WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) alongside fellow Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) called on Committee Chairman Wicker to convene a hearing with Department of Defense (DoD) leadership to review President Trump’s continued military deployments in U.S. cities. As the Administration continues to threaten to deploy forces to cities across the country, SASC Democrats emphasized in their letter how these deployments could affect military readiness and public trust in the armed forces. The lawmakers emphasized that a hearing is essential to ensuring the military remains strong and is not exploited for political purposes.
“The American people deserve clarity on the short- and long-term implications for national security and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars of this new focus on a mission usually reserved for law enforcement professionals,” the lawmakers wrote.“We call on the Department to explain to Congress and the American people how it plans to resource, execute and justify such a campaign, and how doing so will impact military readiness, the U.S. military’s execution of core missions of deterring and preparing for war, public trust in our military, implications for servicemembers and their families across the United States and the safety of the American people.”
“As Members of this Committee, we take seriously our solemn responsibility to make sure the U.S. military is properly led, authorized, well-resourced, supported and able to conduct its mission of defending the nation — without distraction, inefficiency or partisanship,”the lawmakers continued.“We believe it is critical that we conduct public oversight to ensure that the use of military power remains lawful, constitutional, strategically justified and responsible and transparent to the American public.”
A copy of the letter is available here.
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