The Lead with Jake Tapper: Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), Is Interviewed About Defense Bill
Interview
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Well, first of all, I want to emphasize that we had a very strong bipartisan bill out of committee. We've passed 58 to one. It was a really good bill. We worked with all members that we supported. But on the floor they added a lot of amendments, certainly the ban on the travel policy that DoD has put in place to help people get access to reproductive care was number one.
There were also several provisions in there that effectively, you know, were anti-trans. They were amendments gutting the DEI provisions. There was a very hard right turn on the floor as to whether or not the Republicans understand that this is not going to pass going forward in the Senate or elsewhere. I think some do, but it's going to be a fight.
I mean, the Senate's not going to do this, and we're going to have a conference bill. But I, you know, the folks who supported those amendments in the Freedom Caucus, we'll see how they react when the bill comes back with those things out of it.
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Yes, well, not everything requires legislation. We've had, you know, broad discussions about the policies that are out there. We -- the DoD has long had a policy that if you cannot get the health care you need, where you're at, they do pay for people to travel to get health care elsewhere.
I mean, if you have a, I don't know, a specific heart condition and you want to go to the Cleveland Clinic or you go to the Mayo Center if you've got a cancer problem in Minnesota, we already have in place a policy that allows DoD to pay for travel for health care. They merely added to it reproductive care because of what happened with the Dobb decision and the states banning that care in so many places. So I think this is well within the Department of Defense's purview to implement this policy.
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Yes. I think it's unfortunate. I think it's a missed opportunity to show bipartisan support. But look, I mean, that's the legislative process. The first year that I was chair of the committee in 2019, we wound up passing the bill without Republican support. I think the Republicans were wrong for not supporting it, but they made that decision. It does happen.
I'm less concerned about the process than I am about the policy. The bill that the Republicans passed makes it more difficult for women to serve, makes it more difficult for the trans community to serve, makes it more difficult for people of color to serve. The policy that they were willing to vote for undermines our national security, and we should be focused on how bad that policy is. And that's why I and most Democrats voted against this bill. So that's the big problem. Process is the process they got the votes for it, so good for them.
But they were putting in place a policy that would undermine the national security of this country by making it more difficult to find the people we need to serve this country.
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Well, what I make of it is the extreme MAGA Republicans run the Republican Party. Yes, I mean you -- basically, Kevin McCarthy will do whatever he has to do to repease the most extreme obnoxious members of his party at every term. Because that bill that I mentioned that we passed out of the Armed Services Committee, that would have passed the House floor with probably 360, 370 votes.
We would have lost a few, you know, the Freedom Caucus members and some of our folks on the left who don't vote for the defense bill. Typically, we had a very strong bipartisan bill. But Kevin McCarthy's made it clear whatever the far right wants, he will give them. And no, we've never had anyone serve on the Conference Committee who's not a member of the Committee. But again, he will give away what he has to give away to keep them, you know, at least marginally happy, I suppose.
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Thank you, Jake. Appreciate the chance.
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