approach to Federal spending and commit to a budget strategy that balances national security obligations with the urgent, fundamental human needs of everyday people in the United States. ______

Referenced legislation: HCONRES14